Shell will implement blockchain to increase energy transition

by Arthur · July 19, 2022

The oil company is researching several initiatives based on the technology to further promote its commitment to becoming a net zero business in the years to come.

Shell has increased its transitional investments and efforts to achieve its decarbonisation goals, as well as becoming a net zero company in the near future. Apart from expanding the Recharge initiative worldwide with an ambitious plan to increase services for electric vehicles, the company is also researching other ways to achieve these goals in the past. Recently, the company has revealed its intentions to implement blockchain technology through a number of projects to improve the strategy.

Blockchain, associated with all cryptocurrencies, is a technology based on the distribution of processes and the cipher of the information that differs from more common databases. The information is encrypted and distributed in various sources, such as servers or servers, which make any changes that are validated by consensus of those sources and made by persons who need the necessary permissions to modify.

In a recent interview with Forbes, Dan Jeavons, VP of Computational Science and Digital Innovation at Shell, and Sabine Brink, Blockchain Lead at Shell, discussed some of the initiatives the company is currently researching to strengthen its resources while tackling some of the challenges. of energy conversion.

Blockchain, mostly associated with cryptocurrencies, is a technology based on distribution processes and information encryption that differs from most common databases. Information is encrypted and distributed across multiple sources, such as computers or servers, which means that any changes must be validated by consensus between those sources and made by individuals who have the permissions required to change it.

One of the projects that the company’s representatives talked about involved the use of blockchain to track and verify the origin of energy made from renewable sources. The news site specified that this type of implementation can be the key in connection with organizations that focus on energy conversion or build on customer loyalty. The promise of clean energies often leaves more doubt than certainty about origin and actual consumption, so blockchain implementation can help track the energy source and certify its renewability or its exact quantity.

“So if you look at the electricity market today, we have energy attribute certificates (EACs) that represent green energy or gray. [non-green] energy generated in a given month or year. For companies that aim to run on 100 percent green energy, their monthly or annual certificates can match their total energy consumption, but when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing, gray energy is actually consumed. So it’s hard to say that they actually use green energy on a 24/7 basis, “Jeavons specified.

By creating very granular certificates in real time at the source of the energy, Shell will be able to represent the green energy that is produced every half hour, and thus comply with established energy attribute certificate systems. This would be achievable by tracking and recording each point on the electron’s journey to its consumption via blockchain.