Power Peg Token System

Abstract

We provide an electricity peg token system that standardizes the electricity unit prices that vary from one electricity supplier to another. [Solution] The power peg token system consists of a node owned by an electric power supplier that issues a power peg token that guarantees the supply of electricity in the future within an allowed range, a node owned by a user of the power peg token, a node owned by an administrator of the power peg token, and an Ethereum blockchain. The node owned by the electric power supplier sends a request to issue a power peg token to the administrator's node, and the node owned by the administrator converts the power peg token requested for issuance by the electric power supplier into a common power peg token based on the ratio (k) between the base price per unit of electricity set by the administrator and the price per unit of electricity of each electric power supplier obtained from the external market, and sends a transaction to the Ethereum blockchain to trigger the issuance of the common power peg token.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a system in which tokens that function as virtual currencies or certificates are pegged to electricity. [Background technology]

[0002] Although virtual currencies such as Bitcoin are said to be a key currency that will replace the dollar, their use is still limited. One of the reasons for this is that there is no security to back up their value, which means that their value fluctuates widely.

[0003] There are stablecoins such as DAI, USDT (Tether), and USDC (Circle) that are pegged to the dollar to eliminate large fluctuations, but because they are dollar-pegged, they only serve as a supplement to the dollar and do not serve as a safety valve in the event of a dollar crash.

[0004] The inventor has proposed pegging to electricity instead of the dollar in Patent Document 1. In Patent Document 1, an exchange that issues value information purchases power supply guarantees from power plant and other electricity retailers, and issues value information equivalent to this power supply guarantee, thereby selecting electricity as the basis for the value of the value information. In other words, a model is proposed in which future power supply claims are tokenized.

[0005] Furthermore, the present inventor has proposed Patent Document 2 as an improvement to the usability of the system of Patent Document 1. Patent Document 2 proposes a value information system including a server computer provided by an issuing organization that issues value information such as virtual currency, and a client computer provided by a user of the value information, wherein a client-server network model is established between the server computer and the client computer for providing information held by the server to the client, and an autonomous decentralized P2P (peer to peer) network model is established between the client computers, in which the server computer receives power supply guarantee information from an electricity retailer guaranteeing the supply of electricity upon request from the client computer as tax or part of tax, issues value information equivalent to the received power supply guarantee information, and transmits the issued value information to the client computer in response to a request from the client computer, and when information is received from the electricity retailer that the value information has been used in the power supply request, erases or invalidates the power supply guarantee information that supports the value of the value information, and the client computer receives the value information and transmits the received value information to other client terminals as payment currency, and also transmits the value information to the electricity retailer as payment currency equivalent to the electricity used.

[0006] Patent Document 3 proposes an electricity trading management method suitable for providing consumers with an environmental value certificate that certifies that they have traded with a power generation company that generates electricity using renewable energy.

[0007] Specifically, this is an electricity trading management method in which a transaction management server, which stores and manages a power generation company account held by a power generation company and a consumer account held by a consumer in a distributed ledger on a database, and a certificate issuing server are connected to each other via a network, and when the power generation company generates electricity using a power generation means using renewable energy and sells electricity to the consumer, the transaction management server provides an environmental value certificate to the consumer's terminal, certifying that the consumer is using the power generation means, based on reverse flow power amount data received from the power generation company power meter of the power generation company. A method for managing electricity trading has been proposed, comprising: an allocating step of allocating an equivalent amount of environmental value tokens to the power generation company account; and a transfer step of transferring the environmental value tokens from the power generation company account to the consumer account in the database when a transaction is concluded between the power generation company and the consumer, wherein the certificate issuing server, when receiving an instruction to apply for the environmental value certificate from the consumer terminal, issues the environmental value certificate based on the environmental value tokens transferred from the power generation company account to the consumer account, and sends the environmental value certificate to the consumer terminal.

