Australian startup Power Ledger, the platform allows owners and organizations to buy and sell solar energy through the blockchain network.
I ask your attention an interview with the founder of the ICO the Power Ledger, David Martin.
- Hello! With us today the Power Ledger, the speaker is the managing Director of the project David Martin. Hello David! Thank you for tonight. Tell us about your project?
- Power Ledger is a platform for P2P Commerce electricity consumers in residential houses, or between regulated networks. And you will soon begin selling tokens. You are an existing company with a working platform.
- Why did you have to hold the ICO?
- We have several existing applications that we will post on P2P platform Power Ledger that we have developed. And these apps are designed for P2P trade in electricity, independent ownership of assets, renewable energy and other applications. ICO hold in order to place all applications on the platform and to ensure the compatibility of their work and to expand the use of these applications, a large number of people.
- What is the role of decentralization and blockchain in the project?
The energy sector is going through large changes right now. And probably Australia, where we are, in many respects ahead of other countries in the world. But the rest of the country is not very far behind now. More and more people install solar panels and batteries in their homes. And instead of power system worked in the same direction, and we want to give the opportunity to the multilateral flow of electricity. And because consumers are becoming producers, blockchain allows you to create a trading platform without intermediaries, which reduces the need for energy market energy companies. The cost of the energy component, including the retail margin, etc. And now when consumers will buy and sell power between each other - it will be much cheaper compared to the traditional energy supply system.
- As you said, Australia has gone far ahead in the use of renewable energy. What do you think how much time you take to enter the global market?
We are already negotiating with several international companies. In traditional networks, advanced networks, as in many developed economies of the world an Autonomous renewable energy system begins to get more and more attention. Maybe in Australia started early, but in countries such as Germany and the United States are installing more and more renewable energy sources within the existing power system. But in places like India or Africa, with a large influx of rural population into cities, we have the opportunity to create a new type of power system, which will not repeat the mistakes of the past. We can install renewable energy close to the consumers, it will also give consumers the opportunity to participate in the installation and investment in this infrastructure. And this renewable energy. In India, we are negotiating with the companies that build the microsphere, in the locations where massive in the city resettled rural residents, connecting energy sources with consumers using networks of small scale and allowing consumers to participate in this system. We are creating a platform with low costs and high efficiency.
- Unfortunately, I have not had time to study the policy of the energy sector in Australia, but tell me what was the government's response to your project?
- The reaction was mixed. When we started talking about P2P trade, about 2 years ago and the majority of the regulated network companies thought we were crazy. They said that the energy sector operates. Electricity comes from large power stations from one place to consumers in another. But over time, we began to notice the evolution of the system with increasing renewable energy production outside of the power system network, the company began to notice that the demand for their services begins to fall. With falling demand, reduced the number of consumers that cover the cost of operation of the transmission network and the price increases even more. This, in turn, leads to an increase in cases of the use of distributed renewable energy sources and more consumers out of the grid. This phenomenon is called the "spiral of death" in the dynamics of energy markets, economic dynamics. That is due to the high electricity prices the consumers have to establish their own sources of energy and the system of accumulation, leading to lower demand in the network, prices within the network are growing that gives even more incentive for the remaining consumers to leave the network. Central transmission companies, is a platform that will encourage users to stay online and if we can connect Central network to the trading platform, then consumers who have installed rooftop solar panel and battery and there is access to the network can sell excess electricity to its neighbours, not just to leave the network. And this means that for example if the neighbours are disadvantaged or poor and can't afford to install the solar panel and battery they can get access to cheap and low-carbon electricity by buying it from the neighbors. This helps to ensure that consumers remain in the network improves the use of network assets outside the supply system and promotes the consumption of clean energy at low cost.
What about taxation? You are competing with the government?
- Can, to some extent, but mostly we support the state. If the end result is that the user decides to install a battery somewhere in the garage, and disconnect from the network then it's a disaster for the state transmission company, and people. Because the mains is a social asset. We need to ensure that consumers stay connected. Platform allows you to provide incentives to these customers to remain online and this is a very important model. In most countries, the state does not impose taxes on consumers who sell renewable energy sources and the state still are looking for tools to promote the decarbonization of energoindustria around the world. So they are not taxed. Considering the above mentioned, the blockchain and the technology we developed the Power Ledger, where we can determine all parties to the transaction allow the use of efficient mechanisms of taxation. We certainly did not call for it, but it is possible. We think that the blockchain gives the opportunity for peer-to-peer trading in a distribution system to improve distribution systems worldwide, and enables communities in developing countries to make a jump in the old model of development to a new paradigm.
Let's move on to the ICO, tell us about participation?
