SP Group has announced the launch of a digital marketplace for small solar energy producers in Singapore, that is built using blockchain technology and will link up buyers and sellers of green credits to ensure fast, safe and transparent transactions. Unveiled at the Asean Energy Business Forum, only small firms can access the marketplace right now but would be available to households by the middle of next year.

Samuel Tan, SP Group’s chief digital officer, said that the company is thinking of products which would help its customers choose sustainability. He mentioned that the company allows corporations to trade in renewable energy certificates (RECs) securely, seamlessly and conveniently through blockchain, and helps them in achieving greener business operations for meeting their sustainability targets.

According to reports, RECs are currently bought and sold in Singapore manually through an intensive process, which makes it very difficult for small-scale buyers to find sellers and the prices also need to be negotiated between both sides. The blockchain marketplace will supposedly make it easier to connect buyers and sellers by automating the selling and verification process.

SP Group's blockchain marketplace will allow the trading of RECs in 0.001 units, as a four-room Housing Board flat utilizes only around 12 kilowatt-hour (kwh) of electricity daily. This will open up the buying and selling of RECs, which is mostly done by large companies nowadays, to smaller players like households.

Citing reliable sources, DBS bank and property giant City Developments Limited (CDL) have also signed up for the SP Group’s online marketplace. Chemical logistics company Katoen Natie Singapore, soon launching the largest single unit rooftop solar facility in Singapore, will be one of the REC sellers on the platform, sources confirmed.

A CDL spokesperson revealed that participating in SP's RECs trading would help the company in increasing efforts to diminish carbon emissions more securely, seamlessly and conveniently. The developer stated that buying RECs is among the strategies it will use to reach the goal of being completely powered by renewable energy by 2050.