Zug, Switzerland and Las Vegas, Nevada, USA — 9 October 2020 — Today, NV Energy, a public utility serving more than 1.4 million customers throughout Nevada, Blockchains LLC, and Energy Web announced a blockchain pilot that is expected to enhance the tracking of credits associated with renewable energy generation. Nevada’s Portfolio Energy Credit (PEC) Trading Pilot Project comes in response to a proceeding before the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN), Docket №18–09008, to explore blockchain-based technology to track and certify PECs that are used to determine renewable portfolio standards (RPS) compliance.
“NV Energy is excited to implement this pilot in partnership with Energy Web and Blockchains LLC,” said Amy Lahav, Senior Project Manager of Renewable Energy and Origination at NV Energy. “This experience will give us a better understanding of how open-source blockchain technologies can create value for our customers, reduce our internal costs, and provide access to portfolio energy credit value to more customers who generate renewable energy across Nevada.”
Nevada’s RPS requires electricity providers, including NV Energy, to achieve at least 50 percent renewable energy by 2030. Utilities often meet RPS requirements by procuring large-scale solar and wind energy resources. For example, in December 2018 and again in December 2019, the PUCN approved NV Energy’s integrated resource plan amendments that, once constructed, will add just over 2.2 GW of solar and 690 MW of battery energy storage to its system by 2024. Nevada’s utilities meet the state’s RPS by retiring PECs from resources like these. Whereas typical renewable energy credits (RECs) are generated and tracked at the megawatt-hour (MWh) level, Nevada’s PECs are created at the much smaller kilowatt-hour (kWh) level, making them well-matched to the output from residential solar PV systems.
“Smaller customers — like residential rooftop solar households — can be contributors to RPS requirements,” explained Walter Kok, CEO of Energy Web. “Nevada’s PEC Trading Pilot Project is studying how they can more-easily contribute to the state’s RPS. We’re excited to partner with NV Energy to help the entire system to reduce costs and increase customer participation.”
The pilot is expected to show how a blockchain-based solution can support the entire PEC lifecycle: the registration of renewable energy assets (e.g., rooftop solar systems) and their owners; the certification of PECs; PEC tracking; and finally the sale, transfer, and retirement of PECs. The main objectives are to create a complete and transparent audit trail of the PEC lifecycle, reduce various administrative costs and bottlenecks in the existing PEC process, and show the possibility of creating a more-liquid PEC market that allows the individual customer more access to and insight into the state’s renewable energy program. In the pilot, existing rooftop solar customers would be able to automatically and securely record their generated PEC data to the Energy Web Chain. In the future, a next generation of blockchain-enabled smart meters could further streamline and enhance the PEC trading process for new rooftop solar customers.
“We are excited to explore how IN3 (pronounced in-cubed) — our blockchain connectivity software for the Internet of things (IoT) — can best integrate with smart meters and leverage Energy Web’s open-source technologies to streamline the PEC process,” said Meg VanDeventer, Director of Strategic Partnering of Blockchains LLC.
NV Energy will recruit volunteer households with existing rooftop solar to join the pilot. The three pilot partners plan to begin implementation later this year.
About Energy Web
Energy Web is a global, member-driven nonprofit accelerating a low-carbon, customer-centric electricity system by unleashing the potential of blockchain and decentralized technologies. EW focuses on our open-source, decentralized, digital technology stack — the Energy Web Decentralized Operating System (EW-DOS) — to enable any device, owned by any customer, to participate in any energy market.
In mid-2019, EW launched the Energy Web Chain, the world’s first enterprise-grade, public, open-source blockchain platform tailored to the sector’s regulatory, operational, and market needs. The EW Chain anchors a broader technology stack known as the Energy Web Decentralized Operating System (EW-DOS), a blockchain-plus suite of middleware, toolkits, and other digital solutions to support the energy transition.
EW also fostered the world’s largest energy blockchain ecosystem, comprising utilities, grid operators, renewable energy developers, corporate energy buyers, IoT / telecom leaders, and others. More than two-dozen of those companies host validator nodes for the EW Chain. Energy Web has become the industry’s leading energy blockchain partner and most-respected voice of authority on energy blockchain.
For more, please visit https://energyweb.org.
About NV Energy
NV Energy provides a wide range of energy services to more than 1.4 million customers throughout Nevada and more than 56 million tourists annually. NV Energy, Inc. is a holding company whose principal subsidiaries, Nevada Power Company and Sierra Pacific Power Company, do business as NV Energy. NV Energy is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. Information about NV Energy is available on the company’s website, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages, which can be accessed via nvenergy.com. NV Energy’s focus on the future includes a commitment to renewables that isn’t just meeting standards — it is leading the way. NV Energy’s current portfolio consists of 53 geothermal, solar, hydro, wind, biomass projects both in service and under development, including 2,191 megawatts of new solar energy and nearly 700 megawatts of battery energy storage systems. These projects represent a significant step forward in fulfilling NV Energy’s long-term goal of serving its customers and supporting the state of Nevada with reaching the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) of 50 percent renewable energy by 2030 with a goal of zero carbon emissions from energy producers by 2050.
About Blockchains LLC
Blockchains is a company dedicated to conceptualizing, building, and incubating blockchain-powered ideas. Founded in July 2014 by Jeffrey Berns, a consumer protection attorney and early adopter of blockchain technology, Blockchains seeks to protect and empower individuals through blockchain-based applications.
In June 2019, Blockchains acquired slock.it, a German development company founded to securely connect the internet of things to blockchain networks. The integrated company develops products for Web3, with an emphasis on digital asset custody and management, digital identity and reputation, and connecting devices to blockchains. With these pillars as the foundation of its technology platform, Blockchains is committed to building solutions that provide safe entry to the next-generation web and the sharing economy.
Contacts
Peter Bronski, Energy Web
+1.201.575.5545 | peter.bronski@energyweb.org
Jennifer Schuricht, NV Energy
JSchuricht@nvenergy.com
Meg VanDeventer, Blockchains LLC
+1 775.432.0000 | mvandeventer@blockchains.com