The Saudi energy company said it will be the world’s first utility-scale generator joining the SolarCoin ecosystem, and that it will be “rewarded for helping build a more sustainable future.” The cryptocurrency SolarCoin was created in 2014 with the aim of supporting solar power generation at a global scale. Image: Wikimedia Commons/SolarCoin Saudi operator of power generation and water desalination plants, ACWA Power has announced it will adopt SolarCoin, the global reward system for solar power generation. ACWA said the blockchain-based system will provide solar power producers with digital tokens for every MWh of generated electricity and a supplementary means of payment for goods and services in place of conventional currency. “Being early utility-scale adopters of SolarCoin, ACWA Power is proud to leverage our rapidly growing solar energy generation capacity to accelerate the utilization of SolarCoins to in time further reduce the cost of solar energy through the supplementary value being created,” said ACWA Power’s president Paddy Padmanathan. The global cryptocurrency, SolarCoin allows solar electricity producers to accrue currency for the solar energy they generate. One SolarCoin represents 1 MWh of PV electricity. The platform is growing in popularity in many developed solar markets across Europe, North and South America, Australia, Japan and India. Some smarthome solutions providers, such as Smappee are also partnering with SolarCoin to allow homeowners peer-to-peer trading of their solar energy, essentially sharing PV electricity with homes that do not have solar systems installed. Emiliano joined pv magazine in March 2017. He has been reporting on solar and renewable energy since 2009. More articles from Emiliano Bellini Ian joined the pv magazine team in 2013 and specializes in power electronics (inverters) and battery storage. Ian also reports on the UK solar market, having worked as a print and web journalist in Britain for various multimedia companies, covering topics ranging from renewable energy and sustainability to real estate, sport and film. More articles from Ian Clover
Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power said it will become the first utility to adopt the global solar incentive currency, SolarCoin. The blockchain-based system supplies solar producers with a digital token for every MWh of solar electricity generated, which can then be used as a supplementary means of payment for goods and services. SunCoin is already used by smaller-scale users in Europe, America, Japan, India and Australia.