Swytch is accelerating Renewable Energy incentive programs globally
Incentive programs for increasing Renewable Portfolio Standards have become increasingly common since the German government implemented landmark legislation to increase the percentage of power generated by renewable energy sources. The Renewable Energy Sources Act, known as the EEG in Germany, was the first legislation of its kind globally that had the kind of scope and ambition required to make a large impact on the environment and replace non-renewable energy sources. While the exact mechanisms the Germans used to create incentives have changed several times since the original legislation passed, the top to bottom scope of the EEG has proven to be a useful blueprint for countries that have also decided to move away from non-renewable energy sources. Swytch is stepping up to help these countries, regions, and cities achieve their renewable energy goals by bringing the efficiency of tracking, verification, and rewards distribution to their incentive programs.
Planning out a renewable energy incentive program is relatively easy on paper, but administering it and proving the value can be the real hurdle to overcome. In the past, due to a lack of effective tracking mechanisms, consumer incentives were usually in the form of state-sponsored income tax credits, buy-downs, or low-interest loans, all of which either require the government to pay out money, or to refrain from collecting money. As detailed in this article, current methods of tracking energy savings are archaic and problematic. The reporting is not timely, and the methods of tracking accuracy are debatable. This presents a real problem because many government sponsored energy programs, whether related to renewable energy production, increasing efficiency, or decreasing consumption, have to justify their positive impact with real data in order to silence skeptics and budget hawks. While the general public expresses a great deal of enthusiasm and support for renewable energy and climate action, individual programs still need to prove that they aren’t putting good money after bad. It’s much easier to sell the public on incentive systems that are easily verifiable and where they can see the immediate value of them. Smart meters and blockchain ledgers are the optimal combination for verifying the results of these programs.
South Korea is in a prime position to overcome the kind of obstacles that the renewable energy programs of other countries have run into over the past decades. In December the government finalized a long-term renewable energy plan that aims to increase their share of renewables from its current 6% share of power generation to 20% by 2030. This may not seem ambitious at first glance, but South Korea has issues that hamper their efforts, primarily the lack of flat, easy to access land and a powerful nuclear energy lobby. In order to overcome skepticism and the powerful nuclear lobby, renewable incentive programs in Korea are going to need to show positive results quickly and the data will need to be unassailable in the court of public opinion. This is exactly the kind of situation we’re building Swytch to handle. Rather than waiting weeks or months to verify their power production, they’ll be able to do it in real time. Individuals and companies who participate in the incentive programs that individual cities are using will be able to begin claiming their rewards immediately, which will create favorable PR and a viral effect of getting people excited about the prospects of earning their own rewards. Critics will struggle to find fault with systems when the blockchain-encrypted data is presented as proof that the renewable energy assets are performing as reported.
With countries like South Korea, Germany, and many others committed to reducing their carbon impact and making a push to modernize their incentive systems to take advantage of advances in tracking technology, Swytch is primed to make a major impact by being a core part of the solution that citizens are demanding around the globe. Armed with verified, incredibly precise data, governments and companies will be able to run increasingly intricate incentive programs that can be micro-targeted to make sure that the right assets are being incentivized in the right locations, and that the companies and individuals installing these renewable energy assets are being rewarded properly for their work. With incentive systems creating more and more demand for renewable energy, the price of installing production arrays both big and small will drop precipitously and it will become economically feasible to retire more and more non-renewable sources of electricity. This is the dream of many environmentalists, and Swytch is going to make it happen.
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