Russia's National Energy Grid Operator Tests Blockchain for Retail Payments

Publié le by Cointele | Publié le

Russia's national energy grid operator Rosetti is testing a blockchain solution for payments in the retail electricity sector.

The system - initiated by Rosseti and developed by the Russian distributed ledger technology startup Waves - aims to automate and make transactions between energy producers, suppliers and consumers more transparent, as a Dec. 10 blog post from Waves has outlined.

The results of an initial, successful pilot of Waves' blockchain solution - involving 400 households in the regions of Kaliningrad and Sverdlovsk - was first presented at the Electric Networks Forum in Moscow earlier this month.

Ultimately, the partners envision rolling the solution out nationwide.

Waves' solution, which incorporates smart contract technology, enables households to monitor their energy consumption in real time using an app, and automates payments between consumers and energy suppliers in the network.

The solution is directly integrated into electricity meters and involves a partnership with Alfa Bank, the country's largest privately-owned bank.

In a statement, Denis Dodon, director of the Alfa Bank Innovation Development Center, emphasized the importance of partnering with a Russian DLT startup, characterizing the project as a national platform that forms part of a national program.

As reported, Russia is pursuing blockchain development across multiple national infrastructural and urban projects, while the future of decentralized, private cryptocurrencies remains uncertain.

Last year, South Korea's largest power provider, Korea Electric Power Corporation, announced it would be using blockchain and other innovative energy solutions to develop its next-generation micro grid.

This month, Cointelegraph reported that the second-largest power utility in Japan has chosen to extend its trial of a blockchain-powered system for transacting renewable energy credits.

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