Australian dairy farmers could share energy via a blockchain microgrid

Source: Netherlands Stock Image

Latrobe Valley dairy farmers could be buying and selling locally generated renewable energy using blockchain, with a feasibility study into a ‘virtual microgrid’ being funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

The project will be led by Brooklyn-based energy company LO3 Energy and focuses on the feasibility of creating a ‘virtual microgrid’ across up to 200 dairy farms, over 100 household consumers and around 20 other commercial and industrial customers in the Gippsland region of Victoria. A ‘virtual microgrid’ is a local marketplace of connected energy users who can buy and sell electricity within a localised area.

The virtual microgrid will incorporate solar PV, battery storage, smart appliances and enabling technologies combined with the LO3’s Exergy peer-to-peer energy trading platform which uses blockchain technology to allow participants to securely buy and sell locally produced renewable energy.

Further reading: Latrobe Valley virtual microgrid could allow dairy farmers to trade energy via blockchain. Australian Renewable Energy Agency, April 27, 2018.