From turning on the lights to driving our cars, developed societies rely heavily on electricity. And for electricity to remain functional in our everyday lives, we rely on electric grids.

Unfortunately, many of these grids are decades old and need some serious updates to remain viable going forward.

In fact, the American Society of Civil Engineers recently gave the energy infrastructure an overall rating of D+, which is not a good score. While we have seen massive improvements in the areas of technology and innovation, our energy infrastructure is still lagging behind.

In addition to the outdated nature of these electric grids, the whole system is inefficient and expensive. Because power distribution networks use alternating current (AC), electricity is forced to take long paths through several media before actually getting to the consumer.

Furthermore, with the lowest 20% of earners spending nearly 10% of their net income on electricity, something needs to change. Without some sort of change, people will continue to pay more and more for electricity, without any improvements in the underlying infrastructure.

Thankfully, there is a solution to this growing problem—and it’s called Eloncity.

What is Eloncity?

Eloncity is a blockchain-based company specializing in the planning, creation, and operation of renewable energy and community-based microgrids.

These microgrids can either operate on their own for the community or connect to the main grid, allowing for the import of energy. Eloncity plans to use locally available renewable energy resources, such as solar and wind, to help fulfill the energy needs of participating communities.

Members of each community will work and collaborate with one another to exchange energy and share the associated costs and benefits. This model maximizes the utilization rates, delivering the best ROI possible and increasing accessibility to a reliable, cost-effective energy supply.

Eloncity’s decentralized renewable energy architecture will be comprised of:

• A technology platform based on the blockchain that will provide an open, secure, and distributed ledger to record all energy transactions.
  
• A battery energy storage system (BESS) that harmonizes the supply and demand levels of local electricity. It also flattens intermittent renewable generations into predictable and reliable resources.
  
• A utility token (dubbed ECT) which will be used to pay for electricity storage and application. It also acts as the incentive for miners to harvest energy and share it. Moreover, the value of this token will be backed by the value of the electricity.
  
• A community power network that utilizes direct current (DC) power, rendering the costly and inefficient AC power ancillary services no longer necessary.
  

What Are the Advantages of Eloncity’s Model?

One of the main advantages of Eloncity’s model versus traditional systems is just how transparent the entire platform is. Since every transaction is open and secured, the platform can monitor the value of energy in the community and measure the progress towards a 100% clean energy supply.

The company’s model is also more reliable and safe than current standards. Because Eloncity’s model uses decentralized microgrids, they will remain functional even when the main grid is experiencing issues or downtime.

Eloncity’s power generation and BESS eliminate the potential risks of fossil fuel-based backups, which can be prone to explosions, gas leaks, and other safety hazards.

Finally, the lower costs are another significant advantage of the platform. There are a number of reasons for these cost-savings such as the use of DC power and appliances, the generation of renewable energy locally, the reduction of energy losses, and the provision of services to the central grid to generate additional revenue.

Eloncity in Action

In principle, this platform seems like a great solution to many of the problems surrounding the electricity infrastructure. However, Eloncity isn’t only a plan or idea for change—they have already begun to test their model in practice.

One of the current pilots is taking place in San Juanico, Mexico. This small town located at the Mexico-California border has been struggling with high costs and unreliable energy supply for a long time, and is now working hand-in-hand with Eloncity to test out their model.

Another pilot is taking place in Brawley, California. In this pilot, Eloncity is working with a number of farms and a community of 480 residences in the area. Brawley is a “blank sheet” so to speak, so this pilot will help to verify the viability of the Eloncity model from the ground up.

In addition, the company has received $20 million in capital investment from a variety of different enterprises interested in their mission and model.

Powering a Cleaner Future

Eloncity is trying to make electricity cleaner and more affordable for all and is already well on its path to solving many of the problems within the current energy infrastructure.

Now is the time to change our habits and focus on the long-term sustainability of our planet—and Eloncity hopes to be at the forefront of that change.