[0008] Patent Document 4 discloses an energy trading support system as a system for supporting energy trading between a plurality of power generation plants and a plurality of consumers, the system comprising: a supply amount acquisition unit that acquires, for each of the power generation plants, an amount of energy generated at the power generation plant and transmitted to a predetermined energy network; a token issuing unit that issues tokens to a first account of the power generation plant in accordance with the supply amount; a demand amount acquisition unit that acquires, for each of the consumers, an amount of energy demand received from the energy network; a transmission amount determination unit that determines, for each pair of the power generation plant and the consumer, an amount of energy transmission to be deemed to have been sent from the power generation plant to the consumer; and a transaction issuing unit that issues, for each of the power generation plants, a single transaction to the blockchain, with each of the second accounts of the plurality of consumers that form the pair with the power generation plant as a destination and the first account as a source, to transfer an amount of the tokens corresponding to the energy transmission amount for each consumer, the transaction issuing unit being realized by a worker device, and the plurality of worker devices each issuing a plurality of the transactions simultaneously and in parallel.

[0009] Patent Document 5 discloses an electricity trading management system that uses a blockchain network to manage the power plant account of a power plant and the consumer account of a consumer, as a system for managing the contract for a consumer's right to use electricity and the traceability of electricity supply and demand while ensuring authenticity, and that includes a usage right issuing means for issuing a usage right token for electricity supplied from the power plant to the power plant account, an application acquisition means for acquiring application information for the consumer to use the supplied electricity, a usage right transfer means for transferring the usage right token to the consumer account based on the application information, a power generation record issuing means for issuing a power generation record token regarding power generation record to the power plant account, a usage record acquisition means for acquiring application information for the consumer's electricity usage record, and a power generation record transfer means for transferring the power generation record token to the consumer account based on the usage record information and the usage right token of the consumer account.

[0010] Patent Document 6 describes that the amount of electricity generated from renewable energy is recorded in a ledger as an energy token, and is issued, traded, and redeemed in fixed units such as 1 MWh.

[0011] Patent Document 7 discloses that the amount of electricity generated at a power plant is tokenized and matched with the amount used by consumers on a blockchain. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0012] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6006266 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 6779454 [Patent Document 3] Patent No. 7225823 [Patent Document 4] Patent No. 7498491 [Patent Document 5] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2025-052768 [Patent Document 6] US2023-0067556A1 [Patent Document 7] WO2017-199053A1 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0013] Patent Documents 1 and 2 function satisfactorily when the unit price of electricity is within a roughly fixed range. However, actual electricity prices fluctuate greatly depending on the relationship between supply and demand. Electricity generated at power plants in sparsely populated areas of Hokkaido cannot be sent to large electricity consumption areas due to reasons such as transmission capacity. As a result, large regional disparities occur in the unit price of electricity. Furthermore, large differences also occur in the unit price depending on the power generation method, such as hydroelectric, thermal, solar, and wind power.

[0014] Patent Documents 3 to 6 are systems for ensuring the traceability of renewable energy electricity, but do not disclose anything about the price stability of electricity-pegged tokens. In addition, although Patent Document 7 tokenizes the amount of electricity generated at a power plant, it does not level it out, so it cannot be used in a stable manner like stablecoins. [Means for solving the problem]

[0015] To solve the above problems, the power peg token system of the present invention is composed of a node provided by a power supplier that issues power peg tokens that guarantee the supply of electricity within a permitted range in the future, a node provided by a power peg token user, a node provided by a power peg token administrator, and an Ethereum blockchain. The nodes include various computers and smartphones.

[0016] The power supplier node sends a power peg token issuance request to the manager node. The node provided by the administrator calculates the ratio (k) between the reference price per unit of electricity set by the administrator and the price per unit of electricity of each electricity supplier obtained from the external market, signs the ratio (k), source identifier, timestamp and nonce with the administrator key, sends a transaction to a ratio update function with the signed data as an argument to update the on-chain ratio (k), multiplies the reference power peg token that compensates for the supply of electricity at the reference price by this ratio (k), converts the power peg token requested for issuance by the electricity supplier into a common power peg token, and sends a transaction to the Ethereum blockchain to trigger the issuance of the common power peg token. The user's node will load the common power peg token into its wallet via a blockchain smart contract to be used as virtual currency, certificate or payment for the supplied power.

[0017] The blockchain may be configured to include a conversion smart contract that triggers the issuance of a common power peg token based on the ratio (k) and a reference price.

