Blockchain-secured energy management

The energy sector is facing a paradigm shift, moving the generation from large power plants to decentralised sources, where energy is produced locally. Despite the clear advantages of local generation, such as reduced grid losses, higher security of supply and economic benefits, the self-consumption communities are almost nonexistent. Hive Power positions itself in the new regulatory framework, by bringing innovative solutions that make self-consumption communities economically attractive.

Hive Power is a spin-off funded at University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI) in August 2017 by a team of researchers active in the field of electrical load management, as a part of Swiss national center for electrical infrastructure (SCCER-FURIES). Hive Power develops a platform, which is running entirely on a public blockchain. Its goal is to create energy sharing communities where all participants have a guaranteed economic benefit. In contrast to other energy sharing market schemes, the Hive Power platform is designed to take into account technical aspects of the grid, such as the power quality standards in the distribution grid.

The first application of Hive Power will be the creation of self-consumption communities. The members of these communities will coordinate with each other to reduce their expenses in energy, by increasing the self-consumption and autarky of the community. Starting from this initial application, Hive Power plans to expand its platform to the entire low voltage grid, in cooperation with DSOs.

About SCCER-FURIES
The main goal of the SCCER-FURIES is to support the implementation of the Swiss Energy strategy 2050, by transferring knowledge and technology among academic and industrial energy actors. Since its establishment in 2014, the center has co-funded applied research in the smart grid field, which often resulted in industrial applications. Hive Power Sagl is an example of such process.

Vasco Medici, SUPSI