Siemens-backed blockchain energy platform showcases in Germany

A blockchain-based energy trading platform backed by German tech giant Siemens is being publicly demonstrated in a Bavarian municipality today.

The so-called “Pebbles” project — short for “peer-to-peer energy trading based on blockchains” — is holding a virtual demo of its blockchain-based marketplace platform for optimized electricity trading. The demo was officially announced by the project on Oct. 22.

The public demonstration of Pebbles’ energy platform in the town of Wildpoldsried in Bavarian marks a major milestone after the project was launched in March 2018.

Funded by German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Pebbles is a joint initiative by the regional utility Allgäuer Überlandwerk, grid operator AllgäuNetz and Siemens. The project is also supported by the University of Applied Sciences at Kempten and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology.

The initiative aims to provide a platform to enable private energy producers to market their electricity directly to local consumers without the need for middlemen or traditional grid operators. The platform also intends to provide flexible power from battery storage for electric vehicles. Blockchain implementation is designed to ensure that all information regarding market transactions is immutable and transparent.

Pebbles is not the only blockchain-based energy project being developed in Germany. In February 2020, the BMWi published an analysis of major blockchain implementations in energy trading, highlighting four related projects including BloGPV, SMECS, ETIBLOGG, as well as Pebbles.

In October 2020, Germany’s major governmental group responsible for energy innovation in Germany — Deutsche Energie-Agentur, or DENA, — claimed that the authority is looking to move its energy ecosystem to a decentralized database.