Meet REspring, our blockchain-based local renewable energy tracking App
FlexiDAO tracks the production of renewable energy in its origin in real-time, it does not track “green” electrons flowing into your house.
Green energy is energy produced from renewable sources, such as hydroelectricity, wind, biomass and solar energy. Once energy is injected into the energy network, it is impossible to physically distinguish it from other types of energy and thus to trace it to the final consumer.
Renewable electricity is therefore mixed in the system with energy produced from other sources (nuclear power for instance), so “green electrons” do not exist. Therefore, the supply of green electricity is based on a principle of equivalence regulated by financial instruments called Energy Attribute Certificates (EAC). Whenever a renewable plant produces a unit of electricity into the grid, its producer is awarded a certificate that is sold to the highest bidder.
Whoever buys the certificate can then claim that a certain amount of renewable electricity has been produced. Regardless of its sources of supply, the energy supplier puts out the certificate to its consumers that, somewhere in the energy network, an equivalent amount of energy, generated renewably, has been produced.
REspring is an end-to-end sustainability platform for corporate consumers, Energy Retailers, Renewable energy asset owners and - in the short future - for regulators.
-Energy Retailers use REspring to offer sustainability services to their customers, adding a new layer of value beyond the electrons they sell. Consequently, REspring helps energy retailers to create a new revenue stream by tracking the origin of local renewable energy in real-time. Energy Retailers need a renewable energy portfolio in order to register assets in Spring - either under ownership or through PPAs.
-Renewable energy assets owners that sell energy directly to industrial consumers through PPAs can also receive the same benefits as mentioned above for Energy Retailers. Small sized asset owners that do not receive guarantees of origin could benefit by getting paid by the Energy Retailer for their certification.Corporate consumers use the web app as a powerful
-Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) tool. Firstly, it allows them to track transparently their scope 2 carbon emissions from renewable energy in real time for all their facilities. It also enables a marketing tool to share these achievements with their investors, customers, employees or NGOs through online or offline channels. Last but not least it automates the reporting of their sustainability metrics and allows for data download.
-Regulators can use Spring to reduce by more than 90% their cost structure when setting up a new green certificate market in developing countries. Regulators can also create hourly-bundled certificates with price fluctuations following renewable energy supply
FlexiDAO can be apply to:
- Power Purchase Agreements: Phisical and virtual PPAs.
-Green Energy Tariffs: FlexiDAO can work as an agregated PPA concept,where consumers can select different sources of generation assets and where Energy Retailer can offer the traceability to one particular offtracker.
-Distributed Generation: FlexiDAO can go to the KW/hour level, which is particularly interesting for B2C consumers in a community solar concept. Where consumers can select the power plant they prefer from their neighboors and can see the traceability digitally coming from them, even though the energy is not being sold directly from one neighboor to the other, the energy comes from an existing contract. Nevertheless consumers can have a feeling of engagement and proximity in which we call an Airbnb of energy.
-Electro Mobility: FlexiDAO can ensure 100% EV charge by linking the exact source of renewable energy with the electric vehicle we can ensure that carbon emissions are truly reduced when switching from a diesel vehicle to an electric vehicle.
FlexiDAO does not need to replace or substitute existing certification systems or standards, instead FlexiDAO wants to integrate with existing Energy Attribute Certificates systems by simply providing an aditional transparency layer to improve customer experience.
REspring exists in the market right now as a commercial tool for increased traceability and granularity. Nevertheless it can be adopted as a middleware platform for Auditors or Issuing Bodies. It is decentralized, hardware-agnostic, open to all common interface protocols and easily integrable with existing IT architectures.
REspring is an end-to-end sustainability platform for corporate consumers, Energy Retailers, Renewable energy asset owners and - in the short future - for regulators.
Energy Retailers use REspring to offer sustainability services to their customers, adding a new layer of value beyond the electrons they sell. Consequently, REspring helps energy retailers to create a new revenue stream by tracking the origin of local renewable energy in real-time. Energy Retailers need a renewable energy portfolio in order to register assets in Spring - either under ownership or through PPAs.
