You probably already heard about the cryptocurrency and the most famous representative Bitcoin. Lately, Slovenia has become increasingly popular for projects that want to take advantage of Blockchain technology. More and more domestic innovators are trying to develop their products on this global innovation. These projects ranked Slovenia high on a global map of innovative business models.

Technology has been released in 2008, which means that we are still at a very early stage of development. Just now, first application examples were introduced that will not only serve the financial world but also transfer the benefits of the technological solution to other sectors. Slovenian project SunContract aims to bring the energy sector closer to mainstream adoption through its platform based on transparency, clarity, innovation and ease of use.

How will this look like?

At first glance, the Blockchain technology seems very complicated. Due to rather early stage of development, current solutions and examples of practical use are limited and complex. That means enthusiasts and early users mainly use Blockchain applications. SunContract wants to take advantage of the technology and make it easy to use. Internet has gone through the same process in the past until it became easy to use.

In order for the Blockchain to be widely adopted, technology should be used in a way that is understandable for all. Today, every home owns at least one smartphone but at the beginning, those were accepted first by the younger population. This means that many day-to-day tasks can be moved to apps powered by smartphones. One can go to an online bank instead of losing valuable time, order food through the application instead of waiting in line, giving a tax return through a website, etc.

With Blockchain technology, it is no longer necessary to wait all day for funds transfer between different banks within the country or even wait few days for international transactions. Transfer of value is now much faster and cheaper as the funds transfer fees on blockchain networks are lower than in banking. Similarly, development teams are constantly upgrading networks to become more user-friendly and scalable.

New technological achievement can be widely adopted only if it is easy to use and user-friendly. Such application has to have pleasant interface and clear features. User should not need a lot of time to get used to the interface and has to be able to quickly grasp the most important functions. In this way, the application developers ensures user’s interest and loyalty.

SunContract project will do just that in the field of energy.

The idea of ​​the project is to connect consumers and electricity producers on one place (platform), creating a common market (marketplace) where they will be able to trade with electricity. This type of trading is called peer-to-peer. At any time, one will be able to choose in an easy way from which producer one wants to buy electricity.

In practice, this will mean that neighbors John and Mathew can trade electricity to each other. For example, John has a solar power plant on the roof, which fulfills all of his energy needs. In addition, its domestic power plant makes enough energy that he could sell it to others. Therefore, he decides to sell excess energy on SunContract platform. For this reason, he joins local energy pool, signs the contract with the company that will operate the Platform and his offer is already on the market. In future, signing of a contract could be automated through the technology of Smart Contracts that are written to ledger however, the current legislation does not allow this.

Currently, classical retailer provides energy to his neighbor Mathew. He thinks that he could get more energy for his money and have a better user experience. That is why he is checking SunContract website and decides to download an application, which will allow him to run electricity. He chooses application because phone is simpler and handier than a web site. At the beginning, he also signs a contract, which gives him access to all functionalities. After that, he can easily operate on the Platform.

The system will work in a way that each user on the Platform will get its own wallet. Anyone who will want to buy electricity will have to load local currency on personal wallet or SNC tokens, which will be official payment instrument on the Platform. Electricity will be delivered to the consumer only if this particular consumer will have sufficient balance of funds on his wallet for supplied electricity payment.

Such a system will eliminate defaulters that are very common in current system. Electricity sellers must include unpaid services in their expenses and then charge them in the form of a higher margin to all those who regularly pay for supplied electricity. Of course, this is not fair because all regular payers indirectly pay electricity to those who do not pay for it. SunContract payment system will be fair to all. Lower costs due to elimination of defaulters will bring cheaper electricity to consumers, and at the same time guarantee small producers payment for services.

As already mentioned, electricity will be supplied only if consumer’s wallet balance is high enough. In the moment of electricity delivery, automatic system in the background of the Platform will trigger payment for services and transfer funds to the producer. In few minutes, he will see a new balance on his wallet. Data of supplied electricity and transaction will be recorded on the blockchain and will remain there forever. Both John and Mathew will be able to review data backwards, which will make easier for them to evaluate future production or consumption and monitor their own energy needs.

The Platform will also optimize other processes. This is why producers can expect higher redemption price for electricity and at the same time, consumer will receive more favorable price and better services. Everyone involved will receive better and more transparent service.

Website: https://suncontract.org/

Whitepaper: https://suncontract.org/res/whitepaper.pdf