Dive Brief:
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German storage company Sonnen has teamed up with grid operator TenneT TSO in a project to evaluate the use of blockchain technology to help integrate renewables into the grid.
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The project will link Sonnen’s residential storage batteries with the grid controlled by TenneT TSO.
- Sonnen’s batteries will be linked together using blockchain technology developed by IBM.
Dive Insight:
Blockchain technology, a form of distributed ledger that can perform multiple, small transactions securely and at low cost, is being explored for its potential in distributed energy resources.
A project in Brooklyn, N.Y., uses blockchain technology to enable solar panel owners to swap the output of their panels with their neighbors. In that project, Siemens is providing blockchain technology for a microgrid that LO3 is developing.
Some larger utilities remain skeptical about the viability of blockchain technology. But blockchain could be useful for company like Sonnen, which is working on a community based model for solar power and battery storage.
SonnenCommunity enables participants to trade excess solar power stored in batteries. Sonnen said in a statement that blockchain makes a “simpler and more effective energy network of storage batteries, solar power plants and power grids.”
Using blockchain “offers us new ways to network even locally distributed systems both safely and intelligently across multiple regions with one provider,” Urban Keussen, TenneT TSO CEO said in a statement.