Saad Ullah
Decentralized Energy Trading and Management
The investment by OVO has been made through Kaluza, its energy technology division. Kaluza has been specifically created by OVO to provide software and hardware support to the energy sector. The investment by Kaluza in Electron has been done in order to back it for the development and deployment of its energy trading platform.
According to the announcement, the funding from OVO’s Kaluza will be done for “the development of Electron’s shared asset register [and]will be crucial to supporting the growth of Kaluza and deliver on its mission to securely connect all devices to an intelligent zero-carbon grid”. The final output can either be in the form of energy management platforms or an energy marketplace.
OVO is in a high gear of expansion. With a cash injection of EUR 200 millionby the Mitsubishi Corporation, the energy firm is already looking to future technology to give its competitors a stiff competition as it looks towards spreading its wings in the international market. Currently OVO stands as the seventh largest energy producer in the UK.
Blockchain in Energy Sector
With the speed and efficiency decentralized technology such as blockchain offers, it is not surprising that the energy sector is looking towards adopting it.
Spain’s Iberdola is already using blockchain to track its renewable energy production. The largest oil producing companies, Shell, BP and Equinor have also teamed up for blockchain based energy trading. IBM has partnered with several firms for different usage of blockchain in the energy sector, such as Abu Dhabi National Oil Company for blockchain based supply chainto combating child labor in the mineral production for electrical vehicle batteries.
The investments are not without reason. A reportby Infoholic Research LLP suggests that blockchain usage in the energy sector is expected to grow by 60 percent in 2024, reaching USD 3.4 billion.
Saad Ullah
