AREC Dapp: A Polygon-based framework for digital-native & on-chain tokenized REC lifecycle management

The road to sustainability through Polygon

Arkreen Network’s 1st DApp AREC is launched on Polygon for a pioneering tokenized Renewable Energy Certificate. This is the Web3-native REC for anyone, from public-chain to DApps, who wants to be carbon neutral. Arkreen will connect global renewable energy devices data, i.e. rooftop solar panels, and help individuals monetize renewable energy generation data into REC sales. AREC is a digital -native tokenized REC bridge built on Polygon and sources renewable energy data from global renewable energy devices. Polygon is a perfect match for Arkreen and AREC due to its carbon neutrality pursuit and high performance feature as a side-chain.

Why does Arkreen build on top of the Polygon blockchain?

Polygon is an experimental playground for developers and is suitable for building scalable applications without compromising security. However, these aren’t the only reasons Arkreen and Polygon are a good match. A key component related to our blockchain evaluation process involves intense and selective benchmark measurements of the most adaptable and flexible blockchain platforms.

How does Arkreen’s network deploy on Polygon?

Arkreen miner owners (e.g., suppliers of green energy data) can connect with the Arkreen network to optimally benefit from the network as a result of connecting their solar PV Panels to the platform. The Arkreen owner’s solar PV Panel or any other energy resource is initially connected to the inverter, with a mounted Arkreen-certified Smart Data Logger (aka. Standard Miner). The miners, as an energy oracle, send signed proof-of-green energy (PoGG) data reports to Arkreen Network’s oracle IoT platform. The platform stores the raw data on IPFS and saves a Merkle root of the data package in a smart contract deployed on Polygon. When an external entity (e.g., enterprises or clients) verifies the data, it first obtains the data index (CID) from the Arkreen Network’s Oracle platform, retrieves the stored raw data, and then verifies the retrieved data against the Merkle root on Polygon.

Arkreen is a Web3.0 digital infrastructure for a globally-distributed green energy resource platform that is deployed on the Polygon blockchain. Proof of Green-energy Generation data (PoGG) is a cutting-edge algorithm developed in the Arkreen Network that reports green energy data from renewable energy equipment (i.e., solar PV) that is trustworthy, transparent, and reliable while also bringing this green data onto the blockchain. Miner owners (e.g., energy equipment owners) mint AREC (Arkreen Renewable Energy Certificate) NFTs based on the amount of renewable energy (RE) Green data generation in the Arkreen Network.

AREC NFT is the REC (Renewable Energy Certificate) issued on the basis of renewable energy generation proof sourcing from the Arkreen Network. With the help of the high efficiency and amazing composability of Web3.0 technology, AREC targets to be the fundamental financial instrument to gear up the global carbon emission reduction progress.

The following diagram shows how the renewable energy generation proofs are collected from Arkreen miners and provided as the verifiable fact to issue the AREC, an NFT in the crypto world. AREC NFT, a digitalized crypto asset, can be converted into ART, an ERC20-compliant token with better liquidity while it can be redeemed to offset carbon emissions. In addition to being able to be exchanged for many other crypto assets maintained as personal wealth, ART, the AREC in the form of ERC20, may also be used to offset carbon emissions.

AREC(Arkreen Renewable Energy Certificate) Framework

In order to supply the RE data to the Arkreen network, initially, RE resource owners must: 1.) purchase the Arkreen miner devices, connect the miner device with the solar inverter, and begin to generate the renewable energy green data report. 2) Miner owners mint AREC NFT based on the amount of RE Green data proof generated for the Arkreen network. 3) Arkreen Miners can either sell the AREC NFT in exchange for another form of crypto assets (e.g., ETH or MATIC), liquidize the AREC into ERC20 compatible token namely ART. Finally, miner owners can trade ART for another form of a crypto asset on the decentralized exchange (DEX). When climate actors (e.g., companies or individuals) are willing to offset their carbon emissions, crypto assets such as USDC or MATIC are used through the AREC DEX to purchase ARTs. They can offset some portion of the purchased ARTs to take the climate action and mint the retirement badge based on the climate action(s) created. Moreover, AREC NFT can also be listed on an open NFT market platform such as OpenSea, where climate actors can purchase in order to offset their carbon footprint.

