The energy industry is prone to disruption in many ways. Contrary to what most people think, the entire renewable energy market is still somewhat centralized. Power Ledger aims to change that by providing the world’s leading peer-to-peer marketplace for renewable energy. It’s an ambitious goal, but can it be realized?
THE PURPOSE OF POWER LEDGER
Combining blockchain technology with renewable energy will undoubtedly lead to some intriguing developments over the years. Building a platform where this energy can be traded freely without any friction is a different matter altogether. Power Ledger wants to remove intermediaries from the equation, as they are focusing on providing the world with a powerful and transparent peer-to-peer marketplace for renewable energy.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
There are many layers to Power Ledger. This project is built on top of Ethereum, which will give it access to oracle services and smart contracts. On top of that, we have the Power Ledger Core layer, followed by the Ecochain services and the Power Ledger applications. Those Power Ledger applications are what most people will want to pay attention to moving forward.
Importantly, there is a strong focus on peer-to-peer trading. Empowering consumers to trade electricity in exchange for automated and real-time payments without relying on third-party service providers is the main selling point of this entire venture. It is also worth noting that Power Ledger is oriented toward Neo retailers, which use smart contracts and supply management together with remuneration and payment settlements to provide a streamlined experience for all parties involved.
Furthermore, Power Ledger provides access to microgrid solutions, a wholesale market settlement application, autonomous asset management, and more. It is evident this platform will also matter as far as electric vehicles are concerned. Power Ledger may even be capable of powering mobile storage discharge facilities moving forward, although that will not be the case anytime soon. There are a lot of options to explore when it comes to Power Ledger, yet it will require a community effort to bring out the best of what the project has to offer.
THE POWR TOKEN EXPLAINED
To most people, it seems confusing as to why Power Ledger needs a native token. The POWR token was created to improve global interoperability, as it can be transferred across borders and converted to the Sparkz token. Sparkz is pegged to the lowest denomination of any local currency in the world, which gives it virtually unlimited potential. Without these tokens, a blockchain-based energy application platform of Power Ledger’s magnitude would be impossible.
THE ROAD AHEAD FOR POWER LEDGER
At this stage in the development process, the Power Ledger team is working on their growth pool for hosting native applications. These users will receive POWR tokens in exchange for providing this critical service. The first asset germination event – which lets POWR owners become co-owners of renewable assets – will take place in late 2018. A beta test of new Power Ledger-based applications is scheduled to occur in Q4 of this year, which will be pretty interesting to keep an eye on. Transitioning to a public blockchain will happen in mid-2019.
