Fractionalised Renewable Energy Assets (FREA) - rewarding affordable renewable energy asset holders through a sharing economy.

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Ben Bonner

[GENERAL] Email address of main applicant

ben.bonner@zerocitizen.io

Additional applicants

Thomas Langlois

Cem Dervish

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

12

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

No

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.” .

No dependencies

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] If NO, please describe which outputs are not going to be open source. If YES, please write “Project will be fully open source.”

Project will be fully open source.

[METADATA] Category of Proposal

dApp

[METADATA] SDG rating

SDG goals:

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

SDG subgoals:

By 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management

Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning

Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and fully operationalize the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible

Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries and small island developing States, including focusing on women, youth and local and marginalized communities

By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services

By 2030, increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix

By 2030, expand infrastructure and upgrade technology for supplying modern and sustainable energy services for all in developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and landlocked developing countries, in accordance with their respective programmes of support

Key Performance Indicator (KPI):

Proportion of population with access to electricity

Proportion of population with primary reliance on clean fuels and technology

Renewable energy share in the total final energy consumption

Installed renewable energy-generating capacity in developing countries (in watts per capita)

Number of least developed countries and small island developing States with nationally determined contributions, long-term strategies, national adaptation plans and adaptation communications, as reported to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Universal Human Rights Index (UHRI):

#proposertoolsdg

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Zero Citizen’s solution harnesses the power of blockchain technology to tokenize and fractionalize renewable energy assets, thus enhancing their accessibility and liquidity. At its core, the solution will represent each renewable energy asset as a unique token on the blockchain, with each token further divisible into smaller fractions. Traditional methods often involve intermediaries and extensive paperwork, resulting in high transaction costs and time delays. In contrast, the blockchain-based tokenization significantly reduces these complexities, resulting in a faster, more affordable process. Blockchain's immutable nature ensures all transactions are transparent and tamper-proof, thereby instilling greater trust amongst renewable energy market participants. Ultimately, the fusion of renewable energy assets with blockchain technology addresses the problem of accessibility and liquidity in renewable energy investments. It is not just the entirety of the solution but the individual innovative steps—tokenization, fractionalization, and blockchain application—that collectively contribute to solving the problem at a technical level.

A technical challenge to overcome is interoperability and standardization. Zero Citizen’s solution operates in a context that involves various stakeholders, including energy producers and investors. To ensure seamless user experience and platform functionality, Zero Citizen will use standardized protocols and interfaces, and will invest in the development and adoption of standard protocols that are widely accepted in the blockchain and energy sectors. Zero Citizen will collaborate with other stakeholders and industry consortiums to ensure the development of interoperable solutions. Another technical challenge to overcome is security. Whilst blockchain's inherent security mechanisms offer a high level of trust, vulnerabilities can still exist at various points, for example smart contract bugs. Zero Citizen will engage security experts to conduct regular audits of the entire system, including smart contracts, in addition to implementing best practices for coding and deploying smart contracts to minimize the possibility of bugs and vulnerabilities.

A 10% stake fractionalised across 1K non-fungible tokens (NFTs) means each NFT represents a 0.01% stake. Higher fractionalisation quantities lower the per-NFT price, meaning greater affordability, allowing investments as low as $20. Zero Citizen will use smart contracts to implement a rewards system utilising 0CZN, its cryptocurrency. Asset owners will be rewarded with cryptocurrency for the electricity their assets generate, which will be tradeable for ADA or useable to purchase Zero Citizen products/services. Leveraging core features of blockchain technology (decentralization/immutability/transparency) "will improve infrastructure project financing and management efficiency" (The World Bank,2023).

The core value-proposition is that the technology is responding to individual investor ambitions; the capital flowing into crowdfunding sites proves that >80% of individuals seek investment opportunities, and a survey of 3K individuals found that 69% supported increased UK investment in renewable energy and 57% wanted to invest themselves (Thrive Renewables,2022). Zero Citizen's fractionalisation additionally opens the market to individuals to participate in the sharing economy. A yield of 7-15% is expected for solar/wind farms.

