Tokenizing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)—A Blockchain Approach for REC Issuance and Trading
Yanjun Zuo
Abstract
Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) is a market-based instrument and tracking mechanism for electricity generated from renewable sources as they flow into the power grid. The current REC issuance and tracking system is centralized, highly regulated, and operationally expensive. We proposed a blockchain-based, decentralized platform for REC issuance and trading by allowing greater traceability and transparency in transactions and reducing the operational costs of REC exchanges. The main design of the platform is to tokenize RECs and provides a decentralized, trustworthy mechanism for REC issuance, trading, verification, and retirement. The platform provides low costs, transparency, and easy to use. Representing RECs as blockchain tokens ensures that the trustworthy information is immutably recorded and available for all stakeholders to track and verify, thereby improving the reliability and security of the REC issuance and tracking systems. We present the design of the platform and detailed simulations of REC issuance and trading.