Taiwan-based NextDrive Lianqi Technology, which is focused on energy IoT innovation, is planning to invest in energy blockchain applications. In this regard, NextDrive has partnered with BiiLabs, a startup focused on the Distributed Ledger Technology based on the IOTA Tangle. Under the partnership, both parties will work together to create Asia’s first “instant green energy trading platform”.
NextDrive has made remarkable achievements in the energy field in the past few years. The company uses Cube, the world’s smallest IoT gateway developed independently, to assist users save energy. The company has successfully established itself in the Japanese power market, with orders from several reputed power plants, including Central Power.
Yan Zheyuan, CEO of NextDrive said “Users understand electricity is only the first step. The real goal is to let real-time green energy trade and move into your daily life.”
By joining hands with BiiLabs, NextDrive intends to create a “blockchain + Things” virtual energy trading platform. The partnership once again underlines the technical advantage of IOTA, which has entered into partnerships with several multi-national companies such as Bosch, Foss Motors, Fujitsu to test and deploy its next generation blockchain technology solutions. The IOTA Foundations has recently signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Smart City Office of the Taipei City Government. Zhu Yizhen, co-founder of BiiLabs stated “The special thing is that it solves the major drawbacks of the past blockchain wasting energy, slow transactions and the scale of application cannot be effectively expanded.”
NextDrive stated that it was able to see the “e-commerce opportunity” in Japan and increasing demand for energy trading. The IOTA blockchain based energy trading platform is intended to remove the inefficiencies in energy trading and get rid of complex contracts and poor transaction efficiency. Electric power operators, solar power generators, and households will be able to make use of the IOTA based platform to conduct real-time energy trading through mobile phones in a transparent manner.
The tangle technology will protect the rights of buyers and sellers as the data cannot be tampered. The platform will also eliminate the need to enter into complex contracts thereby saving time which would be otherwise wasted on contract signing and review process. Notably, IOTA’s tangle can handle the process more effectively than other blockchain as the eliminate drawbacks which may arise due to frequent trading.
The combination of IOTA+ Internet of Things enables efficient energy flow. NextDrive’s Cube can be connected with smart meters to study the power consumption of homes and the solar power generation efficiency. Through the decentralized power grid, Japan encourages private power trading. However, a common, secure, decentralized platform for “small transactions” is not available and NextDrive aims to resolve this issue.
IOTA’s blockchain avoids the need for miners. Therefore, no energy is wasted. Furthermore, it facilitates a minimum of 30 transactions per second. The architecture of IOTA is such that the transaction time decreases with an increase in the number of users. The use of BiiLabs’ technology enables NextDrive to develop solutions for the energy market quickly, without a need to build everything from the scratch.
