Blockchain

Corporations in the auto industry, battery manufacturing and mining have joined forces to establish reliable due diligence reporting on raw minerals. Volvo will be among the first to move on the issue by putting its cobalt supply chain under scrutiny early next year.

New company NGEN appears to have introduced the Powerpack battery to central Europe in a €15 million, 12.6 MW/22.6 MWh project in the northwest of the country which is the first of two planned utility scale systems due for completion by July.

A public enterprise grade energy blockchain has powered up with the promise to accelerate a low-carbon, distributed electricity future. For the first time, energy sector companies are hosting validator nodes on a decentralized network as they seek to adapt to a more digitalized and decentralized energy system.

In a recent survey, DNV GL found that demand for blockchain-related skills in the solar sector is 50% higher than in other energy industries, while 33% of respondents said that the use of drones is having a significant impact on their businesses. However, the solar industry needs a common framework to help advance digitalization further.

The University of Cyprus announced plans a few years ago to build a solar PV farm in the United Nations buffer zone in the capital city of Nicosia. The project is finally coming to fruition, but with two additional elements: battery storage and testing for a blockchain system.

The Solarville project, by Ikea’s Danish research and design laboratory, has seen the participation of blockchain companies such as Bloc, Blocktech, WeMoveIdeas India and Temporal. It was conceived to help create cooperative community micro-grids to enable homeowners to become clean energy traders.

Open-source blockchain platform Energy Web Foundation has revealed the number of its affiliates has risen from 37 to 100 in recent months. New members include EnBW, Total and a unit of the State Grid Corporation of China. The platform was conceived to create an energy-blockchain ecosystem and to accelerate the energy transition.

The module maker and electronics giant is testing the feasibility of a complex virtual power plant with a blockchain platform provided by US-based LO3 Energy.

IHS Markit’s analysts have mapped out what they are keeping an eye out for in the year ahead. Aside from higher installation figures, the number-crunchers predict a continued battle for multi-function in the hard-fought inverter segment and a potential watershed year for utility-scale storage.

Some 377 households and a retirement home are participating in a pilot project. In the first two weeks of this month, solar power generators sold 82% of their electricity within the neighborhood. The goal of the one-year test run is to develop a viable concept for the local marketing of solar power.