The diagram describes key components of the AREC Dapp deployed on a polygon network; it contains the three phases as follows:

Arkreen Network Miners — Supply Side

The first phase starts with solar PV, which is the renewable energy resources, and the supply side of AREC. Arkreen Miners are renewable energy (RE) generation data collectors and provers. Connected to the meters of the RE generators (mainly solar panels in the current phase), miners continuously sign and send the RE generation data to the Arkreen Network. As an incentive, AKRE tokens are rewarded to the miner’s owner based on the amount of the RE output. Two kinds of miners, Remote Miner and Standard Miner, are designed to meet the various requirement of Arkreen community members:

Remote miners are mostly for the Arkreen community members who are willing to participate in the climate actions but do not have solar panels on their rooftops; hence, they acquire some portions of the RE data of other’s solar panels through the Arkreen Network to participate in carbon emission reduction practices.

Standard miners play a significant role in the Arkreen Network by connecting to the inverter to fetch the green data and then transmitting it to the Arkreen Network. Simply plug the miner in and bind it with the Arkreen mobile app to onboard the Arkreen Network and begin reporting the PoGG renewable energy data. Arkreen Network users can connect their Arkreen mobile app or Arkreen web app with a MetaMask wallet. AKREs (Arkreen Network’s native token) can be claimed to the wallet as the reward for supplying green energy generation data proof. Arkreen miners (e.g., Standard Miner) will then be able to track from the dashboard on the Arkreen web app or Arkreen mobile app exactly how the solar PV panel is performing on a periodic basis.

Arkreen Network — Infrastructure side

Arkreen miner owners (e.g., suppliers of green energy data) can connect with the Arkreen Network to optimally benefit from the network by providing green energy generation data to the platform. The miners, as a green-energy data oracle, send signed Proof of Green-energy Generation (PoGG) data reports to Arkreen Network’s platform. The platform stores packed renewable energy-proof data (packing all miners’ data at a time) to IPFS once per day and then saves the hash value of the data package in the smart contacts on Polygon, which are accessiable by AREC Dapp. In the Arkreen network phase, there are two application programming interface sets (API sets).

Renewable Energy (RE) API: This interface is used to connect Arkreen Network and various miners, mount/bind, and collect RE data.

Blockchain API: Through a Blockchain API, miner owners and users can request to issue Arkreen Network’s Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) through the polygon-based Arkreen Network smart contracts.

Arkreen AREC Dapp — Demand side

This phase implements the Arkreen REC Bridge protocol to mint AREC NFT and conduct climate actions for carbon neutrality. Arkreen Dapp is built on the Polygon Network to enable AREC services, including issuing AREC NFT, redeeming AREC NFT, liquidizing AREC into ART tokens, and offsetting ART as a climate action. ART tokens can be traded on the Arkreen DEX, increasing the availability of climate assets for demand side.

Listing ARECs: Miner owners can trade the minted AREC NFTs in any public NFT market place, such as OpenSea. Once this AREC NFT is listed, it can be sold to earn money.

Redeem: Anyone holding an AREC NFT can redeem the AREC to neutralize their carbon emissions. You, as a climate actor, can mint the AREC by running some miners or buy the AREC in the NFT open market. Once the AREC NFT is redeemed, an AREC retirement badge may be freely mint as evidence of your climate action commitment.

Liquidize: To improve the liquidity, AREC NFT can be liquidized to mint ART, an ERC20-compliant token. ART can be exchanged for another crypto asset within the Arkreen DEX, or added to the DEX liquidity pool to earn market-making profit.

Offset ART: ART tokens are burned perpetually as a climate action, in exchange, you will be able to freely mint an Arkreen badge as proof of your commitment to climate action. Climate actors can get ART tokens by swapping with other crypto tokens, such as USDC or MATIC. Arkreen DEX is integrated with AREC Dapp to provide such a token exchange service.

Mint retirement badge: The climate actors must perform some climate actions first, either redeeming AREC NFT, or offsetting ART tokens. The retirement badge, a kind of SBT (Soul Bond Token) bound to the owner’s account, can be freely mint based on the created climate action records. Some information, such as the retirement entity, the retirement beneficiary, and supplementary retirement remarks, can be optionally recorded in the retirement badge. With this badge, any climate actor could demonstrate to any third-party their climate accomplishments in protecting our planet.

AREC Dapp is a one-stop decentralized application providing multiple carbon-neutral related services and financial instruments. It is the first Dapp build on Arkreen Network, and we can expect that more decentralized applications will grow out of the Arkreen Network ecosystem in the near future.

By Arkreen on February 15, 2023.