The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is supporting a blockchain trial that could enable households and business to trade or share power with one-another.

Led by AGL Energy Limited (AGL), in partnership with IBM Australia and distributed energy market advisors Marchment Hill Consulting, the project involves evaluating a virtual trial at Melbourne homes with a mix of solar panels, batteries to store electricity, and ‘smart’ air conditioning. IBM will focus on blockchain applicability to recognising, authenticating and settling energy trading, while Marchment Hill will provide market analysis.

According to the official announcement, ARENA is providing $120,000 to support the $293,800 desktop trial, which was conceived in A-Lab, ARENA’s grid integration innovation lab.

ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said exploring ways for consumers to trade their own energy could help make renewables more affordable and better able to support our grids.

“Australia has experienced a rooftop solar boom in the past decade and we are expecting a residential battery boom to follow in the coming years”, he said. “This means we’d like to explore new technologies and mechanisms to allow consumers and business to trade their own renewable energy with each other and with network companies.”

ARENA said that these trials and projects ultimately aim to get the most value out of solar and battery systems through a more flexible and modern marketplace.

“By supporting innovators like AGL to conduct projects like this, ARENA is helping to ensure a smooth transition to a renewable energy future”.

This initial trial is due for completion in July 2017 and could lead to a physical, real-world trial. It will help understand if there is value in peer-to-peer markets and how blockchain technology could facilitate this market in a cost effective way. In addition, it will also provide valuable information for regulators, energy service companies, start-ups, retailers, and networks on how peer-to-peer trading affects markets and market participants, and how this market could be further developed.