Japanese IT giant Fujitsu says it has concluded a trial phase of its electricity sharing project which uses blockchain technology to optimize energy management. In an official statement on Wednesday, the company said its system successfully addressed inefficiencies in electricity sharing during the test.
“[Fujitsu] have applied blockchain technology to develop a system for trading related to energy shortages and surpluses among electricity consumers, including factories and retail stores,” the statement read.
It explained that the new system allowed consumers participating in the “Demand response (DR) scheme” to exchange electricity surpluses more efficiently. In the DR scheme, electric utilities and consumers of electricity cooperate to control the amount of electricity used during periods of expected peak demand. Fujitsu noted, however, that the system was inefficient hence the trial of is blockchain-enables solution which it said led to approximately 40% improvement to the DR success rate.
The statement read:
“Fujitsu has now devised a system in which electricity consumers can efficiently exchange among themselves the electricity surpluses they have produced through their own electricity generation or power savings.”
The announcement comes just in time for the Energy and Environment Exhibition ENEX 2019. The event which is one of the biggest of its kind in Japan starts today Jan 30 till Friday Jan. Feb 1. And will feature innovations in the energy and environmental sectors. Fujitsu says it will reveal the detailed results of the blockchain trail at the event and hopes more people will be attracted to the Demand response (DR) scheme.
One of the biggest ICT firms in the world, Fujitsu is really involved in blockchain innovation not only in the energy industry but also in areas of financial technology (FinTech). The firm, last year, announced that several top Japanese banks had agreed to trial its technology for inter-bank settlements. As Smartereum reported, the trial which involved MUFG Bank and Mizuho Bank aimed at gauging certain aspects of Fujitsu’s peer to peer transfer platform like viability, security, performance and real-world application of the system.
In July of 2018, the company also launched a blockchain-based consultancy service that created to deliver a minimum viable product within five days after production starts.
Solomon Sunny is the market reporter for Smartereum, one of the global leaders in Ethereum, blockchain and currency news. He produces technical price updates on digital currencies and writes recent developments about blockchain.
