SunContract - The revolution of the energy market

lukasduke (31)in #suncontract • 6 years ago (edited)

I have written this article in german last month and just translated it into english

The german article : https://steemit.com/suncontract/@lukasduke/die-revolution-des-energiemarktes-suncontract

1. What is SunContract and how does the platform work?

2. The energy market at the present time

3. Problem

4. Solution

5. Development for the future of SNC

6. Development since the ICO of SNC

7. Token Value

8. Conclusion

9. Sources

1. What is SunContract and how does the platform work?

SunContract is an energy trading platform which is based on blockchain technology. It enables users to connect and thus trade directly energy (buy&sell) without the need for a third party participation.

The company SunContract focuses exclusively on the currently renewable energy sources, such as Solar and wind energy and furthermore energy production from geothermal and biomass.

What does that mean for the consumer?

By establishing a free market, a noticeable cost saving will be achieved for the user.

In Slovenia, SNC has been cooperating with SONCE New Energy Ltd. since 2017, which guarantees a standard market price upon conclusion of the contract. This prevents price fluctuations and consumer-damaging agreements.

Using blockchain technology and the so-called Smart Contracts, the SNC platform makes it possible to avoid unnecessary interfaces, to act directly and thus to supply cost-efficient electricity.

The platform has been in use since April 2018. Users benefit from cost savings of between 20 and 35 percent compared to conventional and existing energy suppliers.

Through various partnerships, SunContract is able to use existing power grids or infrastructure, enabling anyone (currently only in Slovenia) to buy or sell electricity independently.

It will soon be available in Italy as well. Other countries from the EU and outside the EU are under development.

How does the platform work for individuals unrelated to Blockchain?

The home user can log in comfortably from home on the platform www.SunContract.org. There he concludes a contract with SONCE Ltd and the "Balance Group" of SunContract. Meanwhile SONCE Ltd ensures the smooth handling of the termination of the contract with the previous provider and, from this point on, acts as a new electricity partner.

In the contract the maximum price is agreed, around which one can buy now at any time energy on the SunContract platform of SONCE Ltd.

With the acquired network access, the platform can now be used and the "private" trade in electricity can easily be done.

One loads the desired credit balance (at least 100-200 $ = 2000 SNC token status: 13.08.2018 - see below) directly on the platform via SEPA transfer and can then immediately purchase cheap electricity.

The contractually regulated fixed price of SONCE Ltd guarantees a stable price and thus the maximum price. From here on free pricing can be done. One becomes seller by the use of solar plants or other energy sources for the production of self-made green energy.

Our current technology allows us to generate significant amounts of additional energy during sunshine hours which can then be sold on the platform.

2. The energy market at the present time

Global investment in renewable energy has risen sharply over the past year and far exceeds investment in fossil fuels, according to a UN report.

As the price of technologies in the renewable energy sector is steadily decreasing, so-called green energy has become an increasingly attractive prospect.

In 2017, China was by far the world's largest investor in renewable energy. Almost half of the infrastructure commissioned in 2017 is in Republic of China. This is mainly due to the massive promotion of solar energy there. China invested almost a fifth more than in the previous year.

Other countries, including Australia, Sweden and Mexico had more than doubled their investment in that sector.

Due to the steady population growth and the associated increase in energy consumption, the urgency to switch to renewable energy sources is becoming increasingly important. Among other things due to worldwide growing infrastructure, the establishment of electric vehicles and the increasing digital impact on our environment (smart homes).

Over the last decade a lot of strategically investments increased the renewable energy share of the global energy use from 5% up to 12%

Already in the previous year, these investments enabled a global emissions volume of around 1.8 gigatons of carbon dioxide to be avoided. That's roughly equivalent to the CO2 emissions of the entire US traffic system.

For example, if you look at studies from the Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado and their projections in the figure below, you can see that in 2015, about 15% of the total energy produced in the US came from wind and solar energy. By the year 2050, it is expected to be around 71%. Adding more renewable energy sources such as hydro, geothermal and biomass could increase it to 80%.

Renewable energy in Europe

The European Union's Renewable Energy Directive lays down an overall policy for the production of energy from renewable sources within the EU. It demands that Member States cover at least 20% of their total energy needs with renewable energy sources by 2020, which can be achieved by achieving individual national targets. All EU countries must also ensure that at least 10% of their fuels come from renewable sources by 2020.

