Philippines: Electricity market operator explores blockchain tech for P2P energy trading

The future of the domestic spot market for electricity in the Philippines could lie in blockchain technology, the country’s market operator has stated, confirming that it’s exploring the integration of the technology in the vast market.

The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) is currently working on a futures offering for the country’s Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) which it has been operating since 2018.

Local media outlet Manila Bulletin reported that IEMOP is seeking definitive regulation from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the offering.

“Currently, we’re in talks with the SEC on the legalities of operating a forward market in the Philippines. As per our last discussion with the SEC, they don’t have the rules yet for trading of CFDs in the Philippines, so currently it’s a prerequisite for us to push for the forward market,” the organization told the news outlet.

This futures market, if approved by the SEC, could be underpinned by blockchain technology. IEMOP Chief Operating Officer Robinson P. Descanzo revealed that the organization is “studying blockchain trading of electricity, as eventual feature of the domestic spot market.”

“Through blockchain-enabled or digitally revolutionalized peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading, the so-called prosumers or the end-users generating their own power supply can already sell their surplus electricity generation to other consumers,” he stated.

In recent times, more people are turning away from fossil fuels and adopting renewable energy, leading to the rise of energy prosumers who sell their surplus energy. This system is largely decentralized as the consumers and producers trade within themselves in a local grid, making blockchain the ideal technology to underpin it.

So far, there have been several pilot projects aimed at exploring this market. Mitsubishi Electric and the Tokyo Institute of Technology developed such a blockchain trading energy solution in 2021, with the former designing the P2P trading system while the latter handled blockchain technology research and development.

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