Page 62 - European Energy Innovation - spring 2018 publication
P. 62
62 Spring 2018 European Energy Innovation
BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY
prepared for US market by a trail roll By that the challenge is not only An interview with
out in California together with the San technical. It’s more a challenge to Cedrik Neike,
Carlos based company Electric Motor turn current organization culture Member of the
Werks. towards innovation for service oriented Managing Board of
business. Siemens AG
DISTRIBUTED LEDGER FOR SMART
DATA MARKETPLACES RWE with their innovation incubator Q World economic forum
Transactions in the blockchain are Innogy and Siemens are currently predicts 2025 that 10% of
usually stored in a transaction book pushing towards such new culture and
called “distributed ledger”. Adding a business models. Both have identified world GDP will be processed
new record to this ledger is secured blockchain as promising technology.
by complex algorithms calculation Siemens Board Member Cedrik Neike over blockchain. How is Siemens
to confirm a transaction. On most claims blockchain to be one of the
common blockchain solutions as 14 core enterprise technologies. This Energy preparing toward such
Bitcoin and Etherium this process is is a strong strategic commitment of
done by miners. As written in the first a traditional and powerful enterprise scenario?
part of this article the mining process in energy and utility sector. But
itself is heavily power consuming. beside the new opportunities for Blockchain is one of the 14
traditional enterprises the blockchain company core technologies,
The developers of the IOTA have creates a vibrant and powerful start Siemens is focusing on. We are
created a distributed ledger algorithm up ecosystem with hundreds of new already gaining a lot of experience
called “tangle”, with no need of mining market players. with the use of Blockchain in
and zero transaction fees. Several particular in the energy field.
projects in energy and utility sector A significant amount of them is well Late in 2016, we announced
are running on IOTA technology. In the financed by new instruments of Initial the collaboration with the US
applications range from smart micro Coin Offerings, selling own Crypto startup LO3 Energy on Blockchain
grid management of households in Currencies to investors filling their microgrids.
the Dutch city of Groningen towards war chest. So the Australian Startup
data management of electro vehicle PowerLedger targets the smart Power LO3 Energy realized a microgrid
charging networks. This year January Grid market and has raised over project in Brooklyn mainly enabling
the US smart mobility testbed $34 Million by offering tokens to peer to peer energy trading
company International Transportation investors. This capitalization allows among small prosumers. It is now
Innovation Center (ITIC) announced them to develop and expand new being further developed with the
a partnership to use IOTA's data business models with high speed aid of Siemens Digital Grid in the
market platform in helping technology and independent from traditional US into a full Microgrid integrating
companies develop smart mobility, stock based shareholder legacy. In Siemens Microgrid control
energy and supply chain management Germany the IOTA foundation has technologies.
related applications. placed one of the top ten worldwide
Crypto Currencies with a market This solution will not only enable
SUM UP WHY BLOCKCHAIN IS A capitalization of $6.8 Billion USD. Blockchain-based local energy
POTENTIAL GAME CHANGER IN Recently BOSCH and Volkswagen have trading between producers and
UTILITY AND ENERGY INDUSTRY taken seats in the IOTA Foundation consumers in parts of Brooklyn but
Blockchain is still in an early stage. board to support the technology also balance out local production
But the development is rapid and the development. And in the United States and consumption and make local
technology has disruptive potential in the Siemens grouphas invested in LO3 grids more resilient.
utility and energy sector. It allows to to develop blockchain based energy
enable flexible peer to peer business trading platforms. Markets are moving Blockchain technology is an
models, where prosumers interact rapidly. The enterprises mentioned innovative method of storing
independent from monolith market have decided to push transformation and validating data that permits
players. This will force traditional instead being transformed by new direct transactions between
suppliers into new roles, where blockchain competitors. l energy producers and consumers.
they have to transform traditional Transactions are trackable and
business as energy supplier and Note: the author is invested in crypto tamper-proof on distributed
billing towards new services oriented currencies. Not enough to change life, systems without the need for
business with new revenue streams. but enough to understand their impact. centralized monitoring. The
combination of a microgrid
control solution and Blockchain
technology will make it possible for
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