Solar Site Design helped found the Energy Blockchain Network in 2018 to solve a unique challenge. With its collaborative platform, Solar Site Design combines with multiple parties who work independently. Each party delivers value at different stages and each receives compensation for their value contributed.
“We needed an immutable record for the state of a project, so that everyone—all the stakeholders in that ecosystem—could go to one place and see where that project was at,” Nathaniel Enders, Co-Founder of the Energy Blockchain Network, has explained. “What we can do with the blockchain is precisely program in what each state of the project is and what is required to help move that state forward so that the next party can participate. Then, we can automatically program in reward distributions for the value contributions. The ability to reward and incentivize participants earlier for the value they deliver is critical to efficiency.”
Immutability is one of the key characteristics of the blockchain. It embraces the notion that records are tamper-proof and cannot change once stored on the blockchain. When working in an ecosystem of independents, this is essential. The blockchain establishes trust between Solar Site Design and of its sub-contractors, via the system rather than any of the individuals involved.
“Energy is going through what we call the next industrial revolution,” Jason Loyet, CEO of Solar Site Design, said. “We are driving down the cost of equipment, engineering and design, resulting in more energy projects and more competition.”
When is blockchain the right fit?
Enders urges companies considering blockchain or distributed ledger technology to think of them just like any other IT infrastructure.
“You need to look at the business and understand what the problem is, who the user is and what the network needs to look like,” he advised, adding that blockchain will not be right for everyone, but, “If you have multiple parties across organizations or countries that all need to have visibility into a set of transactions on a common ledger…then it might be a fit.”
Why blockchain for Solar Site Design
Solar Site Design helped found the Energy Blockchain Network in 2018 to solve a unique challenge. With its collaborative platform, Solar Site Design works with multiple parties that work independently, but each party delivers value at different stages and is compensated for that value on different terms.
“We needed an immutable record for the state of a project, so that everyone—all the stakeholders in that ecosystem—could go to one place and see where that project was at,” Enders said.
Immutability, one of the key characteristics of the blockchain, is the idea that records are tamper-proof and cannot be changed once stored on the blockchain. When working in an ecosystem of independents, this is essential. With blockchain, the trust that is established between Solar Site Design and any of its sub-contractors is controlled by the system rather than any of the individuals involved.
“What we can do with the blockchain is precisely program in what each state of the project is and what is required to help move that state forward so that the next party can participate,” Enders explained. “Then, we can automatically program in reward distributions for the value contributions. The ability to reward and incentivize participants earlier for the value they deliver is critical to efficiency.”