Kyocera and LO3 Energy are working on a joint project to test the feasibility of a virtual power plant managed by blockchain technology, the same technology used in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The test, at Kyocera’s Yokohama Nakayama office in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, will be on a small virtual power plant that uses the company’s solar photovoltaic modules and batteries. The virtual power plant comprises 100 solar modules with a total capacity of 26 kW that are connected to a 3kW, 12 kWh energy storage system. The energy will be controlled through LO3 Energy’s distributed ledger technology to log and manage energy flows. LO3’s blockchain technology will be used to verify and record transactions, enabling consumers to share the energy they produce with their solar panels via a microgrid. The longer-term goal of the project is to make it possible for external parties to bid their controllable loads into the local power market to help achieve load reduction and flexibility, Scott Kessler, director of business development at LO3, said. Later phases of the project would include tying the virtual power plant into wholesale markets and incorporating a wider variety of distributed energy resources.

The tests are expected to last until around 2021, but Kyocera said it could continue testing beyond that date, if warranted. If the tests are successful, Kyocera and LO3 Energy would jointly develop a platform that would be able to make solar power more viable in Japan and help support a new energy system that is under consideration by Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. The Japanese market was recently liberalized, so competition in retail energy markets is still relatively new. In addition, feed-in tariffs for solar power are being phased out. Currently virtual power plants are not eligible to participate in Japan’s wholesale […]