Equigy, a blockchain platform for managing batteries connected to the electric grid, is expanding its operations in the European Union.
On May 29, it has been reported by Green Tech Media that three major European Union’s electricity transmission system operators (TSOs) joined Equigy’s platform.
However, TSO with operations in Germany and the Netherlands TenneT, Swiss TSO Swissgrid, and Italian TSO Terna all joined the network.
According to company data website Owler, TenneT has an estimated annual revenue of $1 billion, while Terna $2.3 billion, as Energinet, a Danish TSO with estimated annual revenue of $8.6 million, is also currently joining the initiative.
Blockchain electricity grid battery management platform Equigy aggressively expands in the EU https://t.co/27rZ2HGXyX — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) May 29, 2020
It has been analyzed that Equigy’s system is a free platform for registering and tracking energy transactions allowing home batteries and electric cats to sell electricity to the grid.
René Kerkmeester, the digital transformation lead at TenneT and co-founder and Program Director of Equigy, said:
“We believe that by 2030 there will be sufficient EVs and home batteries in place to balance Europe’s grids to a large extent, if not completely.”
Likewise, Martin Van’t Verlaat, the digital transformation technology program manager at TenneT and Equigy technology leader, explained that the firm decided to use blockchain technology because it allows the system to function without a centralized database.
He added:
“We could have used other technologies for this as there are just a few participants. But looking ahead we expect the energy market to become one big dynamic, decentralized system with many actors interacting at the different voltage levels and believe that blockchain is the technology that can grow toward this vision. […] It future-proofs us from an IT strategy perspective.”
As per the report, Equigy decided to run its system on a private instance of the Hyperledger framework, which is only accessible to local members of the energy industry, as the platform is independently implemented by each TSO at a national level, as the application needs to take national circumstances into account.
Currently, Equigy is involved in nine projects. TenneT is piloting electric vehicle systems with car manufacturers Nissan and BMW and stationary batteries in the Netherlands.
Thus, Swissgrid is also working on using electric vehicles.
Source: Cointelegraph | Image: TSCNET Services