[0018] In addition, when a common power peg token is used as payment for supplied electricity, a transaction to destroy the common power peg token is sent from the node owned by the user to the liquidation smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain.

[0019] In the power peg token system of the present invention, power suppliers include power plants, power companies, and also ordinary households with power generation facilities, and it is also possible for power supplier nodes to perform some of the functions of the administrator node (for example, sending power peg token issuance transactions).

[0020] In addition, the ratio of the price for each power supplier to the set reference price is calculated, and this ratio is multiplied by the reference power peg token that compensates for the supply of power at the reference price, and the power peg token for which issuance is requested is converted into a common power peg token.However, the calculation of the ratio may take into account price differences by region and price differences by power generation method at the same time, and the common power peg token for correcting regional price differences and the common power peg token for correcting price differences by power generation method may be managed separately to prevent mixing, for example by making them colored tokens. [Effects of the Invention]

[0021] According to the present invention, when issuing electricity peg tokens using smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain, which is a platform for building decentralized applications, a base price is set, and a ratio is calculated based on this base price to correct price differences between electricity suppliers.The base electricity peg token, which compensates for the supply of electricity at the base price, is multiplied by this ratio to convert the electricity peg tokens requested for issuance into common electricity peg tokens corresponding to each electricity supplier.This makes it possible to level out electricity prices and use them nationwide as a unified virtual currency or certificate.

[0022] Furthermore, even if there is a sudden drop in the value of the currency due to an earthquake or war, the common power peg token can be used as payment for electricity consumption, thereby hedging against a currency price collapse.

[0023] This system is a model in which tokens are issued first to obtain funds and then used to supply electricity in the future, making it possible for small-scale power plants to use the system as a source of funds for initial investments and equipment upgrades. In addition, power generation facilities (especially hydroelectric power plants) built in depopulated areas are overcapacity compared to demand. By issuing a common electricity peg token through this system, economic disparities can be corrected by supplying tokens linked to electricity to the market, even if the physical supply of electricity does not increase.

[0024] Since the unit price of electricity varies even within a limited area of ​​a country, this system is effective for issuing local currencies and can set a validity period (for example, two years from issuance).In addition, since electricity prices vary greatly from country to country, this system can also be effective as a common currency, for example, among Asian countries or CPTPP member countries. Additionally, smart contracts on the blockchain can restrict token transfers, for example, by whitelisting transfers only within the same region or between merchant wallets. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0025] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an electricity peg token system according to the present invention. [Figure 2] Sequence diagram of the electricity peg token system according to the present invention [Figure 3] Block diagram illustrating the issuance request for power-pegged tokens and the rate (k) update [Figure 4] Block diagram explaining the disappearance of the common power peg token DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0026] As shown in Figure 1, the power peg token system of the present invention is composed of a node (10) equipped by the power supplier, a node (20) equipped by the power peg token user, and a node (30) equipped by the power peg token administrator, as well as the Ethereum blockchain. A general-purpose computer can be used as a node, and it is composed of general hardware such as a CPU, ROM, RAM, HDD, BIOS, communication interface, input units such as a keyboard and mouse, and a display.

[0027] The ROM, RAM, HDD, BIOS, and communication interface unit are connected to the CPU via a communication bus, and the keyboard and mouse are connected to the CPU via a human interface, and the hardware functions as a receiving means, storage means, transmission means, extraction means, calculation means, etc. in response to instructions from the CPU.

[0028] The power suppliers may be power plants (hydroelectric, thermal, nuclear, solar, wind, geothermal, etc.) and power companies that sell the electricity generated at the power plants. In the embodiment, Hokkaido Electric Power Company will be used as the power supplier HOK, and Tokyo Electric Power Company will be used as the power supplier TOK.

[0029] The power-pegged tokens, managed by administrator nodes (30), are built on the Ethereum blockchain, which is a globally distributed network. Each node on the network holds all or part of the blockchain data (ledger) and validates, propagates, and synchronizes new transactions and blocks.

[0030] The header of each block in the Ethereum blockchain records the hash value of the previous (parent) block, a timestamp, a state root, etc., and the body of each block contains transactions. Smart contracts are deployed by creation transactions, and their code and state are stored in the world state.

