The smartCOMMUNITY platform was launched in July 2023 and enables residential household and business customers of Energie Steiermark to manage their surplus electricity generated from solar.

The platform empowers prosumers to share their clean energy with family and friends and other consumers on the platform enabling them to procure renewable energy made in Austria at an optimum price. This summer, Energie Steiermark welcomes first municipalities, medium enterprises, and industrial customers to join the smartCOMMUNITY ecosystem.‍

Collaborators:

• Powerledger: Pioneering blockchain-backed platforms facilitates secure and transparent peer-to-peer (P2P) energy transactions for smartCOMMUNITY
• Energie Steiermark: one of Austria’s leading energy retailers with over 600,000 customers. Developed the concept and unique smartCOMMUNITY setup.
  

Key Features:

• Energy monitoring: Customers can monitor their energy usage, consumption, and generation, as well as track their savings and revenue from energy trading.
• Peer-to-peer trading: Customers can buy and sell electricity to other members of the platform.
• Control over pricing and trading partners: Customers can set their own prices for buying and selling electricity and choose who they buy and sell electricity from.
• Billing integration: Conducted P2P and PPA trades are reflected on Energie Steiermark’s invoices to customers.
  

Benefits:

• Enhanced flexibility:
  Using blockchain-backed smartCOMMUNITY platform, participants have a freedom to share their surplus energy through PPAs or peer-to-peer energy trading. Participants set their own max and min prices for buying and selling electricity, embracing flexibility and control over their expenditures and revenue and choosing who they buy or sell their electricity to.
  
• Improved ROI on renewable assets:
  Prosumers improve their return on investment by selling their energy at higher margins compared to an average feed-in tariff in Austria.
  
• Better control:
  Participants get superior control over their energy trades by using PPAs to match their behavioural patterns, consumption profile and convenience.
  
• Risk management:
  Business consumers can use this tool to manage risks and hedge against price volatility in the wholesale energy market.

Ongoing Innovation:
With business customers and municipalities joining the smartCOMMUNITY, Energie Steiermark is making an active progress towards contributing to Austria’s renewable energy targets. 

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