The U.K. subsidiary of French energy giant EDF has launched a community solar project for a block of flats in Brixton, London, which will enable its residents to trade solar power with each other through peer-to-peer dynamics.
EDF Energy is implementing the project, dubbed CommUNITY, with Repowering London – a not-for-profit community organization that specializes in co-creating renewable energy power stations – and the UCL Energy Institute.
The project will enable residents of a selected building in Brixton to trade solar energy generated on the roof with each other, and to certify the transactions using blockchain technology.
EDF Energy said, although U.K. regulations do not permit the sale of power among electricity customers, regulator the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) has authorized the project through its Innovation Link.
The project follows a similar pilot scheme in Hackney, London, which saw utility Centrica involved as blockchain technology supplied by Verv was used to enable peer-to-peer energy trading among residents of a 13-block social housing community, using electricity generated on their rooftops. That scheme also secured exemption from Ofgem’s rules.
First capacity market trade made
“By collaborating with our partners and using blockchain technology, this project in Brixton aims to show how small communities in dense urban areas could benefit from a low carbon and local energy system in a new and transformative way,” said Xavier Mamo, director of research and development at EDF Energy.
The energy giant and UK Power Reserve, part of Singapore’s Sembcorp Group, are using a trading platform underpinned by blockchain for the transfer of a capacity market obligation – a commitment to supply a certain amount of power. The companies implemented the first 2 MW trade of capacity market obligations in September. EDF said the platform, reportedly able to facilitate multiple types of energy flexibility trades, was developed by UK blockchain company Electron.
EDF Energy and Shell joined a newly established blockchain energy consortium created by Electron and backed by U.K. grid operator National Grid and German industrial conglomerate Siemens in February 2018.
This article was amended on 12/02/19 to include reference to the Hackney project.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
8 comments
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.