[0031] The system sequence will be explained based on Figure 2. The nodes (10) of the power suppliers TOK and HOK send a signal to the manager's node (30) requesting the issuance of a power peg token that will compensate for the supply of power in the future. The content of this "compensation for the supply of power in the future" includes paying for power that has already been supplied using the power peg token.

[0032] As shown in Figure 3, when an administrator receives a request for issuing a power peg token via a node (30), the administrator considers the content of the request, such as whether it is within the power generation capacity range or the amount of tokens already issued (credit), and if there are no problems, sends a transaction to issue the power peg token to the Ethereum blockchain.

[0033] When issuing an electricity peg token, the administrator sets the base price (StV) per unit of electricity (1.0 kWh) in a base currency such as yen or dollar. Here, we will assume that 1 kWh (kilowatt hour) = 20 yen. This base price can be changed depending on exchange rate fluctuations, etc.

[0034] If an electricity token compensating for 1.0 kWh of electricity supply from Hokkaido Electric Power Company and an electricity token compensating for 1.0 kWh of electricity supply from Tokyo Electric Power Company were to be given the same value, the value would diverge from the actual price and the transaction would not be completed.

[0035] Therefore, the node equipped by the administrator calculates the ratio (k) between the price per unit of electricity (power selling price) for each power supplier and the reference price (St-V). The price per unit of electricity (power selling price) for each power supplier is based on the spot market price (JEPX) obtained via the oracle. By calculating the ratio (k) in this way, the price per unit of electricity for each power supplier becomes a relative price.

[0036] For example, the ratio (k) of Hokkaido Electric Power's unit electricity price (HOK-V) to the base price (St-V) is k = (HOK-V) / (St-V), and if Hokkaido Electric Power's unit electricity price (HOK-V) is 10 yen, then k = (HOK-V) / (St-V) = 10 / 20 = 0.5.

[0037] As shown in Figure 3, the administrator node (30) signs the ratio (k), source identifier, timestamp, nonce, etc., and sends a transaction for the ratio update function to the conversion smart contract using this signed data as an argument to update the on-chain ratio (k).

[0038] The conversion smart contract determines the issuance amount based on the issuance request, the on-chain ratio (k), and the base price, and sends an issuance command to the token contract. The token contract mints the common power pegged token (St-PWR) based on the command, and the issuance authority is limited to the address of the conversion smart contract only.

[0039] Specifically, the electricity token (HOK-PWR) that compensates for the supply of 1.0 kWh of electricity requested by Hokkaido Electric Power Company will be multiplied by the ratio k=0.5 to the standard electricity peg token (St-PWR) that compensates for the supply of electricity at the base price (St-V) to create a common electricity peg token (St-PWR). In other words, 1.0 (HOK-PWR) = 0.5 (St-PWR). Then, 0.5 (St-PWR[HOK]) is issued as a common power token. Here, [HOK] represents the issuer. In addition, if Hokkaido Electric Power Company requests the issuance of a power peg token compensating for the supply of 200 kWh of electricity, after approval, a common power peg token (St-PWR[HOK]) compensating for the supply of 100 kWh of electricity will be issued.

[0040] On the other hand, in the case of Tokyo Electric Power Company, the price per unit of electricity (electricity selling price) is higher than that of Hokkaido Electric Power Company, so the ratio (k) is set to, for example, 1.5. In other words, 1.0 (TOK-PWR) = 1.5 (St-PWR). Then, 1.5 (St-PWR-[TOK]) will be issued as a common power token. Here, [TOK] represents the issuing entity.

[0041] In this way, even for electricity tokens that guarantee the same 1.0 kWh of electricity supply, the amount of common electricity tokens (St-PWR) that can be issued varies depending on the electricity supplier.

[0042] Electricity consumption tends to be low in depopulated areas. However, holders of the common electricity peg token (St-PWR[TOK]) may exchange it for a cheaper electricity peg token (St-PWR[HOK]) when traveling in Hokkaido by electric vehicle, which is expected to have an effect on actual demand.

