Two green tech firms unveil an innovative AIoT and blockchain solution to overcome barriers to REC acquisition and monetization.
Electricity generated from renewable energy sources is indistinguishable from that produced by any other method, and the only way for corporations (or conscious purchasers of renewable energy) to show proof that they are meeting their global green commitments is to purchase Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).
Each REC certifies that the bearer owns one megawatt-hour of electricity generated from a renewable energy resource. Many corporations, including 269 influential members of the RE100 global initiative, are aiming to achieve 100% use of renewable energy across their business operations and entire supply chains. As such, the demand for RECs has intensified.
However, due to financial costs that must be paid upfront, many renewable-energy asset owners or providers have traditionally resisted registering for RECs. The asset verification and auditing processes can take months, and offer no guarantee of sales after the RECs are eventually acquired.
Matching supply to demand
To overcome barriers to REC acquisition and monetization requires an ecosystem that provides a streamlined, seamless and cost-effective way for small and large renewable-energy asset owners across the world to acquire RECs, offer their supply of RECs to match the exact demand from renewable energy buyers, and generate new revenue streams.
To realize such a platform, two firms—Envision Digital International Pte Ltd and T-RECs.ai—have joined forces to develop and launch such a world-first platform.
Envision Digital runs a smart energy management operating system called EnOS that is currently used to connect and manage more than 63 million smart devices and 180 gigawatts of energy assets globally. By being fully integrated with T-RECs.ai’s REC registration platform, the firm’s proprietary monitoring and advanced analytics capabilities can go one step beyond helping renewable-energy asset owners to track their green assets’ performance, lifecycle and return on investment in real-time.
A real time saverThe new end-to-end ecosystem will allow Envision Digital’s global customer base of utility scale, industrial and commercial renewable-energy asset owners to pull verified and relevant renewable asset information directly from the platform when using T-RECs.ai’s blockchain-powered REHash system to register and manage RECs.
The result is a radical reduction in the time needed for renewable-energy asset owners to acquire RECs: from three months to less than a week. The acquired RECs are then put on sale on T-RECs.ai’s marketplace, with renewable-energy asset owners only charged the financial cost of acquiring a REC after it has been purchased.
From pilot to launch
As part of a successful pilot project in June 2020, two Envision Digital customers owning a collective total of 21.2 megawatts of rooftop solar assets in Tianjin and Guangdong had their RECs successfully registered and verified through T-RECs.ai’s platform, and transacted. These are also the first-ever solar energy assets from China to be registered on APX’s Tradable Instrument for Global Renewables (TIGRs) Registry, under which T-RECs.ai is one of few independent organizations appointed to facilitate RE100-compliant REC verification.
Now, the two firms are making this ecosystem solution available to renewable energy asset owners worldwide.
Said Kang Jen Wee, Founder and CEO, T-RECs.ai: ““We are bridging a longstanding gap in the market where there is strong demand from renewable energy users who do not know who or where to procure the RECs they need, and many renewable energy providers who have excess supply. This new ecosystem therefore streamlines the process of acquiring RECs and facilitates their sales using AI matching capabilities on our marketplace—but without any of the previously-associated financial or fraud risks.”
Together with Envision Digital, Kang believes: “We are delivering the platform of the future for transparent and traceable renewable energy transactions: one that can bring together all renewable energy providers and users as a collective fighting force against climate change.”
Envision Digital’s International President, Sylvie Ouziel said: “We are convinced that technology—for both industrial and digital application—is key to driving inclusive and economically-viable decarbonization. Our digital solutions, and notably our operating system EnOS, enables efficient interactions between renewable energy asset owners and corporations participating in the green economy. We are therefore excited to share the first major development of our partnership with T-RECs.ai.”
Ouziel was referring to the EnOS platform’s ‘Artificial Intelligence of Things’ (AIoT) OS that allows users to enhance the productivity and efficiency of energy assets in real-time and also leverage data, algorithms, interoperability and control functions to realize new revenue opportunities—by offering RECs to RE100 and other like-minded companies.
