More than 3,000 households sign up to P2P green energy exchange

Green energy supplier Rebel will offer traceable renewable energy from local generators to more than 3,000 UK homes via a new peer-to-peer (P2P) trading platform run in partnership with AI and blockchain platform UrbanChain.

Renewable energy supplier Rebel and UrbanChain – which runs the exchange – will supply households across the UK with traceable renewable energy from a combination of solar, wind and hydro assets in their local area.

The blockchain-enabled platform will see households across Scotland, Wales, Manchester, Birmingham, London and the south west purchase electricity directly from generators and receive detailed information about where it has come from and how it is priced.

Users will also be able to sell excess or self-generated electricity.

According to Rebel Energy CEO, Dan Bates, such decentralisation and transparency are key to both accelerating the energy transition and enabling “informed” choices by linking local energy generation directly with customers.

“This is a very scalable collaboration and we want to be one of the largest energy suppliers in the UK,” he said.

“I think customers these days want to know more and more about exactly where they are getting their energy from, as and when they are using it.

“This is also recognition that you can’t overcome a crisis by yourself,” Bates added. “The energy crisis is a problem too big for one individual company. Therefore, it needs people and companies working in collaboration as I think it’s going to need a smorgasbord of solutions over time.”

Enabling participation

According to UrbanChain CEO Somayeh Taheri, green energy prices have always been affected by ups and downs in the broader market due to their intermittency, often leaving customers with rising bills – something the firm’s collaboration with Rebel pledges to tackle.

“Why should renewable energy be the privy of those who can afford it? Part of our mission is around fuel poverty, a mission we also share strongly with UrbanChain,” Bates added.

“We want to enable every household to be able to take advantage of the energy transition. And for them to receive fairly priced energy.”

The P2P platform’s launch comes after a government-backed flexibility market trial in the Orkney Islands saw more than 24,000 peer-to-peer trades take place.

What’s more UK Power Networks, in partnership with EDF Energy and Repowering London, previously provided residents at Elmore House in Brixton the chance to take part in the flexible energy market via its Urban Energy Club.

The project offered residents, who already had access to electricity generated from solar PV systems on the block’s roof and stored in a battery, the chance to trade energy generated by shared assets and generate new income by responding to supply and demand in the area.