Shell and Sumitomo Corporation invest in LO3 Energy to develop blockchain-based community energy platform
11 July 2019
Shell Ventures and Sumitomo Corporation Group have invested in LO3 Energy to support the global development of its blockchain-based community energy networks.
In 2017, Shell and fellow energy majors BP and Statoil, along with trading houses Gunvor, Koch Supply & Trading, and Mercuria; and banks ABN Amro, ING and Societe Generale, announced a collaboration to develop a blockchain-based digital platform for the energy commodity trading industry.
Earlier than year, Shell, Centrica plc, Elia, Engie, Sempra Energy, SP Group, Statoil ASA, Stedin, TWL (Technical Works Ludwigshafen AG), and Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) joined forces to support the Energy Web Foundation (EWF), a non-profit organization the mission of which is to accelerate the commercial deployment of blockchain technology in the energy sector. (Earlier post.)
LO3 Energy—the first to enable peer-to-peer energy sharing—has developed a transactive energy platform to overcome the challenge of integrating distributed energy resources (DERs) into supply networks. LO3 says that its system can democratize the energy industry, allowing people to both consume and produce electricity at their home and business. LO3 already has investment from Braemar Energy Ventures, Centrica, and Siemens.
The investment from Shell and Sumitomo represents a landmark moment for LO3 Energy as we begin to scale our blockchain-based energy networks around the world. Energy is going through a revolution with renewable distributed energy resources increasingly picking up market share—but to integrate them efficiently we need to re-invent our energy networks.
These investments will help us accelerate the roll-out of less carbon-intensive microgrids, which help all stakeholders benefit through distributed, decentralized and decarbonized local energy transactions and demand response energy management on a building-by-building level.
—LO3 Energy CEO Lawrence Orsini
The way energy is produced and consumed is changing from the traditional model of large-scale power stations with long-distance transmission to one where more is produced at the ‘grid edge’ by distributed resources (DERs).
There is now an opportunity to develop a circular economy around energy, connecting these resources together in local energy markets to produce both financial and environmental benefits for all stakeholders involved.
LO3 Energy’s transactive energy platform was pioneered with the Brooklyn Microgrid and the company now runs projects with partners around the world, in the UK, Colombia, Japan, Australia and the US.
Users set preferences on a dedicated mobile app, choosing how and when to use the local energy resources available to them and allowing them to select the specific sources they purchase it from.
The actual electrons flow through the normal grid transmission network, but the private, permissioned blockchain manages the definition of the energy source and the contract agreement to pay for it.
This enables a wide range of business use cases, including peer-to-peer energy trading, energy hedging for businesses, virtual power plants, dynamic electric vehicle charging and demand response.
In the near future, it will be possible to trade (buy and sell) various types of energy on a voluntary and programmed basis.
People with extended range BEVs/FCEVs and/or home fixed energy capture units will be able to trade the energy stored in their electrified vehicles and/or home fixed storage unit, to earn revenues and help the grid during peak demand hours and allow more 24/7 REs on the power grid.
Posted by: HarveyD | 11 July 2019 at 11:11 AM
More Greenie boilerplate, eh AlzHarvey? You bear an uncanny resemblance to Talk to Transformer.
I'll give everyone a hint (which you won't get): peer-to-peer energy trading is not going to fix the duck-belly load curve nor will it keep EVs charged when it's cloudy. Blockchain is a way of cutting transaction costs so e.g. businesses can install EV chargers and not have to do a bunch of accounting to pay for the juice.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 12 July 2019 at 10:28 AM
A proper mix of many REs and future peer-to-peer energy trading will certainly help to better manage the man-made duck-belly load curve.
Secondly, energy users can, in the near future, better manage the energy they use, to further reduce the amplitude of the duck-belly load curve, to make it easier to mange.
The world will soon develop more new ways to produce an abondance of clean low cost e-energy and simultaneously learn how to better manage distribution and usages.
Of course, very costly (20 to 25 cents/kWh) NPPs will remain as a source of relatively clean e-energy, for people how can afford it.
Posted by: HarveyD | 14 July 2019 at 08:28 AM
"Proper mix of many REs" is a laugh. What are you going to use in Montreal in the winter? Tidal? Nope. Geothermal? Nope. Solar? Don't be ridiculous... oops, too late. You have hydro and whatever wind Nature deigns to provide.
The duck-belly curve was CREATED by "REs". They ARE the problem.
Can't do it without storage. LAES is the only realistic option for that.
And "to mange"? Yup, mange is about what it is. It's a disease.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 14 July 2019 at 06:39 PM
Q-H installed a new $1B very high voltage power line to better manage Montreal's increasing consumption and to avoid black outs like NYC just had.
The current Hydro/Wind combo is working out OK, We have more Wind energy during winter months to deal with increased winter months consumption. Winter months high electricity consumption could be greatly reduced with the use of 3,000,000 very high SEER, cold weather operation heat pumps. Some of the hugh Q-H profits could be used to subsidize heat pumps purchase and installation, much the same as is done for EVs and charge stations.
Q-H will progressively increase production from Hydro plants, Wind turbines and high voltage power lines to match increasing consumption during the next 2 or 3 centuries.
Posted by: HarveyD | 18 July 2019 at 11:12 AM