Australian Government Awards Grant to $8 Million Blockchain Energy Pilot

The Australian government has announced its provision of $8 million in grants for a blockchain powered smart utilities project.

It will provide $2.57 million in funding for a cutting edge project in the City of Fremantle and $5.68 million will be funded through project partners including blockchain firm Power Ledger. The project is trailing the use of blockchain-powered distributed energy and water systems and involves academic, infrastructure and technology partners, including Curtin University, Murdoch University, LandCorp, CSIRO and Cisco. It will assess how cities can use blockchain technology and data analytics to integrate distributed energy and water systems.

Curtin University will oversee project management and carry out research supporting the trial.

Greg Morrison, Curtin’s Professor, stated "We will develop a smart metering, battery storage and blockchain trading system to allow energy and water efficiencies between critical dispersed infrastructures that would otherwise have required physical co-location."

The federal grants are being provided as part of the government's Smart Cities and Suburbs Program, with support also coming from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), Western Power, and the CRC for Low Carbon Living.

Power Ledger will provide the transactional layer for the renewable assets as well as the ownership model for the community owned battery.

The project will start within the next two months, and will span over two years.