The Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) has approved a pilot project for peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions of power from rooftop solar systems using blockchain-based technology.

Under this pilot project, government buildings or consumers will carry out peer-to-peer transactions for the trading of rooftop solar power. The fees for the blockchain technology will be recovered in the account rate of return (ARR) of the concerned distribution licensee.

By using blockchain technology, participants can transfer funds, settle trades, or vote without seeking the approval of the central certifying authority.

The commission has directed the Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency (UPNEDA) and Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) to submit the detailed report on the outcome of the pilot so as to fine tune the contour of the regulations and trading rules and then replicate this arrangement on a broad level within the state.

The Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited, along with Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency, had sought permission to carry out the pilot for peer-to-peer transactions of renewable energy-based electricity.

For implementing this project, India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF) has offered to advise the UPPCL with an advisory fee of ₹5 million (~$69,793). The ISGF has also agreed to waive off the transaction fee.

To promote innovations and peer-to-peer energy transactions using blockchain technology between the rooftop solar prosumers, the state had earlier introduced the concept in its Rooftop Solar PV Grid Interactive Systems Gross/Net Metering) Regulations 2019 issued in January 2019.

According to the Harvard Business Review, “…blockchain is an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way…”

Blockchain-based technology has been gaining increasing popularity in numerous business segments around the globe, including solar.

Last year, Singapore’s SP Group, an energy utility group, launched one of the world’s first blockchain-powered renewable energy certificate marketplaces at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Energy Business Forum (AEBF).

Earlier, Mercom reported that Swytch, another U.S.-based blockchain-driven clean energy company, signed a deal with Chuncheon, the capital of Gangwon Province in South Korea, to reduce carbon emissions in the city.

Image credit: Sunsenz