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Southeast Europe
May 4, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 17
Romanian startups at the heart of blockchain energy trading rally
Iulian Ernst in Bucharest
Blockchain technology is in its infancy and the energy sector is heavily regulated with rules vary- ing from country to country, but the benefits of decentralised electricity trading based on distrib- uted ledger technology are so high that start-ups that promise to set up such platforms frequently raise substantial growth funds — albeit most of the time in cryptocurrency.
There are some larger-scale initiatives in the field, such as the “Enerchain” project, a decentralised energy trading platform for the over the counter (OTC) wholesale energy market which is support- ed by more than 30 of the leading European ener- gy trading companies. For the most part, however, this is the domain of pioneering startups. Many are from Western Europe, but among them are several Romanian entrepreneurs that are aiming for global expansion after having collected tens of millions of euros from investors.
A blockchain revolution
Today, blockchain technology provides an environ- ment for the development of decentralised global electricity markets that are closer to the ideal market: transparent and incurring lower trans- action costs and lower entry barriers. Real-time optimisation of production and consumption in particular generates value.
Companies in the field promise worldwide clients, producers and consumers to manage their pro- duction/supply in a flexible way through automat- ed real-time intermediation.
In essence, the technology facilitates more flex-
A power plant doesn’t turn on when one enters the room and switches on the light, but this gives an idea of the system's ambitions.
ible trading of electricity among producers and consumers that use a platform, including new options on both ends. It allows for P2P trade,
is friendly to prosumers — actors who are both producers and consumers — and is particularly applicable for low-carbon resources.
The business model enabled by the new technol- ogy is aimed at cutting intermediation costs and delivering better optimisation options to both consumers and producers. On the other hand, the system still bears some risks, of which the great- est concerns the regulatory regimes that are so different and so strict in each country.
This is this why Bittwatt, the Romanian start-up planning expansion to more than 30 countries, including 17 by 2022, budgeted 15% of its spend- ing for integration with already existing, traditional platforms and only 30% for the development of the Bittwatt platform itself; a further 55% will be used for expansion and marketing purposes.
“At this point I would not say that [the Beta version of Bittwatt’s platform] will completely replace the mar- ket as we know it now, but definitely it will change the way the market operates these days,” the CEO and co-founder of Bittwatt, Daniela Cristina Stoic- escu, told bne IntelliNews in an interview.
“Making a parallel with the way people could work their money until now and seeing the way they do
it now (electronic wallets, cards, etc), we could say that we see the future systems operating automati- cally, similar to the way stock market works today (based on demand-response),” she explained.