Blockchain Put to Work in VPP Test with Solar and Batteries

   2019-03-08 22:03

Kyocera Corporation and LO3 Energy Inc. plan to test the feasibility of a blockchain-managed virtual power plant (VPP).

The test was scheduled to take place starting in late February at a Kyocera office in Japan, where a small virtual power plant (VPP) was to be installed using the company’s solar photovoltaic modules and batteries.



Operations are to be controlled using LO3 Energy’s distributed ledger technology to log and manage energy flow. The blockchain technology verifies and records transactions, potentially enabling consumer sharing of energy via a microgrid. The concept could help reduce load burdens on the larger energy grid.

Research initiatives are under way in Japan to create smart energy networks. Kyocera has provided solar power generating systems and storage batteries for a number of government-led VPP test projects.

Kyocera entered the renewable energy field in the 1970s with solar photovoltaic modules and has diversified its business into storage batteries.

As part of the test, Kyocera’s solar power generating systems and storage batteries will be installed to simulate separate power users. The companies will further develop their VPP technology using data from sensors to increase the accuracy of distributed power sources used by the project’s simulated transmission and distribution system operators.

In addition, the companies plan to examine power-control results using LO3 Energy’s peer-to-peer platform that controls power generation and availability among connected users. Through this testing, the companies said they expect to develop new ways to expand the efficiency of existing energy transmission and distribution networks in Japan and worldwide.

Peer-to-peer systems connect computers equally through a network. On a peer-to-peer energy platform, so-called “prosumers” who generate energy through a renewable resource can transact energy autonomously with other consumers on the platform.


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