After building in stealth mode for almost two years, Blockchain Power co-founders Noel Myers and Greg Ness are preparing to launch their solar data sharing startup this fall. They’ve already caught the eye of the likes of NC IDEA, which awarded a startup a $10K MICRO grant last month.
The solar industry is growing, but Myers said that many solar asset owners—such as power utility companies and other large-scale solar energy owners—are under-performing. To address this problem of solar assets failing to meet energy targets, and therefore making less profit than expected, RTP-based Blockchain Power has created a secure platform powered by blockchain technology that will be sold to asset owners to share data and access insights and analytics about equipment performance.
“Our industry doesn’t have a current single storehouse, or single source of truth,” Myers said.
Under-performance can be attributed to failures throughout different parts of the solar energy conversion process. The most common failure point is the inverters, which convert the electricity that the solar panels generate to the electricity that the power grid uses. Solar inverter outages are responsible for 40% of power loss.
Blockchain Power’s platform is called SunDAO Network, providing data security and software services for solar asset owners. This data collection can not only help asset owners optimize their equipment performance, but it also helps minimize risk for insurers and maximize return on investment for stakeholders.
SunDAO Network uses Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), ensuring solar data is cyber-secure, and the SunDAO Data Token System incentivizes asset owners to share their company’s solar data. The platform also has an edtech component called Metaverse Solar that provides technical training resources to solar asset owners.
The product will be sold to asset owners, and Myers said his team is currently looking to implement a membership model.
Myers grew up in Chapel Hill and has held a variety of positions within the solar industry throughout his career. After connecting with co-founder Ness on LinkedIn several years ago, the two teamed up to work on an 80-page report mapping out how data could be used to solve problems in the solar industry and how DLT is essential to securing that data. From there, SunDAO was set in motion.
North Carolina is one of the largest producers of solar energy in the country, and Blockchain Power founders have taken full advantage of the Triangle through local partnerships. Myers and Ness participated in startup accelerator Launch Chapel Hill through the Innovate Carolina program and also completed First Flight Venture Center’s Propeller program last year. Blockchain Power is now headquartered at First Flight.
“We would not be where we are today without First Flight Venture Center,” Myers said. “I would say, First Flight Venture Center is probably the first team that really believed in us.”
Blockchain Power received a $10,000 grant from the latest NC IDEA MICRO grant cycle last month, a program that gives project-based grants to young startups. The grant money will be used to get user feedback, and Myers said that feedback will be integrated into Blockchain Power’s technical development cycle as the startup nears its launch date.
So far, the startup has raised $400,000 in pre-seed funding, and Myers said the company’s goal is to raise an additional $2.1 million by selling equity.
Other highlights for Blockchain Power include taking third place at 1871’s Web3 Innovation Lab in Chicago and first place at Hedera’s Beyond Blockchain Hashgraph Incubator in 2023.
