Top 5 blockchain projects for ecology

WePower is a blockchain platform created to fund and trade energy from renewable sources. The project is aimed at helping renewable energy producers attract investment by releasing their own tokenized assets. The platform unites energy manufacturers and buyers and enables them to purchase energy at a very competitive cost. In order to make this possible, WePower has developed an Ethereum Smart Energy smart contract for WPR tokens that will help standardize and simplify the global energy investment ecosystem.

The main goal of WePower is to build the infrastructure for combining the production of renewable energy sources and traditional energy system operators, thereby helping the world move to the future of 100% renewable energy.

The platform works as an auction, where energy suppliers can auction off their energy, and buyers can make bids indicating the desired volume and price. After successful acquisition of the lot, a buyer receives a digital power purchase agreement (PPA), which fixes the price and amount of energy at the time of the acquisition.

WePower simplifies the process of signing PPA contracts and offers the opportunity to purchase small shares of energy from suppliers, which allows customers to discover completely new markets.

In February 2020, People Energy and QEnergy companies signed a 10-year PPA contract using the WePower platform. Under an agreement estimated at $10 million, QEnergy acquired a 100% equivalent energy production from a 9.4 MW solar photovoltaic plant located in Robinwale, Australia.

Canada-based company Plastic Bank is a social enterprise with a goal to use recycling to reduce plastic in the ocean and fight global poverty. Plastic Bank pays people to collect plastic, thereby preventing it from getting into the ocean.

Plastic Bank has developed the Plastic Positive program, which allows any person to invest in Social Plastic Collection Credits (SPCC): assets that fund wages of plastic collectors. They also finance the infrastructure needed to reintroduce the materials into the supply chain. The program reduces pollution and poverty, making recycling profitable for the world's most distressed communities.

Thanks to blockchain technology, the company creates a transparent supply chain and provides users with the ability to track project impact in real time. Distribution of SPCC is carried out through the blockchain platform to ensure the transparency of information. It guarantees that the company fulfills all obligations to investors.

Plastic Bank has partnered with IBM to implement their global expansion plans. The company is working with a blockchain project from IBM — IBM Blockchain, delivered in a private cloud from Cognition Foundry, based on the IBM LinuxON infrastructure. Blockchain technology is used in the project during the entire cycle of recycled plastic turnover from collection to delivery to companies for reuse.

The platform works with SC Johnson, a well-known manufacturer of household chemicals and the owner of such brands as Mr. Muscle, Glade and Ziploc. Companies are establishing plastic recycling centers throughout Indonesia. In this country with around 28 million Indonesians living below the poverty line, blockchain technology can help local waste collectors. The program helps people who depend on waste collection as income. Local residents can bring the collected plastic to a special center and receive digital tokens in return. Each center will be able to receive about 100 tons of plastic per year. Received tokens can be used to purchase goods and services.

Plastic Bank also operates in Haiti, the Philippines and Brazil.

Power Ledger is an Australian technology startup that has developed the world's first energy trading platform. Using blockchain technology, the company helps people exchange energy, trade environmental commodities and invest in renewable energy sources.

Energy trading

Power Ledger develops software for buying and selling electricity in real time. For example, users can sell excess energy from their solar panels to their neighbors or sell solar energy stored in batteries.

Users can determine prices on their own in order to trade energy at a favorable rate. All transactions are recorded on the blockchain, which ensures the security and transparency of transactions.

More information about energy trading projects can be found here:
Virtual Power Plant
PPA Vision
xGrid
µGrid

Environmental commodities trading

The technology developed at Power Ledger can be used to make the trade of eco products more transparent, safe and efficient.

The platform can be used to track the energy generated by renewable sources to help reduce harmful emissions.

More details about the projects:
C6
C6+

Investing in energy sources

Power Ledger has developed an asset ownership model that will accelerate renewable energy growth to increase the share of green energy in the world.

The Asset Germination Event project can be a solar, wind or battery farm. Crowd fund participants, i.e. farm owners, will be able to receive part of the profit, proportional to the percentage of ownership of the asset. Ownership of assets can be transferred and sold, thereby providing liquidity.

More about the project:
Asset Germination Events

The company currently has 22 active projects in 8 countries. One of them is a project with Alperia SpA in Italy.

Alperia is a renewable energy manufacturer and one of Italy's largest suppliers of clean energy, with 280,000 consumers.

Power Ledger technology is used to explore a range of new services for Alperia's commercial and residential customers. Services include energy trading, traceability, measurement and verification, and reporting on renewable energy certificates.

Electron is a London-based energy company that uses blockchain technology to design and create digital infrastructure for the energy industry. The company is developing platforms for trade and identification that will facilitate the transition to cheaper, cleaner and more sustainable energy systems.

Together with the National Grid Electricity System Operator, SP Energy Networks and UK Power Networks, Electron launched a project that creates a shared ledger for data storing called RecorDER.

RecorDER provides users with the ability to view assets connected to the energy network by integrating existing datasets in the industry. Transparency and accessibility of data allow to create new systems that can facilitate decarbonization and reduce the overall operating costs of the power systems. Using blockchain technology, parties can create a common data layer without the need to create projects on a large-scale infrastructure or contract third-party providers.

The Sun Exchange company, unlike other companies mentioned in our article, does not develop a blockchain solution on their own, but rather successfully uses cryptocurrencies to promote the use of solar energy.

Sun Exchange provides relevant organizations or businesses with the opportunity to switch to solar energy. The company installs solar panels to provide these organizations with clean electricity.

Then the company launches a crowdsale of solar panels and any individual or legal entity anywhere in the world can purchase them. After that, the panels are leased to the organization for which they were installed. It pays for electricity consumption, and owners automatically receive rent fee on their digital wallet. All payments: panels purchase, rent payment can be made both in local traditional currency and in bitcoins.

Sun Exchange has already successfully launched over 20 projects in South Africa.

According to the company, more than 9,000 people in 145 countries have already registered with the Sun Exchange as buyers or tenants. Now more than 580,000 solar panels are powered for 20 organizations, including schools, supermarkets and a wildlife center.