The Catalyst funding will result in the delivery of Zero Citizen's minimum viable product (MVP) Fractionalised Renewable Energy Asset (FREA) dApp, which will include a user portal and mint/buy/sell interface for the FREA NFTs.

[IMPACT] How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

Zero Citizen will use Cardano's blockchain technology to tokenise and fractionalise assets in wind and solar farms. Holders of these Fractionalised Renewable Energy Assets (FREA) will not be required to become a customer of a utility company, and will be free to trade and sell their assets without restriction. Fractionalising stakes in renewable energy assets means greater affordability, opening investment up to a wider audience, enabling more people to part-own assets and become directly involved in working towards net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050.

Zero Citizen will tokenise and fractionalise wind and solar farms in the UK initially, with a view to expanding to other renewables and abroad by year 5. Investors will not be required to become a customer of a utility but will be free to trade and sell their assets. Fractionalising stakes means greater affordability, opening investment up to a wider audience, enabling more people to part-own assets and become directly involved in working towards net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050. Zero Citizen also plans to ensure that residents that are local to the renewable energy asset have an opportunity to partake in investment and the shared economy. In addition, by securing energy for the future, lower-income households that are more likely to experience fuel poverty will be supported. Zero Citizen's platform will be the first of its kind in the UK to focus on a variety of clean energy assets. The Fractionalised Renewable Energy Asset (FREA) platform combined with the other products/services being developed by Zero Citizen, including the Carbon Balance Service, will play an important role in enabling individuals and businesses of all sizes to directly tackle climate change.

Zero Citizen will on-board users to the Cardano blockchain as it seeks to target crowd investors not currently native to the Cardano blockchain, in addition to existing Cardano blockchain users. This will introduce new users to Cardano and its mainstays, such as Ada Handle, DEXs, as well as partnered organisations to Zero Citizen. To support and promote growth within the Cardano community, Zero Citizen will educate others within the space to navigate particular regulatory bodies and their requirements.

[IMPACT] How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

Project objectives include creating a live platform; Zero Citizen's first FREA sale will launch with presales of 7.5K units.

Zero Citizen's primary impact is that its fractionalisation could account for 60% funding of renewable energy assets, and, consequently, over twice as many assets can be built (The World Bank,2023).

Zero Citizen's impact after launch will be determined by the project lead on a weekly basis via the speed and quantity of sales, the amount of renewable energy produced and the subsequent CO2 reduction.

To ensure equitable design principles, Zero Citizen will allocate 10% of fractionalised NFTs to the local community of the respective renewable energy asset, ensuring local residents are able to partake in the sharing economy. This 10% allocation will have a 5% discount.

Zero Citizen has a global reach to export its fractionalised renewable energy product and its Fractionalisation-as-a-Service, with global renewable energy investment reaching $495B in 2022 (BloombergNEF,2023), of which $28B was the UK (The Guardian,2023). European solar-derived energy is 75% cheaper than fossil gas (IRENA,2022).

The project's social outputs include Zero Citizen's direct support of the fight against climate change and alignment with the net-zero target of 2050. With 74% of adults worried about climate change (ONS,2022), enabling crowd investors to purchase fractionalised renewable energy assets means more people are able to part-own assets and make a direct impact.

[IMPACT] Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?

We have created 5 time-based work packages with associated tasks and milestones, which will culminate with the delivery of our Fractionalised Renewable Energy Asset (FREA) platform MVP at the end of the 12 months. Zero Citizen intends to use the experience gained through fractionalising existing renewable energy assets to partner with a developer to develop and own a brand new solar or wind farm within 3-5 years.

Zero Citizen has a 5 year growth plan for its FREA product, including expansion across EMEA, which provides an opportunity to collaborate with other Cardano-based businesses currently working in areas such as East Africa.

Ensuring regulatory compliance for blockchain/renewable energy assets will be mitigated through Zero Citizen's in-house and external training, and seeking ongoing legal counsel. To support and promote growth within the Cardano community, Zero Citizen will educate others within the space to navigate particular regulatory bodies and their requirements.

