Blockchain startup Electron receives funding from UK government, to pilot energy trading platform in South Korea

Blockchain energy startup Electron has announced that it is going to pilot an energy flexibility trading platform in South Korea in collaboration with GridWiz.

In an official announcement dated October 17, Electron said that it has been awarded further funding from the UK’s Government Department of Business Education, Innovation and Skills (BEIS), which will help fund the project with GridWiz, a South Korean energy solutions provider. The grant was awarded as part of the UK-South Korea Smart Energy Innovation Collaboration competition.

Electron and GridWiz will team up to research, design and test energy flexibility products for the South Korean electricity market. The project will build upon Electron’s blockchain trading platform, which it is developing for the GB electricity market with support from a consortium of 12 leading UK energy players.

By leveraging blockchain technology, Electron’s platform aligns incentives for all market participants, thereby creating the opportunity for flexibility buyers to realise cost savings, and flexibility sellers to access the full “value stack” of their assets.

“The South Korean electricity markets are decarbonising and decentralising, and now is the time to start building the next generation of smart infrastructure. This platform could facilitate better integration of assets and uptake of energy flexibility, to creating a cheaper, greener electricity system for all,” Paul Massara, Electron CEO, said.

The project will also be supported by Imperial College London, which will assess future scenarios relating to the system-wide benefits of the large-scale rollout of distributed energy. Imperial will also evaluate what the system value and business case of alternative flexibility technologies in South Korea could be.

Electron said that the project will run till 2020 and will conclude with a series of real-world transactions.