Fujitsu Claims 40% Efficiency Boost for Blockchain Electricity Exchange

Japanese IT giant Fujitsu has developed a blockchain-based system for electricity exchange between enterprise consumers that aims to facilitate a more stable energy supply at peak periods.

Announcing the news on Wednesday, Fujitsu said it had tested the "patent-pending" blockchain system with support from electric power distribution company ENERES and achieved a roughly 40 percent improvement compared to an existing system called demand response (DR).

DR lets electricity consumers help balance the demand and supply of power by reducing or shifting their electricity usage during peak periods and receive incentives in return. But DR needs to be improved, Fujitsu said, explaining that power aggregators – effectively, the energy middlemen – currently interact with electricity consumers on an individual basis to achieve power-saving targets.

Fujitsu's blockchain-based system, on the other hand, is said to quickly calculate how much energy is available from sellers and match that with available buy orders in order to receive a faster response at peak times.

The firm added that it has built technology that can fulfill the orders without wasting energy.

Fujitsu has built several blockchain-based tools and systems in the recent past. Back in October, the firm developed an inter-bank settlement system using the tech in an attempt to achieve low-cost transfer of smaller transactions.

And, last June, the firm launched a blockchain-based data storage system that can be used by retail merchants to tokenize traditional promotional tools such as coupons and reward points.

Fujitsu image via Shutterstock; Chart courtesy of Fujitsu