As the world moves towards ever-greater use of smart and renewable energy, the need to integrate decentralised energy resources such as solar and wind farms with the existing trading and grid systems is becoming critical. But, as the current energy industry is based on a centralised model, the problem is not a trivial one. The obvious solution is to transform energy, using DLT, into a digital asset. Such a move would benefit traders, producers and consumers alike, by allowing energy to be more effectively tracked and traded, with the security and immutability required in a critical national infrastructure.
Until recently, bringing such a solution into reality required the entire energy sector to migrate all participants onto a single DLT. This is not realistic. Now, however, with the introduction of Quant’s Overledger OS, things have changed. Because Overledger OS delivers, for the first time, a fast, easy route to interoperating internal and external DLTs and legacy networks, allowing participants with their own DLTs, or existing data sources, to integrate their systems. The ability to deploy smart contracts would improve efficiencies, but allow the automation of bidding, purchasing and settlement of digitalised energy assets. By facilitating the use of Treaty Contracts, Quant’s technology for multi-chain smart contracts, allows digital energy assets to be traded via an interconnected platform, while seamlessly integrating with existing legacy systems.
The benefits of this approach are significant. It will introduce new payment and settlement methods, for example, improve traceability of energy, and increase automation through multi-chain Smart Contracts. It will also provide the ability to transact with payment methods such as stablecoins, energy tokens and CBDCs. Adopting DLTs through Overledger will give the UK energy industry the capability of real-time monitoring and trading of energy digital assets, while providing a secure and immutable platform that improves the efficiency of the energy industry as a whole. This will allow countries such as the UK with Green policies to progress toward the future of Smart Cities and peer-to-peer trading which is key to achieving the global goal of carbon net zero.
