The Western Australian Government says a trial of Power Ledger’s blockchain based energy trading platform is “exciting” and “innovative.”

Energy Minister Ben Wyatt made the comments in a statement about the trial, which enables selected Fremantle households with rooftop solar panels to trade their excess solar energy with their neighbours.

“The trial represents an innovative solution to virtual energy trading that may have implications for energy utilities working to balance energy supply and demand all over the world,” Mr Wyatt said.

“These households are believed to be the first in the world to be taking part in an active, billed, peer-to-peer trading trial that allows them to effectively buy and sell solar energy generated by their rooftop system across the grid.”

The trial gives households the ability to choose how much they are willing to buy and sell solar energy for, and then make the purchase via a blockchain-enabled platform.

Around 40 residential properties across the City of Fremantle will take part in the trial, which will run until June 2019.

Called the “RENeW Nexus project,” it is managed through Curtin University and is supported by the Australian Government through the Smart Cities and Suburbs Program. M

Power Ledger, a peer-to-peer energy-trading platform, is based in Perth, Australia. It was officially formed in May of 2016 and conducted its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in October of 2017.

Recently, Power Ledger took out the top prize at the 2018 Extreme Tech challenge on Richard Branson’s Necker Island.