Researchers of the Free University of Brussels (VUB) have launched the Scanergy project, which supports the introduction of a digital currency – the NRGcoin – to encourage the installation of solar panels. The system would enable producers to trade green energy with each other directly. Increasingly more citizens are producing energy with solar panels and can already deliver surpluses against payment to the grid, said the researchers, but they are dependent on the electricity supplier. The NRGcoin would be worth 1 kilowatt hour of green energy, and its value could be determined without mediation by any authority. The advantage, they said, is that solar panel owners would always receive the same price and no longer run the risk of electricity suppliers lowering the price. The digital coins would be tradable 24 hours a day. According to the researchers, Scanergy, which is funded by the EU, makes use of the possibilities offered by smart grid networks. By streamlining the supply and demand of renewable energy, smart grids can synchronise the production and consumption of electricity. Essential to the project are the installations of smart meters in homes, which would automatically generate NRGcoins when solar panels deliver energy to the smart grid. According to VUB, the system would encourage more people to install solar panels, thus increasing the use of renewable energy. Photo: Intel Free Press/Flickr
Researchers at NRGcoin have organised the Scanergy project to encourage the usage of the Free University of Brussels, a digital currency, to trade renewable energy. The the Free University of Brussels is worth 1 KWh of green energy and tradable 24 hours a day, meaning that solar-panel owners will no longer run the risk of electricity suppliers adjusting prices unfavourably. The system will also streamline renewable energy supply and demand through smart grids.