Last month, the Australian arm of Suntech Power completed the construction of the 9.5MW Robinvale Solar Farm in Victoria, according to Renew Economy report. The electricity generated by this farm will leverage the blockchain platform from WePower.
Solar retailer Mojo Power bought the electricity under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA). In turn, Mojo Power will use the WePower platform for secondary market trading.
WePower essentially breaks down the primary PPA of Mojo Power into smaller tokenized pieces, with blockchain tracking the generation of electricity.
Traditionally, PPAs were only accessed by larger customers due to high expenses and a lack of liquidity. These contracts generally last for over a decade or more.
“By purchasing power through this platform and avoiding traditional retail energy plans, companies will be able to save up to 30% on their power bills,” Mojo Power CEO Warren Murphy told PV Magazine Australia.
Blockchain enables smaller players to participate in power energy auctions, reduces transaction costs and counterparty risk. WePower said it drops corporate power procurement transaction times to a few weeks from the previous one to two years.
“Energy customers in Australia can now receive an unprecedented level of transparency, access and insight by purchasing energy through our platform,” Nikolaj Martyniuk, CEO of WePower, told PV Magazine.
The company said it has 16 deals in the pipeline for Australia.
Australia has another energy blockchain firm, Power Ledger, which has developed an energy trading platform. Its solution is being used in several countries such as Japan, Thailand, India, Italy, Malaysia, Austria, France, and the U.S., among others.
