Wipro Builds Blockchain Trading Platform for German Energy Major Uniper Built in collaboration with Uniper, the platform employs a consortium model for all ssLNG players to streamline the trading market, which in turn helps traders save costs and brings in more efficiency in the market

Wipro on Thursday announced implementation of a blockchain-based small-scale liquefied natural gas (ssLNG) trading platform for Uniper Global Commodities SE, the energy and power commodity trading arm of Germany-based Uniper.

Built in collaboration with Uniper, the platform employs a consortium model for all ssLNG players to streamline the trading market, which in turn helps traders save costs and brings in more efficiency in the market.

The platform includes multiple peer-to-peer trading cycle participants, enables order and supply placement, delivery of goods, validation of the state of goods and bill settlements. Its implementation will help Uniper to streamline trade by reducing turnaround time, effort and inefficiencies, enables scalability and brings visibility, transparency and trust in all stages of LNG trade, Wipro said in a statement.

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Krishnakumar N Menon, Vice President - Service Transformation and Blockchain Theme Leader, Wipro, said that the trading platform leverages blockchain to simplify the LNG trade process with greater efficiency, transparency and security.

"The blockchain-based platform benefits Uniper and its customers in their trade cycles by enabling digitization and exchange of documents; real-time sharing of information and alerts for an immutable audit trail of activities performed."

Moreover, overall commodity flow management will be simplified in a market that otherwise involves extensive manual and paper heavy transactions and steep operational cost.

"Our Utilities ETRM (Energy Trade and Risk Management) business competency combined with industry leading blockchain expertise has enabled Uniper to modernize its trading platform, reduce friction, improve process efficiency and simplify settlements in business processes," said Sarat Chand, Vice President and EMEA Utilities Business Head, Wipro Limited.

Strategically, the platform stands to help Uniper become the market maker for low-carbon modern supply of alternative fuels and decentralized energy solutions, as per the company statement.

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Commenting on the collaboration, Grigory Shevchenko, Senior Account Manager Gas Supply and Origination, LNG Business Development, Uniper said, "…when we enter more downstream logistics-heavy markets, we encourage the use of innovative technologies to optimize our processes and operations. Blockchain will enable business volume growth without needing a lot of additional headcount to manage transactions. This will be true for us and our counterparts that will engage with Uniper through the paperless blockchain platform. The ssLNG trading platform provides for easy scalability and enhancements based on the growing marketplace. To achieve this, we jointly deployed the required building blocks such as security, distributed computing and node network."

With the help of the platform, Liqvis GmbH, Uniper's 100 per cent LNG-for-trucks subsidiary, can ensure that LNG is always available and achieve price security through the company's long-term LNG supply contracts and seamless supply chain execution.

Wipro: Early Leader in Blockchain

Wipro is known to be an early leader in the country in implementing blockchain technology for its clients. It said that the company is committed to creating strong blockchain communities while developing talent for building extensive technology expertise across multiple leading blockchain platforms such as Hyperledger Fabric, Etherum, Quorum, Corda, Multichain, Hyperledger Indy and Hyperledger Sawtooth.

The Bengaluru-headquartered tech major is involved in a number of distributed ledger technology associations and alliances, including the Hyperledger project, the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance, the Energy Web Foundation and the Blockchain in Transport Alliance.