The launch of the FREA platform will directly pave the way for a marketplace to trade FREA NFTs, and subsequently tokenised carbon credits - also in the pipeline for Zero Citizen. What's more, the FREA platform will also lead to Zero Citizen offering Fractionalisation as a Service (FaaS), to enable other projects/organisations to be able to fractionalise future/existing renewable energy assets that Zero Citizen would otherwise no desire/ability to invest in.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

Zero Citizen is currently in the process of developing the Open Beta of our Carbon Balance Service, which has already achieved success in the Closed Alpha phase by certifying several users as carbon neutral. To date, our Carbon Balance Service has enabled us to calculate and offset more than 30 tons of CO2 emissions. Through the Carbon Balance Service, Zero Citizen will provide digital certification for users to showcase their carbon neutrality on their website/socials etc. Critically, certification will also be available on-chain, providing all the benefits of decentralisation, immutability, and the ability to provide benefits to holders.

Zero Citizen uses Agile methodology, led by its certified Scrum Master CEO ,with tracked fortnightly sprints (Jira). Risks and finances are managed using ISO 31000 and QuickBooks, respectively.

Zero Citizen does not require physical premises since all work can be conducted remotely. A cloud server will be provisioned to accommodate Zero Citizen's website/services (£1K/month).

This project fits with Zero Citizen's current business as Zero Citizen will also be developing the tokenisation of carbon credits (NFTs), a marketplace to trade the credits and a registry to on-board carbon credit-producing projects, which will be implemented for any new wind/solar farms built.

Zero Citizen CTO, Thomas, has previously achieved success in delivering Cardano BI through Fund 9 funding, demonstrating capacity to successfully deliver on approved Catalyst applications.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

The minimum viable product product will be ready for launch by the end of the 12 months. Zero Citizen will immediately reinvest in another renewable energy asset that can be fractionalised. This project will be the catalyst for Zero Citizen's sustainable growth, with 100%of the net profits from fractionalised asset sales reinvested into new assets. Task time allocation management will accommodate ongoing BAU activities.

A survey of 3K UK individuals found that 69% supported increased UK investment in renewable energy and 57% wanted to invest themselves(Thrive Renewables,2022). Unlike competitor Ripple Energy, because Zero Citizen utilises blockchain technology, there will be no requirement for its fractionalised asset owners to be tied into a contract with an energy supplier; instead, they will be able to freely trade/sell their assets.

Since April 2023, Zero Citizen has completed proof-of-concept experiments that have validated its solution as 100% capable of delivering every component of the project: all blockchain NFT assets; the smart contracts required to create/sell/manage the fractionalised renewable energy assets; and, a platform with a user portal.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

WORK PACKAGE 1: FREA - Registration & Certification

DURATION: M2 – M4

LEAD: B. Bonner

Task 1.1 Responsive Web Frontend screens: implement React user interfaces related to Customer registration & certification.

Milestone 1.1 User Experience is completed and can be tested/validated early in the development process.

Task 1.2 Authentication & Authorization for Users and Services: implement Identity & Token Server capabilities to secure User access to the platform’s functionalities and micro-services communications.

Milestone 1.2 User can be authenticated and authorized. Platform backend micro-services are secured and can operate with each other.

Task 1.3 Data Domain APIs and Services: modelize and implement data models, database schemas and metadata to support both Registration and Certification pathways.

Milestone 1.3 Registration and Certification value chains can me modelized end-to-end and the corresponding data/metadata can be persisted.

Task 1.4 Business APIs and Services: implement REST APIs and micro-services to realize the relevant business logic for both Registration and Certification pathways.

Milestone 1.4 Registration and Certification value chains can be tested end-to-end.

Task 1.5 Testing & Bug Fixing: perform end-to-end testing for the above tasks and fix bugs.

Milestone 1.5 Registration and Certification value chains are signed-off and ready for production release.

WORK PACKAGE 2: FREA - Fractionalization

DURATION: M4 – M7

LEAD: T. Langlois

Task 2.1 Responsive Web Frontend screens: implement React user interfaces related to the Fractionalization of Renewable Energy Assets.