Renewable energy assets owners that sell energy directly to industrial consumers through PPAs can also receive the same benefits as mentioned above for Energy Retailers. Small sized asset owners that do not receive guarantees of origin could benefit by getting paid by the Energy Retailer for their certification.
Corporate consumers use the web app as a powerful Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) tool. Firstly, it allows them to track transparently their scope 2 carbon emissions from renewable energy in real time for all their facilities. It also enables a marketing tool to share these achievements with their investors, customers, employees or NGOs through online or offline channels. Last but not least it automates the reporting of their sustainability metrics and allows for data download.
Regulators can use REspring to reduce by more than 90% their cost structure when setting up a new green certificate market in developing countries. Regulators can also create hourly-bundled certificates with price fluctuations following renewable energy supply
REspring integrates with the existing commercial contract between an energy supplier and consumer by customizing its energy matching algorithm. The customization options are the following:
Contemporaneity: The Retailer can choose the matching to be executed every 15 minutes, hour or day.
Share: fixed shares of generation capacity can be allocated to consumers
Priority: different priorities can be assigned to consumption point and consumers
Preferences: (in case of multiple generation sites) consumers can provide preferences from where source their energy such as technology type and distance
Matching is automatically performed by an algorithm and triggered immediately when consumption data is received through the API (depending on the timeframe defined in the contemporaneity option).
The algorithm includes all the rules defined in the commercial contracts. Blockchain automatically avoids double-counting, ensuring the trustless and fair allocation and matching of generation with consumption without the need of a third-party overviewing the process
REspring can register multiple renewable generation assets to be allocated for each consumer.
Therefore, if a wind farm in the north of the country is not producing due to lack of wind or maintenance, there can be an alternative in the windy south of the country that covers for that consumption. Different types of assets are also a good way to solve that problem: a wind or hydro plant can cover your consumption at night, whereas a solar plant can do so during the day. If on a certain hour there really is no renewable energy being produced, the truth is you simply cannot be having 100% green energy consumption for that hour. This does not mean that you can be 100% green across the day or across the year - renewable energy from another moment can be allocated to your consumption. But remember: the only true way to reduce carbon emissions is to be totally green every hour.
Yes, REspring is able to track and certify not only electricity but any energy attribute that can be reliably measured (e.g. gas meter).
In the same way the software “tokenizes” the kWh of electricity, it can be applied to a kWh of gas (and even of heat or a kg of CO2). In addition, thanks to REspring’s ability to receive data through API from IoT devices or private databases, it is able to log data, status and activities across the entire value chain of the green gas production and store it in the same green gas certificate, providing an all-around solution that none of the existing Green Gas Certificate (GGC) can offer. On top of a greater consumer experience, similarly to GGC, REspring provides:
Prevention against data duplication.
Automatic identification of IoT devices (or smart meters).
Data exchanges about IoT sensors without third-party involvement.
Elimination of failures and data tampering.
Autonomous peer-to-peer communication
Yes, REspring can trace data and energy flows from of any size, ranging from a prosumer’s rooftop PV, a residential battery or biogas-cogeneration plant to an offshore wind farm.
On-site generation from industrial or residential can therefore also be tracked in the platform For Electric Vehicles, REspring can certify a 100% carbon free charge in real-time.
Several studies have already pointed out the limited carbon reduction when charging an EV with the standard energy from the mix.
FlexiDAO’s CarboNow (CO2 emission calculations tool) links to each certificate a certain CO2 avoidance based on the difference between the carbon intensity of the country and the carbon intensity of the source (which is zero for direct emissions):
Formula: Carbon Intensity Country - Carbon Intensity Source = Carbon Avoidance certificate
For calculations for European countries, the Carbon Intensity of the country is calculated using ENTSO-E platform, and changes every hour.
REspring can generate automated PDF reports that include data on energy consumption, carbon emissions by facility and type of energy consumed for each time period.
Any time period for this data can be selected, down to each day. Reports can be downloaded in pre-set format to comply with entities such as GHG Protocol.
Raw data can also be downloaded to perform internal analysis.
Green energy cannot be touched, smelled or tasted so… as an energy consumer, how do your investors, customers, employees and NGOs really know that you are 100% green? Yes, you do receive a certificate to prove it....it’s a PDF or online page with a number that you receive several months after you consumed that energy. Well, that might not be very engaging for your stakeholders.
