LO3 Energy, an energy-tech company revolutionizing the future of energy through disruptive technologies, and the European Power Exchange EPEX SPOT have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Paris today. Both companies commit to sharing their complementary expertise to develop solutions connecting the local and the wholesale market using blockchain technology and involving clean energy. A first realization of this partnership will involve pilot projects in Europe. The LO3 technology will be deployed in community microgrids, and the two partners will connect these local peer-to-peer markets to the EPEX SPOT wholesale markets.
Connecting the microgrid to the wholesale market, the partners will enable microgrid participants to obtain greater value for their distributed energy resources, through increased flexibility, transparent price signals, and other value streams, such as predictive analytics. For example, prosumers can feed excess electricity from their solar panels back into the grid and consumers can purchase shortfalls at a market price and optimize their energy consumption using batteries. All market participants benefit from market reference prices and exchange services, and from further market opportunities involving clean energy. “LO3 Energy and EPEX SPOT are joining forces in order to tackle the challenges of the energy sector, which are of unprecedented dimension. Innovative digital solutions are needed to further serve the market in this industry revolution and to drive forward the energy transition” explains Jean-François Conil-Lacoste, Chairman of the Management Board of EPEX SPOT. “Running on Exergy, this partnership will represent one of the most disruptive applications of technologies in the power markets” adds Lawrence Orsini, CEO and Founder of LO3 Energy.
The energy world is being disrupted and challenged by multiple elements across the value chain, such as the massive development of renewables to reach the Paris Agreement, the emergence of local power communities and the increasing development of demand-response, electric vehicles, batteries, storage and Internet of Things. LO3 Energy has been operating within this realm, developing a technology platform called Exergy, that empowers neighbors to buy and sell excess energy, and utility partners to unlock data at the edge of the grid. Its flagship project, the Brooklyn Microgrid, was the world’s first blockchain-based microgrid. In parallel EPEX SPOT has been a leading actor in the development and evolution of the European power spot market over the past decade. As a forerunner in the integration of the European power markets, EPEX SPOT has developed solutions toward the optimization of continental markets, the optimized use of interconnectors at European borders and the integration of renewables through innovative products.