Power Transition has launched a new crowdfunding campaign for its “energy mapping” platform, which allows electricity to be tokenised, traded between peers and tracked from generation through to consumption.
The firm said the software is based on Hedera Hashgraph – a distributed ledger technology similar to blockchain but much faster at processing transactions and far more energy efficient.
“Typical blockchain technology simply doesn’t have the bandwidth to sustain the thousands of transactions needed to accurately map energy transactions at scale, and the amount of energy required for those transactions often negates the energy benefit,” said Power Transition chief executive Anthony Morgan.
“Our software combines the immutable security of blockchain with high transaction speeds and ultra-low energy use to deliver a common digital language for the whole energy system.”
He continued: “By designing a software architecture specifically for mapping energy, we have transformed how it can be transacted, used, managed and traded, by networks, utilities, businesses and individuals in real-time and at any scale – from micro-grids to national grids.
“This means homes are able to buy and sell energy autonomously to get the best price, businesses are able to unlock revenue from on-site renewable power, and network operators are able to optimise capacity on the grid, making energy more reliable, affordable and sustainable for everyone.”
Power Transition has set a target of raising £300,000 through the Crowdcube website and is already more than a third of the way there.
The company has also announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Bank Energi to use the software to create a local energy market in central London involving both private companies and public sectors organisations such as the NHS.
Bank Energi chief executive Rajvant Nijjhar said: “The transition to net-zero enables us to think differently about how we produce, trade and use energy. We see a future where local renewables, buildings and electric vehicles are integrated using smart technology to create local energy marketplaces, optimising clean energy, improving air quality and cutting costs.
“Power Transition’s platform provides the speed, security and scalability we need to make this a reality.”
The software is already being used to enable peer-to-peer trading between 47 homes in Corby as part of a residential microgrid trial funded partly by Innovate UK.