A token for fresh, local, green power 

Eighty percent of Dutch citizens buy “green energy”. Only six percent of all the green energy we use was actually generated in The Netherlands. How is that possible? In The Netherlands we mostly buy “green” paper. A check that guarantees that water fell down a Norwegian waterfall and that the Norwegians used that to generate energy. Money we spend on certificates (so called GvO’s), doesn’t necessarily mean we get more energy from windmills, solar panels or heat pumps. Therefore it would be better to buy your energy from a local energy cooperation or an energy company that invests every cent “profit” into new windmills, solar panels or insulating projects to make sure the share of sustainable energy in the energy mix goes up.

These energy companies and local energy cooperations we want to unburden by theEnergyCoin blockchain.

Make life easy for local energy cooperations

It is a huge monthly task to find out which energy is green and which is gray. The blockchain technology will change that dramatically.

With the EnergyCoin blockchain we record the locally generated green energy. For example, a windmill from a local energy cooperation or the solar panels on a private roof. We can do that every fifteen minutes but also once a day.

Together with local energy cooperations, RVO, NGO’s, small businesses and scientists we researched this technology in practice in 2017.

In the months to come we want to use the EnergyCoin blockchain for

1. Rewarding members of a local energy cooperation (within a “postcoderoos” tax regulation) or customers of an energy company for using sustainable energy when it is available. Based on the EnergyCoin blockchain we built a digital environment (virtual powerplant) where you record the locally generated energy and easily calculate and reward the local use in between members of a energy cooperation using the blockchain technique. For example by letting members of a solar park or windmill get their investment back quicker by linking the energy use to the locally generated energy availability.
2. The “solar-interest”-construction. TheEnergyCoin blockchain takes care of the administrative side of crowd funding projects. For example Arnhem based baker Tom van Otterloo and the Rijn IJssel energy cooperation asked their customers if they wanted to invest in solar panels for the bakery to make it more sustainable. Based on the solar energy generated the investors get X amount of products. The EnergyCoin blockchain can take care of the complete administration for projects like this.
3. Direct exchange (peer-to-peer) of fresh, local, green energy between citizens. In commercials it sometimes looks like this is already possible, but take note: In The Netherlands this only an administrative possibility, there is always a bill afterwards, never real-time. And only via an energy company. Near real-time exchange of fresh, local, green energy between citizens is technically possible through EnergyCoin blockchain technique. As a participant of the Experimental Energy regulation it is also legally possible. New applications must be in at the RVO before September 6^th2018.