Power Ledger

Power Ledger (POWR) is a 2016 founded Australian peer-to-peer energy trading company. It uses a blockchain-based cryptocurrency and energy trading platform that allows for decentralized selling and buying of renewable energy. The platform provides consumers with access to a variety of energy markets around the globe and is meant to be scalable to various energy infrastructures and regulations. The market is based on a dual-token ecosystem operating on two blockchain layers, POWR and Sparkz. POWR tokens allow consumers and hosts providing energy to interface with the ecosystem and are protected through Smart Bond technology. POWR tokens can be converted into Sparkz tokens, which can be used for frictionless transactions in the energy exchange market. The initial coin offering for POWR tokens became the largest crowd funding project in Australia and the 14th highest in the world.

History

Plans for a blockchain energy trading platform based in Perth, Australia were publicly announced on 11 August 2016 by chair Jemma Green and managing director Dave Martin. On 24 August the company announced that it would utilize Ecochain technology to store energy readings. Power Ledger's white paper was officially released in a company press release on 27 July 2017. In the white paper, the company revealed an ERC-20 Ethereum-based token called POWR, which would be implemented into the Power Ledger platform, and Sparkz, on their own Consortium Ethereum Network. The company maintained that demand for POWR tokens would increase as the platform user-base grows, thereby changing the price of the token and allowing for the exchange of POWR tokens for Sparkz tokens.

In January 2020 Power Ledger purchased a 250 kilowatt photovoltaic system that will utilize a blockchain-based data management and settlement system.

Additional partners

• National Lifestyle Villages (11 August 2016) - a sale and rental company for village communities
• India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF) (December 2019) - a public-private partnership with the Indian government

Funding

The company launched its pre-sale on 27 August 2017. In three days, over 100 million POWR tokens were sold, with 25% sold in the first hour. An extra 5% of tokens was awarded to every transaction that took place during the pre-sale. Power Ledger raised $17 million AUD during its pre-sale, which ended on 3 September 2017.

Public sale of POWR tokens officially began on 6 October 2017, during the company's initial coin offering (ICO). An additional 150 million POWR tokens were offered during the main sale. On 6 October 2017 the company had reported that it had raised over $34 million AUD ($24 million United States dollar ) overall during its ICO, including the amount raised during the pre-sale. A reported 15,000 supporters backed the token.

On 17 November 2017 the company announced in a press release that the Australian government had awarded $2.57 million AUD in grants for a two-year research project to take place in the City of Fremantle. The project is expected to be Power Ledger's first examination of the potential of blockchain technology in integrating distributed energy and water systems. Seven additional project partners contributed a combined value of $5.68 million for the project for a total funding of $8 million. The project was the second largest recipient of the 2017 Smart Cities and Suburbs Program award, a $50 million grant from the Australian government supporting innovative smart city projects.

Criticism

In December 2018, the company was criticized for paying spruikers. Power Ledger later responded, stating 'The article contains a number of inaccuracies we believe require clarification'.