SolarCoin

Blockchain technology is driving innovation and scale-up in the energy, climate, and environmental sectors. SolarCoin, a blockchain-based digital asset and currency, is designed to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy. As a blockchain based technology, SolarCoin is global and decentralized, with similarities to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. SolarCoin stands out, because unlike these, SolarCoin ‘binds’ the disbursement of digital coins to useful economic and environmental activity – verifiably produced solar energy.

SolarCoin uses the unique characteristics of blockchain technology to create a phenomenon that is:
1. a free, additional reward for solar energy producers
2. the first digital currency to protect natural capital
3. the first global, decentralized, non-governmental solar energy incentive program

The SolarCoin Foundation rewards solar energy producers with blockchain-based digital tokens at the rate of 1 SolarCoin (SLR) per 1 MWh of solar energy produced.

§1 SolarCoin represents 1 MWh of solar electricity generation.
As a verified solar electricity producer, you may get SolarCoins for free.
99% of SolarCoins will be given to solar electricity producers of 97,500 TWh over 40 yrs.

The SolarCoin Foundation
SolarCoin was created in 2014 as an open community project run by volunteers and the founders of the SolarCoin Foundation, a Delaware (U.S.A) registered Public Benefit Corporation.

The SolarCoin Foundation distributes SolarCoins to generators of solar electricity using verified olar facilities as the “proof-of-work”. As opposed to Bitcoin, SolarCoin is granted for the proof of energy production from the the solar installation. SolarCoin’s blockchain uses a low energy proof of stake algorithm designed to use less than 0.001% of the power of bitcoin when compared on similar scale. The SolarCoin blockchain itself is a public ledger detailing each SolarCoin given out to solar electricity generators.

Foundation. SolarCoin Affiliates, Advisors, and Volunteers
The SolarCoin Foundation works closely with affiliates who help to verify SolarCoin claims information. Affiliates are usually organized as for-profit companies, whose services significantly contribute to building the SolarCoin Ecosystem. Affiliates usually receive SolarCoins from the SolarCoin Foundation for each claim they verify and facilitate for claimants from a separate pool reserved for these services by the SolarCoin Foundation.

Current SolarCoin Affiliates are:
– Solcrypto – www.solcrypto.com
– ElectriCChain – www.electricchain.org

The following is a non-exhaustive list of use-cases for SolarCoin as a reward/ incentive-mechanism and/or through the Blockchain data layer:

1. SolarCoins can be exchanged through online exchanges such as Bittrex and Lykke
(www.bittrex.com; www.lykke.com) for other digital assets (such as Bitcoin) and/or fiat
currencies (EUR, USD…)

2. SolarCoins are starting to be accepted for payments, like other digital currencies. The SolarCoin community is aiming for an integration of SolarCoin as a payment network for goods and services.

3. SolarCoin offers marketing opportunities for brands positioned on ecological values and environmental protection. Early adopters and first movers are expressing the wish to use SolarCoins for payments, be it in environmental conscious contexts (organic food etc.), energy sector or NGOs.

4. SolarCoins can be used as a reward for customers and could be used as a loyalty program to allow them to benefit from the appreciation of the coins.

5. SolarCoins could be developed further to serve as equivalent of avoided CO2-emission certificates. With the Paris Agreement and international action to mitigate climate change at hand, SolarCoins could play a role in a revived carbon trade system via crypto carbon credits.

6. The SolarCoin blockchain can be used as a trusted data layer reporting solar power
production data. Such data layer could certify solar components. This has been
demonstrated by some companies to certify solar power plant due-diligence reports inside the immutable SolarCoin blockchain.

7. The SolarCoin blockchain can provide a “Know-Your-Device” (KYD) anchor data provenance layer for providing more security when monitoring solar power produced.

8. The SolarCoin blockchain is an Open-Community data resource. Anyone may publish solar energy data, a Global Solar Macroscope may act as a decentralized solar energy monitoring platform. This can have two levels of data, on-chain public data, and off-chain private login data for each specific solar plant added into the decentralized monitoring protocol. Some open data can be used at specific intervals for solar power production data according to geographic region, taxes (when billed in SolarCoin) and financial tools (solar energy derivatives and exchange platforms). Some closed or private data can be extended to point to off-chain logins for specific internet layer solar monitoring platforms such as
Wattmon.live, Enphase and others.

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SolarCoin was developed with blockchain technology to generate an additional reward for solar electricity producers. Solar installation owners registering to the SolarCoin network receive one SolarCoin for each MWh of solar electricity that they produce.

This Digital Asset will allow solar electricity producers to receive an additional reward for their contribution to the energy transition, which will develop itself through network effect. SolarCoin is freely distributed to any owner of a solar installation owner. Participating in the SolarCoin program can be done online, directly on the SolarCoin website. More than 1.700.000MWh of solar energy have been incentivized through SolarCoin across 44 countries.

The SolarCoin Foundation is established in Greenwich CT and has on its board Financial experts as well as solar experts and is a member of the European Solar Association, SolarPowerEurope, based out of Brussels.

SolarCoin is the first digital asset to be recognized at supra-national level by the International Renewable Energy Association as a tool to finance solar installations worldwide (IRENA) and SolarCoin is being listed on a Swiss Exchange, www.lykke.com for online SLR-EUR and SLR-USD trade.

The SolarCoin reward tool will act as an incentivizer for solar owners working with the ElectraSeed kits. Instead of the normal 1SLR per MWh of solar energy incentivization, the tool will be rewarding owners with a multiplicating factor, hence 250kWh of solar energy will deliver one SolarCoin, the goal being to help solar owners amortize their financial investment faster.