Thailand-based multinational energy conglomerate PTT Plc. and global energy blockchain nonprofit Energy Web Foundation announced today the development of a new renewable energy trading platform based on blockchain distributed ledger technology.

According to PTT, there is a strong corporate demand by companies in Thailand, Japan and other southeast Asian countries. The demand is for renewable energy certificates, an option used by companies to trade in renewable energy sources.

Many are interested in tracking renewable energy commitments down through their supply chains, whose operations are often based in Thailand and neighboring countries. Other companies seek to accelerate clean energy usage, including residential rooftop solar installations.

“This new platform will benefit both corporate renewable energy buyers and renewable energy developers,” said Worawat Pitayasiri, senior executive vice president of Innovation and Digital at PTT. “It will better match demand with available supply, help corporate buyers to achieve their sustainability goals more easily, create a supplemental revenue stream for already-operating renewable energy assets, and unlock new investment in additional renewable energy throughout the region.”

In 2018, 1.2 billion energy attribute certificates were traded globally. However, renewable energy certificates in the U.S. and guarantees of origin in Europe have represented the overwhelming majority of global market activity. By comparison, the Thailand and neighboring region accounted for only 5 million megawatt-hours of energy traded, less than one-half of 1% of the global market.

In Thailand specifically there is a huge untapped market for renewables that is forecast to almost double by 2037, according to the country’s Power Development Plan 2018.

“This scenario is tailor-made for a blockchain-based ‘leapfrog’ solution,” said Jesse Morris, chief commercial officer of Energy Web Foundation. “The marketplace we’re co-developing with PTT will help to connect the supply and demand that we know is there, while doing so with the data transparency, reporting credibility and ease that is so important to emerging energy attribute certificate markets.”

The platform will use a distributed ledger in order to facilitate the trade of renewable energy certificates between corporations. Allowing them to exchange certificates in a trustworthy, auditable fashion extremely quickly. The blockchain technology will also provide a historical record that companies can use to understand their procurement and use of renewable energy.

Blockchain technology can be used to record and complete numerous types of financial transactions and many have been used for stocks, real estate bonds, insurance and other certificate exchange. A recent example of an energy market on the blockchain is one built by oil and energy corporations BP Plc. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. in 2018.

PTT has already demonstrated a successful transaction during an early test of the application. With the platform, A solar farm located near the Chanthaburi Shrimp Farmer Cooperative transferred 431 megawatt-hours via PTT’s renewables platform and the Energy Web Chain to 3Degrees, a San Francisco-based trading house that was procuring certificates for a Thailand-based company.

The target date for the platform to launch formally as the PTT Renewables Marketplace Platform is May 2020.

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