With REspring, “greenwashing” blames are over. REspring allows energy consumers to prove their renewable energy supply in real-time to their stakeholders. This can be achieved through online platforms - for instance embedding Spring’s interface within their corporate website or social media channels. Offline channels can also be used for a CSR marketing campaign. Below are some examples of off-line and on-line campaigns:
A hotel chain and a retail store display REspring’s map on large public screens to show to every customer that that particular facility is being powered by 100% renewable energy in real-time.
A large tech firm displays REspring’s interface in their website to prove to NGOs that every 30min their data centers are green.
A bank uses REspring in their investor private online page to show to their investors the truth of their energy supply.
A beverage firm puts a QR code in their soda cans to allow end consumers to scan it and check the carbon footprint of that can.
An automotive company allows every buyer to check the carbon footprint of each specific car produced with renewable energy.
The electricity that flows into the power plug is determined by which power plants are currently producing electricity on the grid it is connected to. If local power plants can’t keep up with demand, electricity might even be imported - for example when the wind doesn’t blow, or during the night when the solar panels can’t produce. The origin of your electricity is determined by where you live and when you consume it. It’s really hard (and expensive) to be 100% renewable all the time without a diversified generation portfolio (i.e. a mix of hydropower, wind and solar) and expensive storage systems, as the wind doesn’t always blow.
Electricity retailers use EACs to overcome this limitation and promise a 100% renewable supply. This is how it works. Trading of EACs is not limited in space nor in time (1 MWh EAC has 1 year validity). It means that retailers can buy a certificate from any region or from the past without making sure the electricity was stored (time) or there is a physical infrastructure able to transport it.
Therefore, renewable certificates give the illusion that being 100% green all the time is easily and cheaply achievable and that green electricity can be separated from the rest, and sent to the lucky subscriber.In reality, the only ways to rely 100% on renewable energy is to buy electricity from a retailer with a diversified and extensive green portfolio (which means building more plants), combine multiple power sources, add a storage system (which means investing in infrastructure) and shift consumption to high renewable availability times (e.g. 2pm when the sun is shining).
REspring adds time and location as constraints to the principle of equivalence regulated by EACs (hyperlink to Q1). The software matches generation and consumption on an hourly or daily basis including proximity as variable, thus ensuring to the consumer that the same amount of energy being consumed is also being generated nearby within the same hour. Unlike EACs, Spring transparently shows if green generation cannot 100% match consumption and it provides the most accurate picture to the actual contribution of renewable energy.
This does not mean that “green electrons” flow into the power plug, but it’s as close as it can get.
When a company buys EACs, as documentation for the electricity delivered or consumed, the certificate is cancelled in the electronic certificate registry. This single standardised instrument allows to track ownership, verify claims and ensure that certificates are only sold once and that there is no double counting. This process is called certificate disclosure and it happens on a yearly basis.
However, no regulator or registry oversees disclosure with granularity higher than twice or three times per year.
This is where and why blockchain comes in place, acting as a digital notary. Units of electricity become digital goods/assets (tokenization of energy) which allows automatic certificate generation (timestamping), transfers and ownership tracking based on cryptographic proof and not employees reviewing spreadsheets. These units (better known as tokens) have nothing to do with cryptocurrencies or ICOs.
Also, FlexiDAO does not act as certifier or controller, but simply as software provider. Spring processes trusted third-party data (e.g. from national data hubs, certified smart meters, DSOs, etc..) and all the transfers integrity are ensured by the technology’s cryptography, not by FlexiDAO.
In the short term, REspring provides an additional transparency layer for large enterprises with social responsibility initiatives that require more strict proofs of green power delivery that EACs cannot provide.
Through APIs Spring connects and syncs with the official EACs registry, ensuring that the aggregated volume of MWh traced every hour or day by Spring is correctly registered and receives the legal regulatory stamp (hyperlink to next question).
