Thailand-based multinational energy conglomerate PTT has teamed with the Energy Web Foundation (EWF) to develop a new blockchain-based renewables platform.
PTT conducts integrated energy and petrochemical business as Thailand’s energy company. PTT’s mission is to equally respond to all stakeholders, including Thailand, community and society, shareholders, customers, business partners, and employees.
EWF is a global nonprofit that fosters value creation in the energy sector by building and promoting an open, decentralized software infrastructure built around blockchain technology. EWF’s enterprise-grade blockchain, called Energy Web Chain (EWC), aims to ensure interoperability, reduce costs and complexity, align currently dispersed blockchain initiatives, and facilitate technology deployment through easy-to-implement solutions.
In a press release, PTT said it is working with the EWF on a new blockchain-based solution that will support corporate renewable purchases in Thailand and the broader ASEAN region. The platform will reportedly be built on the Energy Web Chain and leverage the EW Origin family of open-source software development toolkits to create a regional solution compliant with the International REC Standard (I-REC).
“In such emerging renewables markets as Thailand and ASEAN more broadly, I-REC has proven the standard of choice,” the firms said. “PTT and EWF’s new blockchain-based solution will bidirectionally sync with the I-REC database managed by the Green Certificate Company.”
Worawat Pitayasiri, senior executive vice president, Innovation and Digital, PTT, said that the new platform will benefit both corporate renewable energy buyers and renewable energy developers.
“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,” said Pitayasiri “We are proud to create this journey and unleash the potential of renewables in Thailand and the region.”
According to PTT, it has already demonstrated a successful transaction on an early test version of the application. GPSC’s 5 MW solar farm located at the Chanthaburi Shrimp Farmer Cooperative successfully transferred 431 I-RECs (MWh) via PTT’s renewables platform and the Energy Web Chain to 3Degrees, a San Francisco-based trading house that was procuring the I-RECs on behalf of a client in Thailand. PTT and 3Degrees are both EWF Affiliates. The target delivery date for the complete PTT Renewables Marketplace Platform is May 2020.
“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 EAC markets,” said Jesse Morris, chief commercial officer of EWF.