On 30 November 2016, the Commission published a proposal for an amended Renewable-EnergyDirective to make the EU a world leader in renewable energy. This is to ensure that by 2030 at least 27% of the energy will come from renewable energy.

In June 2018, the goal was increased to 32%.

This directive sets national renewable energy targets, taking into account the starting point and the full potential of this market. The adjusted targets range from a low of more than 10% in Malta to a maximum of 49% in Sweden.

3. Problem

Anthropogenic climate change is one of the greatest challenges we, as all humanity, have ever faced. One of the main reasons for this is the dependence on fossil fuels. The burning of oil, coal and other fossil fuels for energy production is comparatively inefficient and causes an enormous amount of CO2 emissions and other gases. Too high concentration of these gases in the atmosphere slows down the self-cooling effect of our planet, since heat radiation emitted by the earth cannot escape into the universe, but is stored by such molecules.

The use of fossil fuels and the resulting emissions lead to the second major problem in the energy industry: the centralization of energy sources and suppliers.

Due to the monopoly position of many large corporations, there is little or no free pricing. The prices are raised by staged "scarcity".

On an international average, energy itself accounts for only one third of the actual electricity price. The remaining costs are composed of various fees to third parties and expenses at interfaces.

4. Solution

Blockchain technology is perfect for this role as a middle man and for the interface. They enable independent electricity producers and consumers to be networked via the "Smart Contracts" through the SunContract Pool. The goal is to provide confidence and security that are superior to traditional contract law and to reduce further transaction costs incurred during the contract.

By merging the energy sector with blockchain, many new opportunities arise in terms of optimization, transparency, and cost-effective use and ultimately this is reflected in the payable price of the end user.

In April 2018, the SunContract platform was launched in Slovenia and since then there is the possibility for each resident to sign in at the platform and buy or sell electricity among themselves.

The result is between 20 and 35 percent of energy cost savings.

Experts worldwide agree: Nowadays, the burning of fossil fuels to the extent is no longer necessary; We do not need to unnecessarily burden our environment with outdated processes. There are now a lot more sustainable ways to generate energy and it is useful.

Sun and wind energy are widely known but the true potential of these technologies remains largely unspoken and unfortunately wasted.

"Solar energy, which we can obtain from the sun, has such fertility that one hour of light on a worldwide surface at lunchtime contains more energy than the whole population consumes in a year. If we could harness a hundredth of that energy, the population would never have to use oil, gas or other conventional resources again.

In order to be able to meet the energy needs of users, there are contracts between SunContract and national energy suppliers, who may provide electricity and thus limit the price of electricity to a maximum.

For the payments on the platform the digital token (SNC) of SunContract is used, which contains the automated process / contract (Smart Contract) and thus the user renounces the necessity of a middle man.

The platform makes it possible to accurately track its consumption and generation and provides a clear graphical representation of its energy data. This makes it easier to save on consumption and thus makes it possible to make private energy management more efficient.

5. Development for the future of SNC

Gregor Novak (Co-Founder, CEO SunContract

Co-founder, CEO SONCE Group, Founder, CEO SONCE New Energy Ltd)

Mojca Bajec ((Co-Founder, CFO SunContract, Financial Advisor of SONCE Ph.D. Student at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana)

Gregor Novak and Mojca Bajec started the project in 2016 with a small team. Over the course of development, the team has grown from ten people to over 25 people and is expected to consist of almost 50 people by the end of 2018. Apart from that, SunContract is supported by more than ten Energy and Blockchain experts on a consultative level.

The team understands that connectivity is very important, so they are constantly talking to new potential partners and visiting industry worldwide events. (The Solar Tech Summit in Portugal and "Digital Solar & Storage" in Munich are expected with particular excitement from the community). At the end of July, the team from NEM Blockchain and a company involved in rocket technology talked about cooperation. Unfortunately, for the time being, due to N.D.A may not be detailed on the many new prospects.

Many new business partnerships are scheduled to launch in January 2019.

At the end of June, SunContract was introduced to the European Commission, the UN and many other countries around the world. In talks with Vice President of the European Commission, Maros Šefčovič, it became clear that EU legislation provides the perfect conditions for adapting the SunContract platform.

At a lecture, in front of a UN commission, the feedback was consistently positive. Cooperation on the African continent have been officially confirmed. SunContract has also received requests from Latin America, Asia and other countries from Europe.

After very interesting and pioneering meetings in Italy, SunContract is very positive about setting in Italy as the next target in the European market.