In the long term, we are convinced that blockchain technology would add the most value as IT back-end system for Issuing Bodies. Relying on a software like ours as back-end would allow GoOs (and all the other EACs mechanisms) to capture all the end-to-end process in one ledger, allowing all the parties to work on the same data. This would result into drastic cost reductions, by avoiding any kind of settlement process and by automating the auditing of double-counting, false claims and human errors. Moreover, it would streamline trading by eliminating the need for brokers and portfolio management companies thanks to smart contracts, which would already include a set of programmed rules.
FlexiDAO is currently developing API integration with IREC registry and Grexel platform to ensure full regulatory compliance. More registries will be integrated in time.
In no way the software aims to replace existing mechanisms such as GoO, but rather be an enhancement of it. In fact, the software processes the same data as the GoO (coming either from Retailer, TSO and DSO) and it offers the synchronization of the blockchain-based traceability service with existing EAC mechanisms. This synchronization can happen - depending on the country’s mechanism - either through direct API integration with the electronic platform of the Issuing Body (IB) or through the automatic generation of the forms required by the IB.
We are using blockchain as a real-time digital notary that can ensure that a unit of electricity is not being assigned twice in our platform.
One API integration that works across utilities, grid operators and hardware vendors to collect generation and consumption data. This allows for seamless, flexible integration with sub-meters, as well as with different generations of smart meters managed by DSOs.
One API integration that works across utilities, grid operators and hardware vendors to collect generation and consumption data. This allows for seamless, flexible integration with sub-meters, as well as with different generations of smart meters managed by DSOs.
Non-settlement (both for generation and consumption data) as the real-time data collected from smart meters or SCADA. This data is not rectified or validated by DSOs, might have inaccuracies and cannot be used for billing
Settlement data (both for generation and consumption data) as the ex-post data rectified and validated by grid operators. This data can be used for billing.
The software can automatically process both non-settlement data for real-time matching and visualization and settlement data to rectify (if needed) the real-time matching according to the legal market data and perform billing. Blockchain and smart contracts act as digital notary and bookkeeper to avoid any data manipulation and keep track of transactions and rectifications for compliance
Sensitive customer and generation metadata (e.g. name, location, organization, etc..) is stored off-chain, safely hidden in the Retailer’s private database. Each user and plant is identified by a digital identity, which is effectively a smart contract that contains the hashing of the information stored off-chain. This is done according to the highest security industry standard and the guidelines on Blockchain and GDPR released by the European Blockchain Observatory and Forum in October 2018.
REspring has been built to be blockchain-agnostic, meaning that the software could potentially interact with any kind of blockchain. As of today, REspring can be immediately deployed on any blockchain based on the Ethereum Virtual Machine as well as on future para-chains such as Polkadot. The reason for choosing Ethereum as reference ecosystem are the following:
It is a Turing-complete system, meaning that is able to compute anything computable, given enough resources.
It enables the creation of Private (e.g. Fabric from Hyperledger), Public (the Ethereum Public Blockchain) and Hybrid (e.g. Energy Web Blockchain) types of blockchain, providing technical solutions for many different use cases.
It has established as the market leader, with around 90% of decentralized applications being developed and deployed on EVM-based blockchain.
It has by far the largest community of active developer.
As default, Spring works on top the Energy Web Blockchain from the Energy Web Foundation. This is for three main reasons: scalability with low transaction costs, low energy consumption and privacy of transactions within a public network.
Energy Web blockchain is an open source, public proof of authority (PoA) blockchain built on top of Ethereum core technology for the energy sector.
Scalability with low transaction costs:
• Proof of authority PoA chains are much more scalable than others (e.gBitcoin) because they rely on trusted authorities (i.e. ~100 utilities and startups part of EWF) to validate transaction and sustain the blockchain, instead of millionsof nodes
• Cost per trasactionisx1000 smallerthanpublic Ethereum blockchain
Low energy consumption
PoA chains don’t use “mining” as traditional proof-of-work (PoW) chains do (e.g. Bitcoin). PoW is an exceptionally energy intensive computing operation. Substituting PoW with PoA allows EW Blockchain to be extremely energy efficient.
Private transactions on a public network: EW Blockchain fits perfectly with the R.E. certification use case.
• It’s public and open-source, so it allows full transparencyand interoperability among market participants
•Through the mechaism called «zero-knowledge-proof» it enables private transactions without compromising transparency
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