Thailand is teaming with a blockchain firm to encourage peer-to-peer trading of renewable energy.
Announced on Monday, Thai Digital Energy Development (TDED) – a public-private joint venture – has inked a deal with blockchain energy startup Power Ledger to develop a blockchain-based digital energy business.
The deal, also in collaboration with energy suppliers in Thailand, seeks to develop solutions for peer-to-peer energy trading and environmental commodity trading, Australia-based Power Ledger said in a press release.
Ultimately, the partners aim to assist Thailand's drive to hit a 25% renewable energy target by 2037 as the nation transitions away from fossil fuels.
“Blockchain-enabled transactive energy solutions including peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading, virtual power plants as well as renewable energy certificates and carbon credits trading will be the key to establishing economically viable renewable energy markets," said Power Ledger's co-founder and executive chairman, Jemma Green.
"Our partnership with TDED will allow us to accelerate our efforts to promote distributed digital energy markets in Thailand,” Green added.
The partners will oversee the management of four "clean power" projects from renewable energy provider BCPG Group, which have been included via a sandbox project to encourage uptake of renewable energy by Thailand's Office of Energy Regulatory Commission.
BCPG is a Bangkok-based firm dealing in solar, wind and geothermal power, with operations in Thailand, Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia. Together with a Thai electrical manufacturer under the Provincial Electricity Authority, it runs the TDED venture.
One of the first projects to come out of the Power Ledger collaboration will focus on energy and carbon management at the 12-megawatt "smart campus" at Chiang Mai University in Thailand’s north.
Power Ledger's "expertise in state-of-the-art technology will help materialize TDED’s goal in the development of digital energy products and services, as well as making clean energy more accessible to people.” said TDED and BCPG president Bundit Sapianchai.
Power Ledger has been working with BCPG in Thailand since 2018 when it launched a peer-to-peer energy trading trial in Bangkok.