The need for renewable energy sources and the wave of changes in the power sector, which is dominated by smart grids, require increasing the reliability and security of the power supply, improving the efficiency of the entire complex system, and enabling the use of new technologies.

To achieve that improvement, the Belgrade startup TRAKEN TECH has assembled a team of experts to develop an innovative solution for monitoring, managing, and exploiting data for smart electric grids. Their new system provides a distribution system to manage metering records, track physical objects, and transfer values without a third party or manual use.

“With the financial support of the European Union, through the Mini Grants Program of the Innovation Fund, we developed the Traken platform for managing energy capacities and data for the latest generation of smart electric networks. The Traken platform uses blockchain technology to create unique identities of smart meters and verified and secure yet transparent measurement data,” said Strahinja Vukoicic, CEO of TRAKEN TECH.

The technology of the future

The TRAKEN system structures and stores metadata and provides access to metering records by creating a protocol to create a standardized passport for each smart meter. In this way, it is ensured that all the necessary data are sufficiently transparent at the same time, but also that they protect the private information of smart meter owners. The ultimate goal is to make the management process as simple as possible for each user.

The current platform uses a functional API, a mobile application for consumers, an application for electricity suppliers, and an operational blockchain module.

“The Fund’s support came at the right moment for us because it enabled us to hire additional engineering resources, as well as external consultants, who helped us improve our infrastructure, as well as formalize the legal framework of our solutions,” emphasized Vukoicic.

Smarter smart grids Team

Smart power grids facilitate energy use, are efficient, and enable better electricity consumption records. Additionally, integrating energy from renewable energy sources into the power grid creates the need to develop new software products and services. Today, power grids are “smarter” and require equally advanced management systems.

The TRAKEN team is motivated to use its knowledge of new technologies to redefine existing protocols by the flexible and simple inclusion of owners of renewable energy sources in existing systems.

“We are inspired by technology and what we can learn from technology. Our goal is to improve the user experience for the owners of renewable energy sources and, using blockchain technology, to give them new opportunities to participate in the market of renewable energy sources“, concluded Pavle Batuta, technical director of TRAKEN TECH.

Direct Grant – Increased innovation capacity and technological readiness of SMEs is signed between the Innovation Fund and Ministry of Finance – the Department for Contracting and Financing of EU Funded Programs (CFCU) provides funds for the continuation of Mini Grants Program, Matching Grants Program and Collaborative Grant Scheme Program.

The total budget of the Project is EUR 20 million, of which EUR 15 million from the European Union Pre-Accession Assistance for 2018 (IPA 2018) and EUR 5 million from the budget of the Republic of Serbia, the line of the Ministry of Science,Technological Development and Innovation.

The amount allocated for the financing of approved projects under the  Mini Grants Program, Matching Grants Program and Collaborative Grant Scheme Program financed under this Direct Grant Agreement is EUR 18 million. More about the project can be found on http://www.inovacionifond.rs/