As climate change becomes a larger threat to our planet each day, individuals and countries are finally starting to pay attention and make changes in how we consume energy.
Since the industrial revolution, the power industry has largely been held by monopolies in regulated markets. Throughout history and even up to the present, most people haven’t had the freedom to choose which power company to support, because there’s only one option available that controls the entire market in their area.
However, this status quo has been changing as countries and states increasingly move to deregulate their energy markets. So far, approximately 35 nations have either completely deregulated or are in the process of deregulating — combined, these nations account for about 44% of generated power in the world. Among these deregulated countries are Australia, most of Europe, Canada, and parts of the US. We should continue to see other countries follow suit and break up their energy monopolies in the future.
Another trend that’s occurring is the rapid move to renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. This means people around the world are finally getting choices, not only in which power company to use, but also the types of power sources they wish to power their homes with.
A new blockchain company, ApolloChain, has noticed these trends and is working to take the decentralization of the energy industry even further. ApolloChain is in the process of building a completely decentralized energy trading platform based on smart contracts that has the potential to revolutionize how people power their homes.
The Future of the Energy Industry
Renewable energy is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing industries in the entire world.
In fact, over the next 2 decades, renewable energy sources are set to take over fossil fuels in a big way. According to research conducted by KPMG, solar energy usage in particular is expected to jump 330% worldwide by 2040.
ApolloChain’s Mission To Decentralize Energy
As the world continues moving towards deregulation and alternative power sources, it makes perfect sense to further decentralize the energy industry using blockchain technology. This is exactly what ApolloChain is setting out to do.
Built on the Skycoin “Fiber” platform, ApolloChain is a new energy trading platform where users can trade renewable power directly with each other. Their smart grid will combine IoT, AI, and blockchain technology to create what they call “the energy internet.”
ApolloChain will allow energy generators, wholesalers, institutional, and individual electricity consumers to directly transact with one another. This results in weakened centralized trading costs and avoids losses on government prices.
This project also benefits power stations in a big way. ApolloChain enables power stations to obtain electricity crowdfunding, which means they can raise funding liquidity before they even begin constructing their power station.
ApolloChain has the potential to further deregulate and decentralize the energy industry all over the world. Their platform will also allow people to decrease their dependence on fossil fuels and make the switch to renewable energy sources instead.
The ApolloChain Ecosystem
The main component of ApolloChain is their energy trading platform built on blockchain technology. This platform will allow buyers, sellers, and traders of electricity to interact with each other using smart contracts. This means users can conduct business with absolute assurance the parties involved will carry out their end of the deal automatically.
This image effectively illustrates what ApolloChain’s ecosystem will look like:
ApolloChain users will install “smart meters” in their homes. This intelligent electric meter will track power consumption data as well as power consumption/production behaviors. Based on this data, the smart grid will be able to reduce scheduling costs and instruct power consumers on how to reduce their power usage, lowering their costs even further.
Users will be able to easily view their energy data, interact with their smart meters, and conduct transactions from their smartphones using ApolloChain’s application.
APL: ApolloChain’s Token
ApolloChain has created its own cryptocurrency called Apollo Coin (APL). APL will serve as the electronic proof-of-energy transactions on the smart grid. The amount of APL available in circulation will have a positive correlation with the electricity quantity that is available for trade. This means APL will gradually be unlocked and put into circulation to meet transaction demand.
In addition to being available for trading on exchanges, APL will be used to trade energy between producers and consumers on ApolloChain. Users will be inclined to purchase and hold APL when electricity prices are low on the market, so they can then use it to trade for energy when prices go up. This will help stabilize the demand and price for the APL token in the secondary market.
ApolloChain already has their own wallet available on their website, which you can download here.
ICO Details
A total of 100,000,000 APL tokens have been created.
ApolloChain’s pre-ICO is set to run from May 5, 2018 to June 15, 2018. Their soft cap is US$500,000, and the hard cap is US$1 million.
The dates for their ICO will be announced at a later date. The soft cap will be US$8 million and the hard cap will be US$20 million.
According to their whitepaper, APL tokens will be distributed as follows:
- 40% distributed in ICO
- 5% for rewarding the community
- 20% to PR and marketing
- 30% to founding team
- 5% to operate Apollo Foundation
Of the 5% going towards community rewards, 2% ($840,000) will be allocated to their bounty campaign that is running from April 25, 2018 to September 1, 2018. Anyone who wishes to participate and promote ApolloChain on Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, and YouTube, and write blogs about the project can join in and be rewarded for their efforts. To learn more, click here.
Conclusion
ApolloChain is putting the power (literally!) in the hands of the people. Their smart grid and smart meter technologies have the potential to revolutionize the energy industry that has largely gone unchanged since its inception.
ApolloChain is still a very new company and has a long journey ahead before their vision is realized. But the team is working diligently to make their dream of decentralized energy a reality.
Excitingly, ApolloChain has plans of a micro-grid pilot project in Australia to put their technology to the test. This project is scheduled to begin soon, during Q3 2018.
If you want to play a direct part in decentralizing the energy industry and supporting renewable energy, ApolloChain could be a great project to look into investing in. To learn more about ApolloChain, be sure to read their business whitepaper and follow their blog.
To join the ApolloChain community, join them on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and Telegram.