- We will soon begin ICO, launched the pre-sale 2 weeks ago, and Sunday 6 days ago it ended. Was available to 100 million tokens at a fixed price of 8.8 cents. All tokens on the pre-sale sold out in 3 days. At the end of next week we will start the ICO, which will last 4 weeks and for purchase will be available to 150 million POWR tokens.
One of the "complaints" of the community, is the number of your tokens. 1 billion. Why do you need so many tokens?
- We need as many tokens because we expect that we will have so many customers on platfrom. POWR token operates as a limited license, which allows users of the application, such as energy companies, network, multi-family complexes to participate in a closed peer-to-peer platform for electricity trading. If you look at the white paper you will see that the platform for Commerce and Power Ledger is designed as a double token. For the component of trade between consumers is the transaction token for a smooth transaction Sparkz. Sparkz is bound to the lowest nominal value of the national currency. That is, in Australia 1 Sparkz is equal to 1 cent. And it is used to denote the volume of trade between consumers. If 1 kilowatt sent my meter into your and we agreed on a price of 20 cents per 1 kWt/hour, then 20 Sparkz will be sent from your wallet to mine. We double Sparkz through the host application, so that the operator or enterprise network trading environment platform host application should pass the token on POWR Power Ledger and convert them into Sparkz. And thus closed the trading environment Sparkz for consumers. And it's important for us, and these are important in a regulated environment. Because the controller must be sure that the system does not involve money laundering or the money just disappear after the transaction of electricity. If the host application closed pool Sparkz and have the opportunity to consumers to buy Sparkz and transfer them to the producing client, and the client can cash out - this is a closed environment. The regulator, furthermore, the interface displays transactions in Fiat. In Australia, when the platform clients will authenticate on the Power Ledger platform with their Bank data to buy Sparkz. The dollars received from purchases are stored on the escrow account Ledger platform Power and then when the transaction is performed Sparkz, producing the energy the client receives Sparkz on your balance start to reverse the process and they are using Power Ledger cash received Sparkz. Thus, Sparkz token is designed to ensure a smooth transaction and because it is a closed system, the banks trust this system, because customers may not be involved in the activity with cryptocurrency for illegal activities. It is a closed system and it was important as a regulated network companies and banking institutions. To allow users who may have never thought of taking cryptocurrency to pay for electricity just like to recharge your phone. If prepaid phone, you are given a certain number of minutes, when buying Sparkz you can pay their electricity bill. At POWR token other functionality. It is a cryptocurrency Protocol that allows an application host to host trading applications on the platform Power Ledger POWR exchanging tokens for a certain number of tokens Sparkz and if it attracts more users to the platform and these users consume more energy, it will require more POWR tokens. Because the number of tokens POWR limited, and through the process of issuing tokens to purchase a licence, we will have to withdraw from circulation more POWR token and this increases their value.
There are 2 things that I was interested in your ICO, is that there is no maximum limit for the collection and second, something that is not sold out tokens will still be issued, which of course will affect the value of the token in the future. Please explain.
Protocol token will grow in value depending on the degree of use of the platform. We decided not to set a maximum limit during the ICO to give to as many people to participate in the purchase. We've all seen a lot of ICO projects, the tokens of which sold out very quickly because they are produced in large volumes and all tokens are purchased. We didn't want to create an environment where users wishing to participate in the platform want to participate in electricity trade, remain without tokens. We have not set a limit to as many people as possible could participate. Your second question regarding unsold tokens. White paper describes in detail how they will be stored and for how long tool into escrow. The cost of the POWR of the token increases with the appearance of apps on the platform and in the process of developing new applications for electricity trade, as simple peer-to-peer trade of electricity in an apartment building or complex task, like charging electric cars or the sale of quotas on emissions of harmful gases and many other applications that can be placed on the platform. The tokens that we will leave after the sale of the others, can be used to attract application developers to the platform. There is a rule according to which these tokens will be stored at the escrow agent a certain period of time. They cannot significantly affect the market POWR token.
- I still want to clarify again that will be not sold out of tokens. This is another question you need to explain to us. For ICO you have 1 million tokens, and what not sold the tokens?
- This is exactly what I said. In the white paper we have a detailed description of how you will use the remaining tokens. Part of the determined team of developers and founders but most will be 2-3 years to be maintained at the escrow agent for current development platforms, as well as to attract application developers to the platform. In the white paper described how and for what period of time the tokens will be the escrow agent. For example, when utility service will join the platform, they will need a certain amount of POWR tokens. Part will be sold, part of the surrender to the possession of escrow, to promote the development of trade environment, increase the number of consumers to increase the amount of electricity sold and as a result, the cost of the POWR of the token. We have not set a limit for ICO is partly due to the fact that we want the largest possible number of people have access to the platform via tokens, because as a platform, and not just the app that makes Power Ledger now, this app is for peer-to-peer transactions, several peer-to-peer applications to trade. But the token POWR supports the work platform Power Ledger, which will be able to place on a lot of different applications. The more developers we can attract to the platform, the higher the cost (POWR token).
