We're tokenizing rooftop and commercial historical solar generation into what we call Outflow tokens. Each system gets an NFT (an ERC-721), currently treated as a hand designed art piece built around that system's actual permitted plansets and construction photos. We call the underlying token Outflow, which is an ERC-20. Currently tokenizing on Base.
Each NFT is tied to a token bound account holding Outflow tokens, one per verified megawatt hour (MWh) of real historical solar generation. Our contracts have deduplication logic so only one token can ever be minted per MWh, verified through an oracle that reads the system's own monitoring hardware (SolarEdge, Enphase, etc.) directly.
We initially explored tokenizing these as Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), 1 MWh happens to be the standard REC unit too, but we've held off on making that claim until we get legal advice. If we say these are actual RECs, that pulls in the whole legal framework around the voluntary REC market, accredited registries, chain of custody, avoiding double counting against any state REC program a system might already be enrolled in. But our customers own their solar RECs and have assigned us the right to tokenize them, so we could technically make that claim. We also only operate in territories where owners hold their RECs by default. Should we make that claim? Anyone working in blockchain or the environmental asset market who could weigh in?
Registries today download solar production data into a csv file and email it to trading platform companies, expensive and slow, and most residential or small commercial owners can't navigate them or don't produce enough value to make it worth registering.
We're working with solar installers and system owners on this. Roughly ~4,000 solar panels in our pilot right now, focused on distributed solar systems. We're dropping our first 32 NFTs with Outflow soon.
what do you mean? You are directly supporting the economy e.g. paying solar installers, local distributors, permits, engineering, etc. You're just owning your power, not leasing it. Also, you export electricity into the grid. With extreme heatwaves we have seen in New York, you can couple the solar system with battery storage and discharge when the grid is stressed.
You're right on the labor, that only goes up. On the local/state red tape kind of. You can sell a residential solar system and get a contract signed and installed and get PTO within 30-60 days, which isn't terrible. However, utility scale solar farms can take 3-5 years before you even break ground at the earliest but that's a different story. There's a ton of local/state rep tape there so you're def right there.
What is the cost of electricity per KWh where you are from?
Here in the USA it varies greatly from Hawaii and California having prices that exceed $0.30 to $0.50+ per KWh but in the midwest electricity is cheap as low as $0.12-15 per KWh for American standards. The former markets lead the USA in soalr installs and that's why. It's a financial decision and the ROI on going solar in the Midwest, USA for example is very long. Illinois is a Midwestern state and is a SREC market so that's a added incentive from the state so the ROI is less. For residential solar cash and bank financed solar projects, we lost the Federal ITC last year but PPAs in residential still exist. The Federal ITC existed though from 2006 under President Bush a Republican extended under President Obama a Democrat and ended under President Trump 2026 for just cash and bank financed residentials projects. The 30% Federal tax credits for the cost of the solar system and a reduction in your federal income taxes lasted for 20 years which is really what drove solar energy growth along with state tax incentives in USA. We had the Rural Renewable Energy Programs (REAP) grants or used to which made the cost of solar for farmers in America like a 2-3 year payback after the Federal ITC, State tax credits and REAP grants. I support solar and have worked in the industry for 10+ years. It's not going anywhere in the USA. We just have to adopt and grow but the USA is still one of the global leaders in the solar installed capacity.
Each NFT is tied to a token bound account holding Outflow tokens, one per verified megawatt hour (MWh) of real historical solar generation. Our contracts have deduplication logic so only one token can ever be minted per MWh, verified through an oracle that reads the system's own monitoring hardware (SolarEdge, Enphase, etc.) directly.
We initially explored tokenizing these as Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), 1 MWh happens to be the standard REC unit too, but we've held off on making that claim until we get legal advice. If we say these are actual RECs, that pulls in the whole legal framework around the voluntary REC market, accredited registries, chain of custody, avoiding double counting against any state REC program a system might already be enrolled in. But our customers own their solar RECs and have assigned us the right to tokenize them, so we could technically make that claim. We also only operate in territories where owners hold their RECs by default. Should we make that claim? Anyone working in blockchain or the environmental asset market who could weigh in?
Registries today download solar production data into a csv file and email it to trading platform companies, expensive and slow, and most residential or small commercial owners can't navigate them or don't produce enough value to make it worth registering.
We're working with solar installers and system owners on this. Roughly ~4,000 solar panels in our pilot right now, focused on distributed solar systems. We're dropping our first 32 NFTs with Outflow soon.