Marubeni Trials LO3 Energy’s Blockchain Powered Trading Platform

In a media release, Japan’s trading giant Marubeni Corporation has revealed that it has joined hands with a New York based blockchain startup firm to use the latter’s technology for its energy trade. Specifically, Marubeni, which has widened its area of operations to cover the US and Europe, has chosen the trading platform offered by LO3 Energy as the foundation for its pilot project, which is in progress.

Notably, Marubeni is Japan’s fifth largest sōgō shōsha, a kind of firm that trades in a diverse range of commodities. Through the use of blockchain, the partnership intends to improve automation and capability of renewable products offered by Marubeni.

LO3 Energy CEO Lawrence Orsini explained about the changes going in the Japanese energy sector as follows:

“The Japanese energy sector is in the midst of a drastic transition, and there are increasing numbers of private power producers and suppliers interested in developing new customer offerings particularly in the renewable energy space.”

“Initially this project is internally focused, but it is very much driven by the desire from Marubeni to explore the opportunities that blockchain management systems can offer in the transaction of energy throughout Japan.”

Yoshiaki Yokota, chief operating officer of Marubeni’s power business division, explained the reason for the PoC:

“This project will allow us to privately evaluate how this kind of network could work here in Japan and develop case examples that we can use to decide how and when this kind of project could be implemented widely.”

With this project, Marubeni joins the growing list of players who are piloting blockchain-based solutions for real world use of energy related transactions.

Last month, Fujitsu, in partnership with utilities supplier Eneres, completed testing an energy sharing venture that uses blockchain. Notably, Brooklyn Microgrid project, a New York based small energy sharing network, already uses LO3’s energy platform