TERI unleashes Block-chain enabled Solar Power prototype

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has recently developed a platform to facilitate such peer-to-peer transactions of solar energy among consumers in the same neighbourhood. The platform has been developed as a prototype for enabling a peer-to-peer transactional control in which electricity consumers such as residential premises, malls, schools, or even small and medium enterprises can trade local power generation from rooftop solar plants among themselves.

The prototype is empowered by blockchain technology that ensures security, transparency and efficiency in the transactions that will take place among consumers. TERI has developed this prototype in partnership with Sofocle Technologies Limited, a blockchain and IoT start-up in Noida. The objective of this prototype is to demonstrate the concept of energy trading among rooftop solar plant owners so as to facilitate the development of local electricity markets. This in turn will promote the adoption of rooftop solar PV systems, particularly in the residential consumer segment, as it will incentivise consumers by providing additional incentives of trading among themselves, in addition to selling to the distribution utility.

India aims to install 40,000 MW of electricity capacity from rooftop based solar plants by 2022. The growth among residential consumers has been slow in comparison to the commercial and industrial segments.

"The successful deployment of this prototype would help in scaling up the adoption of rooftop solar in the domestic consumer category" according to Alekhya Datta, Fellow & Area Convenor, TERI, who conceptualised and led the development of this prototype.

In this prototype, electricity subscribers can securely sign in to their accounts and set bids and quote their own price for locally generated energy. A separate portal for distribution utilities is also available for user and meter identity management. The platform also generates reports displaying total settlements, total units produced and consumed via tokens.