Tata Power DDL rolls out live peer-to-peer solar energy trading project

PTI, Mar 3, 2021, 10:33 AM IST

New Delhi: Tata Power Delhi Distribution and Australian tech firm Power Ledger on Wednesday announced the launch of the first live peer-to-peer solar energy trading project in Delhi.

Tata Power DDL and Power Ledger in collaboration with India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF) have rolled out live peer-to-peer (P2P) solar energy trading, a first-of-its-kind pilot project in Delhi, a statement said.

Tata Power Delhi Distribution (TPDDL), a joint venture between Tata Power and the government of NCT of Delhi, is a power distribution utility serving a population of 7 million in Delhi.

This project, announced during India Smart Utility Week, is a major milestone in advancing India’s ambitious renewable energy targets, while introducing the concept of energy trading to the world’s second-biggest city, the statement said.

“Tata Power-DDL is focused towards building a ‘Utility of the Future’ and transforming the power distribution space through innovative green technologies, collaborations and initiatives,” Tata Power-DDL CEO Ganesh Srinivasan said.

Srinivasan further noted that “with growing rooftop solar power being available, we believe that peer-to-peer solar power trading can offer customers the flexibility to buy green power from those who have solar power in excess of their own consumption.”

Under the project, an end total of about 150 sites that include TPDDL’s locations as well as their actual customers with solar generation (prosumers) will be using the platform to sell their excess energy to other residential and commercial sites in a dynamic pricing environment, with benefit from P2P energy trades.

Consumers can choose which seller (prosumer) to buy electricity from, with Power Ledger’s blockchain audit trail of energy transactions providing near-time settlement and complete transparency throughout the entire process, it explained.

This project enables development of an integrated ecosystem of grid-connected, distributed energy resources including EV (electric vehicles)charging stations and battery energy storage systems that can directly participate in the P2P marketplace.

“India is on a fast-track to a greener power mix with aggressive renewable energy targets that include 100GW of solar energy, of which 40GW is to come from rooftop solar,” said Power Ledger Co-Founder and Chairman Jemma Green in the statement.

“Power Ledger’s partnership with ISGF and a major energy provider like Tata Power-DDL is a major milestone in advancing these ambitious targets and introducing the concept of energy trading to the world’s second-biggest city,” she added.

The first pilot of its kind in Delhi currently in progress between 65 prosumers and 75 consumer sites in the capital – 140 buildings and counting.

The full-scale P2P trading trial will test out various trading logics and continue until June 2021, with recommendations provided to the Regulator.

“India is about to delicense power distribution business and make open access to retail customers enabling them to buy electricity from anybody from anywhere. In that scenario, a blockchain platform for P2P trading of electricity will be a perfect game-changer for the clean energy revolution in the country.

“We have already done another successful pilot project in Uttar Pradesh. The results of these two projects should instill confidence in the regulators to draw appropriate regulations for scaling up of P2P trading of electricity in India,” said Reji Kumar Pillai, President – India Smart Grid Forum.