- Your goal is to collect 5 to 20 million $ and you have a very clear road map. How will the amount collected on the execution of the road map? If we can collect more than what is expected, this will support us in order to open new markets and accelerate. We have a very clear vision of the marketing approach and this is in the roadmap. We now focusareas in the Australian market, the regulated market of the Australia and New Zealand. And with the development of our capabilities, we will develop more and focus more on emerging markets such as India and other possibilities too, such as the recent negotiations with utility companies in the United States. The more we collect the funds, the faster it will start to work platform, the broader the coverage of the platform and the faster we will be able to reduce the price of POWR token for these investors.
- Tell us who or what is Power Ledger escrow? We conceive it as a smart contract, which will be blocked for at least 2 years.
- Is there source code on Github?
- This is a very technical question. I would be happy to call our technical expert to answer you question. The token will be available no later than 4 weeks to the end of token sales. Tokens will be posted on the stock exchange and we are in talks with several exchanges.
- Summarizing all the things we said, the platform is already running and you have collected the intended amount, and you already almost have the finished product. And I, as a user or holder of the token that I see, and what do I get?
- As a user you will have access to the web portal where you can add funds to use electricity or to register as a user, which will produce electricity on the trading platform. For example, you have a flat in the house another 25 of these apartments, and your share of 1/25 of the energy produced by the solar panels on the roof. But you are going on vacation for 4 weeks or often work outside the home, then you have not been home to use electricity. Your neighbors work from home, and they use more energy than they are allotted. For this reason, your share Sparkz is growing, as your neighbours are using your share of electricity they will pay for it. You will have a positive balance Sparkz on the purse that you will be able to cash out. If you buy energy client in a network environment, you buy Sparkz tokens, and in fact, you leave the Deposit at the expense of electricity. Over time, you will be able to see how much energy they consume, from whom you buy it and will be able to check detailed balance Sparkz. So you can pay for electricity just like you pay for mobile communications, or other utilities. If you partially own a solar farm and you know what state the Institute wants to establish in the Park solar panels with a capacity of 5 MW. You have the opportunity to invest 1 / 1000th of the cost, i.e. you own the megawatts built the farm and you will receive 1/1000 of a share of energy revenue from energy sales will flow directly to your wallet. The user is not so much involved in the process. If you're consuming a client, you just need to buy Sparkz, just as you refill the balance of the phone. If you are a user-maker at you periodically will be able to cash out your balance Sparkz.
- I noticed another interesting point you in the road map indicated that are going to conclude agreements with the stock exchanges. How is this a question? We are still in negotiations with several exchanges, we think everything will be decided by the end of the ICO and we will be able to tell exactly what kind of exchanges we will be placed.
And my last question, do you have competitors? But the state of course.
There are other projects that are considering trading peer-to-peer platform, but none of these projects progressed in implementation of the Power Ledger, and we've seen the reports and Bloomberg New Energy Finance on the blockchain in the system and projects in the energy sector on the basis of the blockchain and this is a very dynamic market. We are very worried about other projects that are developing applications for trading platforms, which is very good. We think it is now important to promote the production of electricity over the network, where consumers build mobile and sustainable network in the fight against climate change. It is very important that we contribute to the decarbonization of the energy sector and give consumers the opportunity to invest and earn income from investing in solar panels, batteries, and other renewable energy sources. I think the more players in this area, the better. We have now the Power Ledger, which is now used by consumers, but Power Ledger platform will allow you to create a range of different applications for peer-to-peer sale of quotas on emissions of harmful gases, and this will help to create more affordable and cleaner energy system around the world.
- I ran out of questions, now you have time to address the audience.
We look forward to the opportunity to make Power Ledger decentralized registry to a decentralized energy system. Energy markets develop, we are moving away from large-scale storage and electricity production to a more decentralized model that is more suited to an urban environment. We have solar panels on the roofs of houses, there are consumers who themselves take the initiative, because the government are not always taking steps which he is expected to decarbonization of the energy sector. It is important that we give consumers the opportunity to receive income from these investments and to be rewarded for their efforts to improve the energy system. The people themselves make these decisions. They are tired of waiting that the government will make these important decisions about renewable energy, so they take the initiative, but it is not for their reward. Platform Power Ledger allows us to reward consumers for the steps they are doing to reduce the environmental impact from the energy system and to improve mobility network and decentralization, focusing on the location of consumers. Dear audience, I highly recommend you to visit the project site and to read the white paper, which is very well written and the project team is very strong.
The project site Power Ledger