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36 I Southeast Europe bne June 2018
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.
Romanian startups at the heart of blockchain energy trading rally
In essence, the technology facilitates more flexible 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 produc- ers and consumers – and is particularly applicable for low-carbon resources.
The business model enabled by the new technology 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 greatest 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 spending for inte- gration with already existing, traditional platforms and only 30% for the develop- ment of the Bittwatt platform itself; a further 55% will be used for expansion and marketing purposes.
“The Beta version of Bittwatt’s platform will not completely replace the market 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 Stoicescu, 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 (elec-
Iulian Ernst in Bucharest
Blockchain technology is in its infancy and the energy sector
is heavily regulated with rules varying from country to country, but the benefits of decentralised electricity trading based on distributed 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 supported by more than 30 of the leading European energy 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.
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A blockchain revolution
Today, blockchain technology provides an environment for the development of decentralised global electricity markets that are closer to the ideal market: transparent and incurring lower transaction costs and lower
“Bittwatt’s platform will not completely replace the market as we know it now, but definitely it will change the way the market operates”
entry barriers. Real-time optimisation of production and consumption in particular generates value.
Companies in the field promise world- wide clients, producers and consumers to manage their production/supply in a flexible way through automated real- time intermediation.
tronic wallets, cards, etc), we could say that we see the future systems operating automatically, similar to the way stock market works today (based on demand- response),” she explained.
Rival start-ups from Romania
Earlier this year, another Romanian start-up, Restart Energy, which is