Eloncity

What is Eloncity?

Eloncity is a model for the planning, constructing and operating community-based renewable microgrid, which means:

➢ Community-centric - the community members coordinate with each other to exchange energy and share energy equipment costs-benefits (e.g., solar PV, battery energy storage system (BESS), energy management system, and others) to access more reliable and cost-effective local energy supply, to maximize the utilization rates of the installed equipment for accelerated return-of-investment (ROI) and other benefits. The community-based approach uses the collective resources of the entire community to implement a project which might be too costly to be done on an individual basis or must rely on funding from a sponsor’s whose interests may not completely aligned with what deem important to the community.

➢ Renewable-based – use locally available renewable resources, such as solar or wind power, to produce electricity locally to fulfill the community energy needs.

➢ Microgrid – means that community energy system is designed to be capable of operating in island-mode AND grid-connect mode. Island-mode means that the community can operate on its own which the community energy needs are fulfilled by the energy produced locally in the community. The island-mode keep the community safe and operational during disaster or emergency events when the energy services from the main grid are disrupted. The grid-connect mode means that the community energy system is connected to the main-grid allowing the community to import energy from the main-grid to supplement the community-produced energy. In the connected mode, the community energy system can provide energy services to the main-grid when the main-grid is failing or does not sufficient localized energy supply to support the main-grid operation reliably. The grid-connect mode is important because it allows the community to leverage resources from the main-grid because it offers the opportunity for the community to generate revenue when the community provides energy services to the main-grid while allowing the community to import energy from the main-grid when it makes senses financially.

Eloncity model integrates advanced technologies, best practices and lessons learned to create a scalable and replicable design for unleashing the potential of the community-based renewable microgrid to attain an energy future safe, secure, healthy, sustainable and equitable, and more vibrant regenerative energy future. The Eloncity model builds upon four key pillars:

1. Decentralized renewable energy technology architecture, which comprises

● Blockchain technology platform that provides an open secured and distributed ledger for efficient recording of energy transactions and the sources of electricity generation in the community, renewable or fossil-fuel;

● Crypto utility token (Eloncity Token or ECT) facilitates local energy exchange and incentivize investment in the battery energy storage system (BESS) for storing newly harvested renewable energy, as well as creating an open global marketplace that enables communities around the world to access advanced renewable energy products and services;

● Intelligent networked BESS harmonizes local electricity supply-demand and flattens intermittent renewable generations into predictable, reliable and dispatchable renewable resources;

● Customer-sited and community-based renewable energy generators, coupled with intelligent networked BESS, in-front-the-meter BESS and behind-the-meter BESS, fulfill all or nearly all the local energy demands;

● Community DC switching power network(s) eliminates the congestion on the last-mile networks and allow energy to flow from any party (or parties) to any other parties. The costly AC power ancillary services are no longer needed while the shared BESS makes 24x7 renewable energy reliable and cost-effective, and

● DC appliances enable the community to use the renewable powers more efficiently by mitigating losses from repeated AC-DC-AC conversions.

2. Community development ensures the successful planning and implementing of the Eloncity model at five fundamental levels; (a) community adoption; (b) social application; (c) quantifiable salient impacts; (d) localized roadmap for step-by-step deployment and continued growths; (e) leverage lessons learned to hone processes for accelerated wide-scale replication of the Eloncity model.

3. Combined performance-based projects with revolving loans create an effective strategy for mobilizing the private market capitals for wide-scale deployment of the Eloncity model.

4. Collaborative and equitable regulatory framework facilitates leveled-field markets to mitigate imbalanced market powers to unleash market innovations, protect the energy consumers, and support local economies.