Urban Pioneers Community
Community P2P blockchain project for optimized usage and virtual trading of selfproduced photovoltaics energy
Project Facts
Location
Austria
Vienna
Project Volume
1-5 Mio. EUR
Applied Financing Solutions
Grants, Private Equity
Project Dates
Start: 2017
| End: 2021
In operation since/from: 2024
The Story
The Urban Pioneers Community is an innovation project that is organized as an urban living lab and includes inhabitants of a newly developed neighborhood in Vienna’s 2nd district. The goal is to create new solutions to a variety of urban challenges, especially the transition of the energy system to a more sustainable level. The driving forces of this development are the technical advances in digitization as well as a changing legal framework following the Clean Energy Package of the EU and the rising public awareness regarding the climate change and the ecological impact of our way of living.
New insights in technological, but also social aspects of energy use are gathered by using experimental electricity tariffs. These include one flatrate, a time-of-use model and a Peer-to-Peer tariff that are being tested and further developed with the members of the community. This is achieved by frequent co-creation workshops that generate new ideas and improve the existing services. This approach ensures that the perspective of all relevant stakeholders is considered.
Success Factor | Hero Moment
The start of the peer-to-peer tariff in May 2020 was an important step to a new way of collective use of electricity. Every participant was allocated a share of the production of the local photovoltaic system. The energy that could not be used immediately was stored in the local battery or shared in the community. The transactions were documented in a blockchain. This system was tested for half a year and is currently being evaluated. In the next step, another P2P-plattform is rolled out, that allows users to directly choose their source of renewable energy.
Submitter
Wien Energie GmbH, Austria
Other Involved Stakeholders
Vienna Marketing- & Energycontracting AG ; Riddle & Code GmbH; AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH; Value One Development GmbH;
Contact Mail
info@wienenergie.at
Website
https://www.wienerstadtwerke.at/urban-pioneers-community
