WePower Limited

WePower Limited, established in 2016, introduced a blockchain-based platform for financing and trading green energy. The company was founded by Nikolaj Martyniuk, who brought over a decade of experience from the energy sector, including renewable project development; Arturas Asakavicius, a lawyer with a background in finance and private equity; and Kaspar Kaarlep, who served as CTO with extensive experience in the European utility sector.

The firm's core business was a platform connecting renewable energy producers directly with energy buyers, such as consumers and investors. This model was designed to help green energy developers raise capital by selling a portion of their future energy production upfront. The transactions were facilitated through the tokenization of energy, where each token represented a specific amount of future energy (e.g., 1 kWh). These energy tokens were created using smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain, intended to standardize and simplify the investment process in an otherwise complex energy market.

The business model aimed to provide benefits to multiple parties. For energy producers, it offered a new channel to secure financing and potentially increase their return on equity. For buyers and investors, it provided an opportunity to purchase energy at rates below the prevailing market price and trade these commitments. The platform utilized a native ERC-20 token, WPR, which functioned as a payment method and granted holders priority access to energy auctions. A significant milestone for the company was a successful Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in early 2018, which raised $40 million from over 22,000 contributors. Following the ICO, WePower established a key partnership with Elering, Estonia's electricity transmission system operator, to launch a pilot project for tokenizing nationwide energy data. Despite these early achievements, including being named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Energy Companies in 2018, trading activity for the WPR token has since fallen to minimal levels.

Keywords: green energy trading, blockchain energy platform, renewable energy financing, energy tokenization, peer-to-peer energy, smart contracts, P2P energy trading, crypto energy, Nikolaj Martyniuk, Arturas Asakavicius, Kaspar Kaarlep, WPR token, ICO, green energy investment, Elering partnership, solar project funding, energy auction, decentralized energy, energy marketplace, sustainable energy finance