On January 14th, Iberdrola, a major Spanish energy company, has decided to use blockchain to track renewable energy.

According to Europa Press report, the first energy source tracking has been conducted in partnership with Kutxabank. Iberdrola carried out this trial by using two wind farms of Oiz and Maranchón and hydroelectric power station for the renewable energy. The energy were then delivered to banks’ offices located in Basque Country and the southern city of Cordoba.

Greenfield for Blockchain Technology

In their pilot, Iberdrola used Energy Web Foundation — an open-source blockchain platform specifically designed for the energy sector’s regulatory, operational, and market needs. Blockchain technology allows the company to establish a hierarchy producers and to program the process of energy distribution automatically. It means there are no intermediaries, making the energy distributing more simple and less costly.

The test on renewable energy tracking using blockchain was a success. Therefore, Iberdrola believes that blockchain will make great contribution to the process of issuing guarantee of origin (GdO) — a tracking instruments that informs a customer about the source of the energy they consumed. Using blockchain to track the process provides efficiency, flexibility and especially, transparency to both consumers and suppliers.

Iberdrola is not the first company in Spain to apply this blockchain in energy industry. Seeing the potential of this, ACCIONA Energia, another Spanish renewable energy operator, has made an announcement to use blockchain to trace electricity generation.

Blockchain is now becoming commonly used in the energy sector around the world.  Siemens AG, one of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, is also in partnership with Energy Web Foundation to promote the use of blockchain in their sector.