Based on the results of the BMWi-funded research projects IRENE and IREN2, an energy-trading platform using complimentary cloud services is currently being developed in the Allgäu region of Bavaria. This will enable private and commercial users of a regional distribution grid to trade electricity directly with each other. The accounting will be handled via so-called “smart contracts”, also based on blockchain technology.

The project will focus on developing and testing the business model including cloud services as well as on setting up an active sales distribution management system. The integration of information and communications technology will enable the distribution system operators, for instance, to manage consumption using dynamic grid fees. Since the current energy legislation does not allow for a model like the one being tested in pebbles, the researchers will also be formulating proposals to establish suitable regulatory framework conditions.

Based on concepts and preliminary analyses, the project will initially involve developing the prototypical software and hardware as well as information and communications technology. Subsequently, these concepts and technologies will be tested under real-life conditions, also in the form of a long-term demonstrator. Parallel monitoring will permit the evaluation of concepts and technologies and their interaction.

The research project is comprehensively testing blockchain technology in the German energy sector for the first time. It will be funded for a period of three years until the beginning of 2021 as part of the BMWI funding programme Smart Sevice World II.