BTL GROUP LTD. (TSX Venture: BTL) reports today that it is working with a group of energy firms, including Austria's largest regional energy company Wien Energie GmbH, on a blockchain pilot using its Interbit platform.
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"With the pilot project now being launched, we are able to build up know-how in the Blockchain area with our partners and test the new technology for its opportunities and benefits. We also want to analyze how new business models can arise from this," said Peter Gönitzer, Managing Director at Wien Energie. "Through different experimental arrangements with the technology, new insights into the use of blockchain in the energy business are to be gained and possible process optimization and cost savings are to be explored."
Wien Energie's Chairman Michael Strebl added: "Blockchain technology is a further digitization trend in the energy industry. As Austria's largest energy service provider, we want to actively make use of the technology and its chances for our customers and us."
High Energy
Guy Halford-Thompson, CEO, BTL Group
Guy Halford-Thompson, co-founder of BTL explained: "The energy industry has a complex ecosystem with a myriad of business lines from raw material exploration to electricity generation and delivery. Currently, record keeping and data management are incredibly cumbersome leading to costly mistakes when it comes to trading energy products and tracking asset ownership. From the work we have done so far, we have demonstrated how the Interbit platform can vastly improve existing infrastructures. We believe this project we are undertaking with some of the world's largest energy companies will further prove how our blockchain technology can increase efficiencies and lead to considerable cost savings for energy companies."
This pilot project is being supported by EY. Andreas Freitag, Manager at EY Austria, commented: "The energy industry should actively deal with blockchain technology. The impact on existing processes and markets could be enormous. Now is a good time to test the technology and adjust the company to the upcoming changes. With EY playing a critical role in the pilot, led by BTL, we are able to get to know the technology and to assess the future potential even better. At the end of the project, we will be a step further to assess how Interbit will affect the energy industry."
The test is expected to run for three months, from March to May 2017.
