Major Tokyo Company To Use Blockchain To Trade Excessive Electricity

A local report indicated that Tokyo Electrical Energy Firm Holdings Inc (TEPCO) has partnered with the Japanese trading company Itochu Corp, to develop a blockchain-based platform to trade surplus of electricity between households.

Blockchain-based Trading Platform For Electricity

According to the Nikkei, TEPCO and Itochu signed the partnership to utilize blockchain technology for the upcoming product. The two organizations began initial development stages for the innovative trading platform that employs distributed ledger technology (DLT).

Upon the completion of the project, it will allow buying and selling surplus electricity between homes. Operations should begin within three years, in which time the development and testing processes should be done. TEPCO and Itochu will also work together with governments to initiate a proof-of-concept by March 2021.

The report from today informs that the two organizations will provide households with AI-based storage batteries and solar panels for free. The AI technology will allow TEPCO and Itochu to gather data for the generated and consumed amount of energy, and it will calculate the surplus left for trading.

The purpose of using blockchain, on the other hand, is to enhance the safety of the platform.

Should this trading platform be a success, it will be the first case of traded surplus energy between households in Japan, the two organizations claimed.

Real-Life Blockchain Utilization

The underlying technology behind cryptocurrency assets has seen an increasing number of use cases lately from some major organizations. In Japan again, Sekisui House, a large home building firm, announced plans to use DLT to facilitate and simplify the rental process and leasing contracts.

The research and development team of the American newspaper The New York Times recently tested a DLT-based project attempting to address misleading graphics on the Internet. Testing and improving will continue, but the initial results were somewhat optimistic.

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) also decided to turn to blockchain to execute faster and cheaper money transfers and deposits.

One of the world’s largest index fund management companies – The Vanguard Group – recently completed the first phase of a blockchain pilot designed to digitize the issuance of asset-backed securities (ABS). Thus, Vanguard continued with its positive approach toward DLT after launching a blockchain-based project in 2019 to consume data of $1.3 trillion worth of funds.