JV to supply blockchain tech for energy trading
BCPG Public Company, a subsidiary of Bangchak Corporation, and Australia-based startup Power Ledger, have entered into a partnership to supply blockchain technology for peer-to- peer energy trading in Thailand.
The two companies announced their business cooperation yesterday.
It will be the first energy trading via blockchain platform in Thailand, said Bundit Sapianchai, BCPG’s president.
Bundit said the BCPG will start its first peer-to- peer energy project next year. It will deploy solar rooftop facilities for commercial and residential units of Sansiri’s real estate development project at Onnut area in Bangkok.
Energy capacity is about 1-2 megawatts. First group of customers are owners of the community mall, school and service apartments in the Sansiri project. The three will buy and sell their own electricity via blockchain platform hosted by the BCPG.
He estimated the cost of investment at Bt30-40 million and expected to deliver competitive price for electricity generated by solar cells.
“The price would be 10-15 per cent cheaper than what they currently pays to the Metropolitan ElectricityAuthority,” said Bundit.
If price is not competitive, people will not use it, he added
Households which deploy rooftop solar cell, usually do not use much electricity in daytimes, so they could sell it to the community mall and the school.
In the future, they could even sell back to the electricity authority as the government is considering the development of a new power grid allowing households to buy and sell their excess electricity, said Bundit.
David Martin, managing director of the Power Ledger said coupling on-site renewable energy generation with peer-to-peer trading give communities the opportunities to maximise the value of their renewable energy investment while sharing low-carbon benefits with neighbouring consumers.
“Blockchain technology will change the world by disintermediating complex transactions enabling peer-to-peer, real-time transaction to take place in any market,” said Martin.
It is user-friendly and, participants in the community will just have to deposit money with the host, in this case BCPG , in order to ensure payment, he said. Customers would likely use pre-paid mobile service, according to the two executives.
Power Ledger has been operating peer- to- peer energy trading in Perth of Australia and has a trial project in India.
