A Decentralized Power Generation and Transaction Platform
Metanoia, a renewable energy-based blockchain platform, has recently gained attention as several former ministers have participated in it. Metanoia is an ancient Greek word meaning “changing one’s mind after having a realization.” The project is progressing by utilizing a decentralized blockchain to solve an imbalance in human rights created by global energy inequality.
Former Minister of Information and Communications Yang Seung-taek recently met with Ulju County Minister Lee Seon-ho, former chairman of the supreme council and representative of the Liberty Korea Party (formerly Saennuri Party), which proclaimed to be a blockchain-oriented party in January, former Social Affairs Deputy Pime Minister and Education Minister Hwang Woo-yeo, as well as former Agriculture Minister Kim Young-jin, a five-term lawmaker from the Democratic Party. All of them have joined the advisory board of Metanoia.
Statistics show that 20 percent of the world's population in developed countries use 60 percent of the world's energy, while the remaining 80 percent of the world's population use the remaining 40 percent. Metanoia argues that it is possible to supply sustainable energy via a decentralized model to a number of places that lack facilities to filter drinking water due to global energy imbalances and lack of electricity.
Michael Choi, chairman of Metanoia, has worked his whole life as a human rights lawyer committed to ensuring human rights. He is well known for working on the case of the Nogeunri incident during the Korean War and holding symposiums to tackle the issue of forced labor by Japan as well as other efforts to protect the infringed and violated human rights of Korean citizens in the past.
"Individual human rights defense cases can contribute to promoting human rights, but there still are many places in the world where even bare minimum human rights are not guaranteed, and that’s why I decided to take a different approach," said Choi. “Instead of feeling sadness after watching people drink muddy water or being exposed to danger at night due to a lack of electricity, I thought it was time to take joint action.”
"In order to solve these problems, we have to rapidly increase the power supply facilities in energy-deprived areas. To this end, compared to large-scale centralized power facilities that require massive financial investment and lengthy construction times, distributed generation solutions are more appropriate since they can be installed relatively quickly,” he noted, emphasizing the importance of a decentralized power generation and transaction platform.
Metanoia will conduct development assistance projects in such energy-deprived areas based on domestic renewable energy projects. Domestic wind power generation and photovoltaic power generation projects will create profit models, and 5 percent of the profit will be used for development assistance projects, while 1 percent will be used for donations to those in need. In order to promote the successful operation of large-scale wind power generation projects, Metanoia signed an MOU with AK Inc., a domestic company that manufactures aluminum materials for the aerospace industry, as well as Marine Wind Power Co., Ltd., led by CEO Park Joo-won (formerly a mayor of Ansan) with regards to energy development and the progress of smart city projects.
Meanwhile, on top of the development projects and funding for energy-deprived areas based on renewable energy, a domestic micro-grid urbanization project using a P2P power trading platform will be developed. Metanoia's engineers said, "In this micro-grid that will be built in Korea, everyone will be a prosumer, one who produces more energy than they consume, and will be able to enjoy affordable energy.”
Choi said, "We will build a building that uses solar thermal energy, photovoltaic power, wind power, and geothermal energy in Songdo, Incheon as an actual implementation model for renewable energy generation. Furthermore, we will build small villages in Southeast Asia and Africa and develop them into self-sufficient models that use tokens.”