Portugal, Belgium, Poland and Ukraine are just a few more of those interested in the EU.

The Eurasian Blockchain Hub, based in Ljubljana, opened in late July.

China, Malaysia and Japan have expressed interest and want to test SunContract's service and review the regulatory framework for implementation.

Another area of high priority at SunContract is the electric vehicle sector. The relatively young branch of e-mobility also enables and requires corresponding flexibility. A.I Projects will be essential to ensure the flexible data processing needed for the infrastructure of electric vehicles.

In particular, the partnership with Microsoft should provide the opportunity in some areas to shorten development phases from a few months to days and thereby actively support SunContract in its implementation.

SunContract is working with over 30 partners across Europe to address the problem of undersized emobility infrastructure. Unfortunately, the exact schedule is currently not official, however, it looks like its about turning the private homes to so called “transformer stations” so that the loading of the batteries will be independent of each other.

Charging and payment are automatically done in real time and do not require direct contact between the producer and the user.

In some cases, although the legal framework conditions need to be adjusted, but even here a great deal of interest has been expressed by various organizations and government members.

Since the introduction of the SEPA payment method on the platform, it is possible for users without deep technical knowledge of the blockchain to benefit from the platform and its advantages. The user buys the SNC tokens directly on the platform in euros and is no longer forced to use digital trading platforms (exchanges) to get the tokens.

This feature makes it possible to see the entire electricity market as potential customers.

The implementation of SEPA has resulted in many new contracts being signed in a short time.

In an interview early July the team of SNC stated that by now a number of users comparatively the size of a village in Slovenia are using the platform. At the end of July it was already the size of two villages. More accurate numbers are not known yet, but will be issued by the end of the year.

The goal is to have a user number equal to the average number of inhabitants of a Slovenian city, which looks consistently feasible, by the end of the year 2018.

Furthermore, SunContract is active in the field of energy storage.

After a long period of waiting for the first large energy store in the region or even the largest in Slovenia, we are expecting one in January 2019. The power of that memory will be half a megawatt while the capacity will be one megawatt hour. After successful completion, plants with approx. 10 megawatts are planned. These "batteries" are fed by the partners / users and also used by them.

The goal is to ensure a lower price through stability and supply. Unfortunately, the name of the supplier of the energy storage device may not be published due to N.D.A, but should be a great surprise.

6. Development since the ICO of SNC

Idea and basic concept were developed in 2012. After clarification of various legal and technical details, the whitepaper was published in March 2017. In the middle of 2017, the project was able to raise nearly US $ 2 million through an ICO (Initial Coin Offering), so nothing stood in the way of the final realization and a bright future.

Here is a brief overview of previous milestones since the ICO:

· Q4 2017

In the fourth quarter of 2017, the partnership between SunContract and SONCE Ltd was announced. (Http://www.SONCE.com/)

SONCE acts as a local representative of SNC in Slovenia, ensuring the adequate provision of energy in the process.

SONCE also allows users to purchase solar panels and heating pumps via the international SNC platform, as well as the possibility of paying in the form of SNC tokens or Euro

By using SNC tokens for payments, users receive additional discounts on those products.

The partnership with SONCE Ltd and the EIC CODE (Energy Identification Code) which they are providing have created the legal framework for using the platform.

At the annual "Digital Solar and Storage" event in Munich, SunContract manages to secure important future-oriented partnerships.

Together with Vaillant, SolarPowerEurope and Infrachain, several other large companies / organizations agree with SunContract on future collaboration.

· Q1 2018

In the first quarter, the "SunContract Pioneer" program starts, in which almost 1,000 people, mainly Slovenians, register for the use of the platform.

SunContract now manages to be listed on several top exchanges (Huobi, Okex, Kucoin, Hitbtc, etc.).

· Q2 2018

On April 13, SunContract hosted a two-day launch event for the platform at the Rikli Balance Hotel in Bled, Slovenia.

Day 1 [Link]

Day 2 [Link]

The first day was used to make awareness of the launch of the platform, the second day of the event was dedicated to the visiting pioneers to thank for their confidence and support. They organised a tour to show some attractions in Slovenia which was entertaining and has been quite enjoyed.

With the official launch of the platform, SUNCONTRACT was making history. As part of the event, new partnerships were signed again, including those with Microsoft.

Apart from technical support that Microsoft offers the platform, the plan is particularly in the area of A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) to work together and benefit from each other.

