Grid+, a project from Consensus Systems Inc. that’s looking to build an Ethereum blockchain-based peer-to-peer trading platform for renewable energy, has raised $40 million in a presale for its forthcoming initial coin offering.

The concept involves bringing together two different parts of power generation into the one tradable platform, both existing corporate renewable electricity generators and consumers who are delivering power to the grid through methods such as solar panels and battery storage. At both points, the Ethereum blockchain acts the middleman between suppliers and consumers, automating billing and payments with an aim to deliver electricity at a cheaper rate than is provided by traditional electricity providers.

“Grid+ is a utility provider that exposes its customers to wholesale electricity prices,” the company explains on its ICO site. “By opening economic markets, which are historically locked, Grid+ incentivizes customers to purchase solar panels and batteries. This moves electricity generation from upstream generators to distributed generation sources.”

With the ICO, Grid+ is offering 90 million GRID tokens that can be redeemed to purchase 500 kWh of electricity directly at the wholesale price, the price at which Grid+ purchases electricity from upstream producers. Once launched, the company plans to launch a “BOLT” token that will be used to make transactions on the network between consumers and suppliers. Those tokens will not be limited and will instead be tied to the U.S. dollar to ensure that all parties to a transaction know what they are paying for purchasing electricity or are earning for supplying it.

“Transformation of the energy sector comes down to a shift in economic incentives,” Grid+ Co-founder Alex Miller told Cryptocoin News. “By exposing customers to market-driven pricing, which is traditionally obfuscated, next-generation utilities like Grid+ incentivize consumers to purchase distributed energy resources, such as photovoltaics and batteries, and turn them into revenue streams. Blockchains like Ethereum connect these DERs through a natively p2p transactive layer. The end result is a shift of supply from upstream generators to local prosumers who transmit their power over much shorter distances.”

Grid+ is not the first company to launch a P2P power distribution platform. Australian firm Power Ledger Pty. Ltd. raised AU$17 million ($13.47 million) for a remarkably similar P2P electricity distribution product in an ICO presale earlier this month.

Photo: ZSM/Wikimedia Commons