[0043] To explain using Figure 3, the administrator node takes in external data from JEPX (PJM in the US) at intervals of 10 to 30 minutes, calculates the ratio (k) using a predetermined formula, and sends this ratio (k) as a transaction to the conversion smart contract on the blockchain.

[0044] Furthermore, even without using an oracle, the ratio can be updated on-chain by sending a transaction that calls the ratio update function with the administrator's authorized address. The oracle itself can be built into the administrator's computer or separated as a separate server.

[0045] In this way, the common electricity pegged token (St-PWR) is originally pegged to electricity, and further linked to the yen (dollar) etc. by multiplying the ratio, making it an extremely stable token backed by both the yen and electricity. In other words, when the yen or dollar is stable, it can be used as a virtual currency or certificate, and if the yen or dollar crashes, it can be used to hedge risk by using it to purchase electricity.

[0046] To use the common power peg token (St-PWR), users access the administrator's website via the Internet from their own node, pay the fee or check their balance, and once approved, the common power peg token is sent from the Ethereum network to the user's wallet.

[0047] Users who receive the common power peg tokens can use them as virtual currency or certificates, and the common power peg tokens can also be used for arbitrage trading.

[0048] That is, the common power peg token (St-PWR) is multiplied by the ratio (k) to equalize the different electricity unit prices of each power supplier. However, electricity unit prices fluctuate slightly and over short periods of time due to various factors. For this reason, the ratio (k) is updated every 10 to 30 minutes, but small discrepancies occur even within those 10 to 30 minutes. Taking advantage of this discrepancy, arbitrage transactions such as exchanging the common local power peg token (St-PWR[HOK]) for the common power peg token (St-PWR[TOK]) are possible.

[0049] In addition, the common power peg token can be used to pay the power company for the electricity consumed. In this case, the debt is fulfilled and the common power peg token must be burned.

[0050] In this case, as shown in Figure 4, the user's node (20) sends a common power peg token to the clearing smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain as payment for the supplied electricity. The clearing smart contract verifies the signed meter reading data (including the contract identifier, measurement period, measured electricity amount, nonce, timestamp, etc.) received from the meter reading gateway and compares it with the amount of tokens requested for payment. If the match verification is successful, the clearing smart contract calls the burnFrom function of the token contract under its own authority to burn the amount of tokens. This removes the tokens to be paid from the ledger, and simultaneously records the MeterMatched and Burned audit log events. If there is a mismatch or the data is not received, the transaction is put on hold, and if re-matching cannot be performed within the specified time, a refund is processed. Furthermore, the execution authority of the token contract's burnFrom is limited to the address of the liquidation smart contract only. [Explanation of symbols]

[0051] 10...Power supplier node 20...User node 30...Administrator node

Claims

1. An electricity peg token system comprising a node provided by an electricity supplier that issues electricity peg tokens that guarantee the supply of electricity in the future within an allowed range, a node provided by a user of the electricity peg token, a node provided by an administrator of the electricity peg token, and an Ethereum blockchain, The node of the power supplier transmits a power peg token issuance request to the manager node; The node provided by the administrator calculates the ratio (k) between the reference price per unit of electricity set by the administrator and the price per unit of electricity of each electricity supplier obtained from the external market, signs the ratio (k), source identifier, timestamp and nonce with the administrator key, sends a transaction to a ratio update function with the signed data as an argument to update the on-chain ratio (k), multiplies the reference power peg token that compensates for the supply of electricity at the reference price by this ratio (k) to convert the power peg token requested for issuance by the electricity supplier into a common power peg token, and sends a transaction to the Ethereum blockchain to trigger the issuance of the common power peg token. The user's node imports the common electricity peg tokens to be used as virtual currency, certificates or payment for electricity supply into its own wallet via a smart contract on the blockchain; An electricity peg token system.

2. 2. The electricity peg token system of claim 1, wherein when the common electricity peg token is used as payment for supplied electricity, the node provided by the user sends a transaction to the liquidation smart contract of the Ethereum blockchain to process the extinction of the common electricity peg token.

3. 2. The power peg token system of claim 1, wherein the Ethereum blockchain comprises a conversion smart contract, which triggers the issuance of a common power peg token based on the ratio (k) and a base price.

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