DENA and Energy Web Unite to Launch DIVE to Transform the Energy System with Digital Identities
Innovating Energy: Digital Identities at the Core of Transformation
ZUG, Switzerland — January 31, 2024, The German Energy Agency Deutsche Energy Agentur (DENA), has announced a partnership with Energy Web, Forschungsstelle für Energiewirtschaft e.V. Oli Systems, KILT Protocol, Fieldfisher, and Fraunhofer FIT to launch DIVE — “Digital Identities as Trust Anchors in the Energy System.” DIVE is set to redefine the energy sector in Germany, leveraging the potential of digital identities to integrate and manage renewable energies in a decentralized landscape.
The Energy System Transformation
As part of the urgent effort to achieve climate neutrality, Germany is embracing a massive expansion of renewable energies. This shift is leading to a decentralized energy system with an increasing number of small scale renewable energy facilities prolifterating including wind turbines, solar parks, batteries, electric vehicles, and distributed rooftop solar installations. In this new landscape, consumer choice and seamless integration to various use cases like tracing renewable energy, using customer-owned assets for grid services or selecting a different supplier is vital for efficient energy management.
Introducing Digital Identities for Trust and Efficiency
At the heart of the DIVE project lies a critical objective — establishing secure and reliable digital identities for devices and systems within the energy sector. These digital identities act as trust anchors, verifying the existence and capabilities of each system in real time. By automating verification processes, DIVE allows device owners to choose and change the electricity use cases that their devices are participating in almost no time and little effort, ensuring grid stability and cost savings for energy consumers.
Energy Web plays a central role in the DIVE project, contributing expertise and technology to two working packages:
Digital Applications in Proof Management Energy Web is taking the lead in developing and implementing use cases related to electricity labeling and verification. This includes the use of digital identities in conjunction with the registry and exploring energy industry use cases and their links to the identity register. Additionally, Energy Web’s contribution involves extending its existing open-source Green Proofs solution to connect to the digital trust anchors of DIVE and leveraging the substrate-based Energy Web X chain (EWX).
Energy Web’s Green Proofs solution enables trustworthy device identities to connect with different registers for guarantees of origin. This empowers devices to freely choose and switch between standards and marketplaces without encountering compliance issues like double spending. Energy Web aims to support existing standards and platforms, such as EnergyTag, Energy Track&Trace (an Elia Group platform in collaboration with energinet and Elering), GO, REC, I-REC, and the German guarantees of origin register (Herkunftsnachweisregister — HKNR).
Furthermore, Energy Web continues to advance the development of its “Fast Change of Supplier for EV Charging Stations” solution (ReBeam). Initially tested with Elia Group & 50Hertz Transmission in Berlin during the summer of 2022, the project now integrates with DIVE to enhance security and confidence in the entire process. This integration ultimately allows the consumption of self-generated PV power at public charging stations.
Smart Contract Library In addition, Energy Web will develop standardized representation and description forms for smart contracts under DIVE. This includes classification within the energy industry context, ensuring implementation-independent descriptions of inputs, outputs, conditions, and logic of smart contracts. The establishment of a “Smart Contract Register” as an “App Store” for decentralized applications and logic devices, along with the provision of smart contracts under free licenses, will set the groundwork for an independent technology library.
About Energy Web
Energy Web is a global non-profit accelerating the clean energy transition by developing open-source technology solutions for energy systems. Our enterprise-grade solutions improve coordination across complex energy markets, unlocking the full potential of clean, distributed energy resources for businesses, grid operators, and customers. The Energy Web ecosystem comprises leading utilities, renewable energy developers, grid operators, corporate energy buyers, automotive, internet-of-things, telecommunications leaders, and more. More information on Energy Web can be found at www.energyweb.org or follow us on Twitter @EnergyWebX
