Andrew BurgerThirty-seven households and a retirement home in the Swiss town of Walenstadt participated in what’s known locally as Quartierstrom, a blockchain-based solar power trading market during the first two weeks of this month (February), a successful start for the pioneering project.
The households and retirement home sourced 25 percent of the solar-generated electrical energy they consumed from their neighbors over the course of the period. That rose to a high of 37 percent. All told, 32 percent of the energy generated among the participants was traded and consumed in the neighborhood. Generators consumed just less than one-half. Eighteen percent was dispatched on to the network of the utility, Walenstadt Water and Electric Co., according to an industry news report.
Source: Institute of Technology Management, University of St.Gallen
The one year-long Quartierstrom (German for district power) project is being run by Swiss universities and companies, including the Bosch IoT Lab, and is supported by Switzerland’s Federal Ministry for Energy under the umbrella of its Lighthouse project. The goal is “to develop a viable concept for the local sale of solar power,” according to the news report. comment↓
Cover image: Wasser-und Elektrizitätswerk Walenstadt (WEW)