· Q3 2018

July 2018 (There will be an English summary of the [original essays]

— July 2: Business Contract registrations are officially unlocked on www.SunContract.org

— July 2: SunContract publishes a report of the conference: "Intersolar" (June 21-22)

— July 5: SunContract announces the integration of "Single Euro Payments Area" (SEPA Credit Transfers) on the platform, a new feature used for direct conversion between FIAT currency and SNC tokens.[Link]

— July 6: SunContract publishes a video of the Intersolar conference. [Link]

— July 11: SunContract and some representatives of the Slovenian government present the latest achievements to the United Nations in New York. CEO Gregor Novak presented SunContract as a good example of the role that SunContract plays in SDGs.

— July 12: The mobile app is now available for iOS and Android devices. In addition to the official SunContract app video. [Link]

— July 18: SunContract founders Gregor Novak and Mojca Bajec attended important meetings in Lombardy, Italy.

— July 19: CEO Gregor Novak, a member of the Board of Directors of the European Blockchain Hub, attended the opening of an office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This paved the way for cooperation with the Asian Blockchain Hub to conquer the Asian market.

— July 21: SunContract had a very successful opening for the Blockchain Hub of the European Union in its Asia Nodes Office. With a whopping 1200 attendees, the team and community are pleased to be associated with some Asian marketing partners as they will work with us to capture the Asian blockchain market.

— July 24: Energetica.net published an interesting interview with CEO Gregor Novak. Read the article here: [(Klick)]

— July 26: In addition to English, the SunContract platform now also offers Slovakian as a language for menu navigation.

— July 27: SunContract CEO - Gregor Novak gave an informative account to Slovenia's most visited online business and finance magazine [Interview]

August 2018

— August 6: Suncontract publishes an article: Why it makes sense to switch to renewable energy —[?(Artikel)]

— August 12: Suncontract is releasing another article to gain insight into the company and its evolution [Klick]

— August 17: SunContract publishes and confirms the expansion of the platform to Italy [Klick]

7. Token Value

SunContract earns on average per user on the platform of 0.5 € - 0.8 € per month.

The goal of the project is to have over 100,000 users by the end of 2020.

Furthermore, the hopes are high that in a few years there will be a few million users.

Market capitalization (as of August 6, 2018) $ 6,647,792 USD Price per token $ 0.055502 There are a total of 122,707,503 SNC tokens, 119,775,804 of these tokens are already in circulation.

As mentioned above, the realistic target for the end of 2018 is to have a user base on the platform of one average city in Slovenia. Since the numbers vary from 11,000 to 224,000 inhabitants, we estimate in the following example with an approximate number of 40,000 users.

As a reminder, with the current value of the token, the user must store 2000 tokens (100-150 €) on the platform to use it.

As a result, it is possible to calculate: 40,000 (users) x 2000 (tokens) = 80,000,000 tokens - That would mean that 80,000,000 tokens are already needed and thus can no longer be sold on the stock exchanges (Huobi, etc.).

This corresponds to approximately 67% of all SNC tokens which are “not circulating”.

According to the "law of supply and demand", the combination of growing demand and decreasing supply will increase the value of the SNC token.

As the value of the SNC token increases, you will also need to store less on the platform, which will ensure that there will always be a certain amount available and that the system will continue to grow.

Nowadays, a large number of new homes are equipped with the opportunity to produce green energy themselves. SunContract ensures that this expansion can be used efficiently.

Another advantage of tokens is that you get discounts on the purchase of various solar panels up to heating pumps, exclusive to users who use SNC tokens as a means of payment.

Unfortunately, this is only possible in Slovenia at the moment of writing, however, as the platform is growing worldwide, it is expected that this service will soon be available in other countries as well.

8. Conclusion

I would like to say that I have paid a lot of attention to SunContract since the ICO, especially in the implementation of the product. Since the start of the project, the team has been able to meet all deadlines and implement all their promises. They have more than outperformed their white paper, roadmap and milestone forecasts and are in favour of SNC's evolution. As mentioned often, some new information may not yet be published due to N.D.A (non-disclosure agreement). But the team and the community are looking forward to the year 2019 with the utmost confidence, as many of the annual contracts with energy suppliers expire at the beginning of the year and thus the switch to SNC can take place.

The team is actively represented on all renowned social media platforms and strives to maintain a transparent communication culture with the community. Questions will be answered and especially the monthly AMA (Ask-Me-Anything) on Reddit is perfect for clear and detailed answers.