It is the revolution that has long been talked about: the democratisation of energy. That is, being able to directly purchase small portions of a solar installation and benefit from the renewable energy it produces, with no intermediaries. And to become a prosumer – producer and consumer – without necessarily having to buy and install a photovoltaic system. For now the service exists only in Germany, where the startup Enyway is the first to offer consumers the opportunity to buy the surface area of a pizza box's worth of photovoltaic installation for just 39 euros.

How Enyway's system works

The young company, founded in 2017, launched a crowdfunding campaign last November to build an 8,000-square-metre installation near Hecklingen, a town in Saxony-Anhalt. Anyone could take part, and the available packages ranged from a minimum of 39 euros for a solar installation surface equivalent to a pizza box, up to 299 euros for larger surfaces. "The average (customer) can now actively participate in the energy transition," said Enyway manager Heiko von Tschieschwitz, who nearly 20 years ago founded Germany's first and now largest green energy supplier. By purchasing a solar package, each customer not only receives energy from their share of the installation, but also has the opportunity to buy green energy for the entire rental period at the purchase price. Obviously the energy produced by a single package is barely enough to power a laptop; the rest of the electricity is supplied by the company itself, with no profit margin.

The underlying idea is to purchase a small or medium-sized portion of an installation, while the company supplies the remaining electricity without any mark-up. You save on your bill, consume only green energy and invest in renewables. The offer is aimed at those who cannot install a photovoltaic system, whether for reasons of space or for financial reasons. Or at apartment dwellers, or those who, for example, do not have a roof at their disposal.

Renewables within everyone's reach thanks to blockchain

This is what is known in the trade as distributed generation: small and medium-sized installations produce the energy needed by small communities that exchange electricity according to demand, reducing losses, waste and the intermediation of large utilities. And it is the concept underpinning Enyway's offering. The key to the project is to build large solar installations with the help of large numbers of consumers, who will ultimately have access to the solar or wind energy produced. Using blockchain technology, solar modules are divided into mini virtual packages that are allocated to buyers for an initial period of 2 years. The algorithm guarantees that the renewable energy produced always goes to that specific customer, without exception.

"We no longer need incentives to build installations that produce renewable energy," said Varena Junge, one of the company's founders. Now "we can gradually phase out coal-generated energy." Another step towards the energy transition, demonstrating how renewables are now mature, cost-effective and accessible to all.