Bunbury to sell excess power to neighbors

Australians with solar panels will be allowed to sell excess power to each other under a world-first regional program.

The trial, made possible by Blockchain, the technology behind the virtual currency Bit coin, will allow participants in Bunbury — the third largest city in Western Australia — to sell excess power to their neighbors for between 5 and 20 US cents per unit.

Under the current system, consumers can only sell excess power back to providers for 5 US cents per unit but if they then need to buy more power they must pay 20 US cents per unit.

Jemma Green, chairwoman of startup Power Ledger, which ran the trial, said the success of the experiment demonstrated the demand by consumers for greater control of their power usage.

“It’s clear people want control of their electricity and to commercialize it how they see fit,” Green told Fairfax Media on Tuesday.

Special Blockchain software allowed participants in the trial to see the implications of selling or buying power at any given time such as how much money they would make or spend.

“A local government might have demand in one area but no roof space, and lower energy use down the road in a place that can have panels installed,” Green said. “They could then use the Blockchain to provide for more of their own energy needs.”

Green added: “At the moment we pay a flat energy tariff and also a time of day tariff based on how much it costs to produce energy at that time of the day. So people can store energy and sell it while the price is high. Apart from people getting a return on their solar panel investment sooner, there will be an increase in installations.”

Green said Power Ledger has had discussions with companies in Japan, Brazil and New Zealand about deploying the new technology.