Blockchain Startup LO3 Partners With Power Exchange

Blockchain startup LO3 Energy has scored a partnership with the European Power Exchange, known as EPEX SPOT, to link local electric microgrids to broader wholesale markets.

The two organizations said Tuesday that they signed a memorandum of understanding committing themselves to finding ways to connect local energy markets to larger power networks using a blockchain-based platform.

EPEX SPOT is a power trading company based in France and covering Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg. It allows users in each country to buy or sell excess power to each other.

The company's chairman, Jean-Francois Conil-Lacoste, said in a press release that the energy business faces challenges of "unprecedented dimension."

He continued:

“Innovative digital solutions are needed to further serve the market in this industry revolution and to drive forward the energy transition.”

LO3 will deploy its technology on community microgrids, such as the one it helped developed in its headquarters city of Brooklyn, N.Y., while EPEX SPOT will leverage its international power trading infrastructure to create a broader source of availability.

Essentially, consumers will be able to buy and sell surplus energy from neighbors or faraway strangers. LO3 has already been working on this, developing a platform called Exergy to facilitate local trades.

Among other trades, the partnership aims to help solar panel owners sell their excess energy back to the grid to be stored in batteries operated by the two groups, while consumers can purchase this excess energy during times of need.

LO3 CEO and founder Lawrence Orsini said the partnership "will represent one of the most disruptive applications of technologies in the power markets."

Power grid image via Shutterstock