Prosume, a Swiss Foundation, has announced the Prosume Energy Foundation (PEF) a blockchain based, peer-to-peer online marketplace for the exchange of energy assets. The ‘revolutionary’ PEF platform will allow communities to exchange electricity from both renewable and fossil sources. PEF connects independent power producers, consumers, utility companies and energy communities in a locally shared market where each peer is free to interact in a multi-tenant ecosystem. The decentralized, self-regulated monitoring system, guarantees an autonomous, independent and digital ‘smart place’ where users to exchange different energy sources, promoting and accelerating new energy community models.
Energy professional consumers, a.k.a. ‘prosumers,’ will become actors in a new ‘decentralized, digitized and decarbonized’ ecosystem. Seemingly, ‘starting a fossil or nuclear company today is not economically convenient anymore’ as years are required to amortize the high up-front investment.
The Prosume network and ‘energy layer’ will form a ‘blockchain-based Internet of Energy.’ Prosume R&D includes ‘innovative hardware and IoT-devices related to smart metering, smart grid, smart billing, energy routers and devices.’
The company is currently running a crowdfunding campaign and is negotiating eight different pilot projects in Europe. The twenty-strong PEF advisory board includes two representatives from Ernst & Young.