Energy Web, the world’s “largest” ecosystem of companies using open source, decentralized technologies to accelerate the energy transition, is coming to Polkadot, the next-generation blockchain network powering the movement for a better web.
The move will allow Energy Web “to create the framework for a new technology, Energy Web X, helping its partners — which include major players like Shell, Vodafone, Volkswagen, and RMI — accelerate their decarbonization strategies.”
Having developed digital solutions with dozens of major energy companies and nonprofit organizations from more than 25 countries, Energy Web is focused “on two key areas.”
One is “to help electric utilities digitize and integrate distributed energy resources to the grid; the second is about bringing deep levels of transparency and verifiability to emerging green product supply chains — including 24/7 matched renewable electricity, sustainable aviation fuel, and sustainably produced Bitcoin.”
Jesse Morris, CEO of Energy Web, said:
“Energy Web and our global enterprise partners are collectively on a mission to make clean energy an integral and widely-accessible part of the global electricity system. To achieve this important goal, we decided to search for a blockchain platform that offers real enterprise-grade security and seamless upgradeability to ensure a safe and future-proof environment. Polkadot excels on both of these fronts with its shared security model and best-in-class core technology. We couldn’t be more excited to build out the energy transition vertical on Polkadot. Energy Web X will be based on worker node networks. Each of these is a decentralized group of computers jointly executing sensitive business processes that involve or impact multiple companies. Enterprises will be able to deploy thousands of independent worker nodes, coordinate them in cohesive networks, and allow the public to verify the results of their work.”
Björn Wagner, CEO of Parity Technologies, a contributor to the Polkadot network, said:
“The energy transition vertical is a perfect use case to take advantage of the the benefits of blockchain technology, and it’s a space where Polkadot is well positioned to be a market leader. We’re especially pleased to see Polkadot bring competitive advantages to initiatives and enterprises making a positive environmental and social impact. In choosing to build a custom Polkadot parachain, Energy Web will get the performance and security its industry partners require, as well as faster time to market and access to Polkadot’s best-in-class interoperability. I’m excited to partner with the Energy Web team to accelerate the transition to clean energy.”
Energy Web is launching “a bid for a parachain slot on Polkadot with the joint aim of building a thriving ecosystem focused on the global energy transition.”
Further details about Energy Web X’s plans will “follow at Polkadot Decoded, the network’s flagship summit, to be held in Copenhagen, June 28–29. Ana Trbovich, vice chair of the Energy Web Foundation, will also appear on a regulatory panel at the event.”
This announcement “follows hot on the heels of others involving big names from diverse sectors like music, gaming and accounting joining the Polkadot ecosystem.”
The Energy Web X parachain will “join the many other projects that are already building on the Polkadot Relay Chain.”
By the end of Q1, a total of 42 parachains had “joined Polkadot, representing sectors such as DeFi, privacy, social media, sustainability, NFTs, gaming, and the metaverse.”
Many of these parachains “are platforms in themselves, collectively hosting hundreds of Web3 applications.”
Parachains help projects “expand at scale by leveraging each other’s strengths to unlock new use cases, and enjoy the shared security advantages provided by Polkadot.”