The project partners are building a prototype on peaq focusing on optimizing the energy usage within a single household, involving Web3 AI agents controlling real-world devices.
July 10, 2024 — peaq, the layer-1 blockchain for DePIN and Machine RWAs, unveils an AI-driven prototype of a Web3-powered energy nano-grid built by Combinder with Nevermined and Valory on behalf of Olas. Running on peaq, the prototype will demonstrate the viability of Web3-based nano-grid energy management involving AI agents — smart software pieces representing individual household devices. Leveraging real-world data to simulate the energy needs of an average household, the project team will build a physical nano-grid involving a plug-in green energy source and an air conditioning unit.
While power grids have traditionally been built with major centralized power plants in mind, the approach wouldn’t cut it for renewable energy, which favors more flexible and distributed grids. An individual smart home can make a significant contribution in this regard, leveraging its own energy sources such as plug-in solar panels or mini-turbines and adjusting its energy consumption in line with live demand. While offsetting grid load, this design is crucial for a more sustainable paradigm, as per a recent Deloitte report.
Combinder changes the game by enabling people to earn rewards in tokens for connecting their smart devices to its global virtual power grid. As part of this DePIN, people can earn for sharing their energy use data, a crucial component of a smart energy grid, and adjust their consumption to offset peak demand hours, providing network resilience. They can also sell carbon credits and even join peer-to-peer energy microgrids, selling power from their own sources.
The prototype that Combinder is building with Nevermined and Valory (core contributor to Olas) zooms in on the latter, simulating a local nano-grid within a single household. Equipped with solar panels, this household would represent a so-called ‘prosumer’, i.e. a consumer that also produces energy in periods of sufficient sunlight. Worldwide, over 33 million households already fall under this category, and the International Energy Agency expects the number to grow to 100 million by 2030.
Under the planned set-up, Combinder would connect a physical solar panel and an air conditioning unit to its energy marketplace to demonstrate a smart grid that can be scaled up to multiple devices and multiple households. Valory will provide the AI agents design that will monitor the energy consumption of the household and the available production volumes of the solar panels. As soon as the agent predicts overproduction (production exceeding consumption), it will switch on the AC. Nevermined will provide the payments system for the AI agents, enabling them to transact between themselves, guaranteeing optimal prices and earnings for device owners.
Building up on the integration plans announced earlier, the prototype will showcase how AI can optimize local energy supply, which is already cheaper than power from centralized grids, while also managing the consumption side with maximum sustainability in mind. This will set the stage for wider research and development in this direction, aiming to enable a global network of AI-powered microgrids (several households, e.g. a municipality) running in tandem to keep households juiced up without harming the environment.
“Peer-to-peer microgrids are crucial for sustainable energy, and the DePIN model is the perfect incentive mechanism for them,” says Kai Siefert, founder of Combinder. “It aligns the incentives of all the stakeholders and enables people to earn rewards for helping make the world greener. Olas’s AI agents play a crucial role there, streamlining and optimizing the process, and Nevermined provides a smooth payments system enabling the commercial drivers. In essence, we’re showcasing what our renewable-powered future will look like and quite literally giving the power back to the people — on peaq, the home of DePIN.”
“The prototype with Combinder, Olas, and peaq is a perfect use case foundation for AI-Commerce to begin to take hold in the energy sector,” says Don Gossen, CEO of Nevermined. “At Nevermined, we are on a mission to get AI agents paid, and by integrating the PayPal of AI, we are enabling a future where AI transacts on our behalf, working tirelessly to save us money on power bills and make the world greener. It sounds like sci-fi, but with a top-notch Web3 and AI stack, it is perfectly possible today.”
“The green energy nano-grid we are building with Combinder and Nevermined on peaq is the ideal example of an AI agent-powered microeconomy,” says Ralph Pahlmeyer, Head of Business Development at Valory. “It leverages AI not just to streamline local interactions, but also align the power consumption with the larger grid, making it more flexible. It’s a win-win situation where everyone’s interests are aligned in a way that serves the global good.”
