IT and tech giant Fujitsu has unveiled a blockchain-powered, demand side response technology designed to allow energy trading between energy consumers. The technology has been designed first and foremost to allow collaboration between utility firms and consumers to control the amount of electricity which is used during peak times. The system works by allowing power surpluses, either through self-generation or savings delivered via energy efficiency, to be traded. Blockchain capabilities were then applied to help enable more successful trades. This, the company said, created a simplified system of exchange between the surplus provider and the offtaker, slashing response times and guaranteeing transparent transaction. Remunerations also stand to be more accurate. A simulation of the new solution held in conjunction with Japanese utility Eneres recorded a 40% improvement in the trading success rate. Fujitsu said that such an improvement is expected to result in more consumers signing up to participate in demand response schemes, a boost which will further help stabilise the grid and promote the expansion of renewables in energy markets. Having successfully demonstrated its viability, Fujitsu now intends to carry out trials of the system in real-world environments and, should those trials be a success, fully commercialise the system by the end of the 2019 financial year. The use of blockchain to enable energy trading has been on the cards for a while and is in various stages of testing the world over. In May last year Centrica confirmed it had partnered with US-based blockchain firm LO3 Energy to introduce some capabilities to its local energy marketplace in Cornwall, just a fortnight after tech company Verv claimed to have completed the UK’s first blockchain-enabled power trade in London.
Fujitsu is preparing to launch demand side response technology using blockchain to facilitate energy trading between utility firms and consumers and control electricity use during peak periods. The company has been working with the National Grid in England on a pilot project that will see it test its new system for real-time price forecasting of electricity. Fujitsu recorded a 40% improvement during a simulation with Japanese utility Eneres, stating the system was resulting in more accurate, quicker and transparent trades. It plans to test the system further in the real world and is aiming to commercialise it by the end of the 2019 financial year.