Milestone 2.1 User Experience is completed and can be tested/validated early in the development process.

Task 2.2 Data Domain APIs and Services: model and implement data models, database schemas and metadata to support the Fractionalization of Renewable Energy Assets.

Milestone 2.2 Fractionalization value chain can be modelized end-to-end and the corresponding data/metadata can be persisted.

Task 2.3 Business APIs and Services: implement REST APIs and micro-services to realize the relevant business logic for the Fractionalization of Renewable Energy Assets.

Milestone 2.3 Fractionalization value chain can be tested end-to-end.

Task 2.4 Testing & Bug Fixing: perform end-to-end testing for the above tasks and fix bugs.

Milestone 2.4 Fractionalization value chain is now signed-off and ready for production release.

WORK PACKAGE 3: FREA - Marketplace

DURATION: M7 – M10

LEAD: T. Langlois

Task 3.1 Responsive Web Frontend screens: implement React user interfaces related to the Marketplace where Renewable Energy Assets can be bought & sold.

Milestone 3.1 User Experience is completed and can be tested/validated early in the development process.

Task 3.2 Data Domain APIs and Services: modelize and implement data models, database schemas and metadata to support the Marketplace functionalities.

Milestone 3.2 Marketplace value chain can be modelized end-to-end and the corresponding data/metadata can be persisted.

Task 3.3 Business APIs and Services: implement REST APIs and micro-services to realize the relevant business logic for the Marketplace functionalities.

Milestone 3.3 Marketplace value chain can be tested end-to-end.

Task 3.4 Testing & Bug Fixing: perform end-to-end testing for the above

Milestone 3.4 Marketplace value chain is now signed-off

WORK PACKAGE 4: FREA - Reporting

DURATION: M10 – M12

LEAD: B. Bonner

Task 4.1 Responsive Web Frontend screens: implement React user interfaces related to the Reporting of the platform's analytics & regulatory reporting.

Milestone 4.1 User Experience is completed and can be tested/validated early in the development process.

Task 4.2 Data Domain APIs and Services: model and implement data models, database schemas and metadata to support the Reporting functionalities.

Milestone 4.2 Reporting value chain can be modelized end-to-end and the corresponding data/metadata can be persisted.

Task 4.3 Business APIs and Services: implement REST APIs and micro-services to realise relevant business logic for Reporting functionalities.

Milestone 4.3 Reporting value chain can be tested end-to-end.

Task 4.4 Testing & Bug Fixing: perform end-to-end testing for the above tasks and fix bugs.

Milestone 4.4 Reporting value chain is now signed-off and ready for production release.

WORK PACKAGE 5: PROJECT MANAGEMENT

DURATION: M1 – M12

LEAD: B. Bonner

Task 5.1 Project Initiation & planning: This task begins with forming the project team and defining roles and responsibilities. The project charter will be established, outlining project objectives and scope, and project management plans will be developed, detailing the Agile methodologies to be used.

Milestone 5.1 Roadmap is defined, resources identified.

Task 5.2 Execution: The focus will be on active work through sprint execution, maintaining effective communication through daily stand-ups and weekly alignment meetings, and continuously tracking key KPIs.

Milestone 5.2 Work packages implementation is executed following Agile principles.

Task 5.3 Reviews: This involves evaluating project progress through sprint reviews, satisfaction surveys, and retrospective meetings. Regular updates to project progress reports will be made to provide an overview of current project status.

Milestone 5.3 Project reviews are run weekly, prioritization and problem resolution

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

WORK PACKAGE 1: FREA - Registration & Certification

Technical summary: Implementation of the Registration & Certification Value Chain for FREA. Main technical features are: Cloud Native, API & Service Oriented Architecture, Responsive Web Frontend. It will be critical to define in detail the User Journeys before working on the UI/UX part. This will allow us to deliver a User Experience which makes the Registration and Certification of Reusable Energy Projects intuitive, effective and enjoyable. Languages used are as follows: figma, react and javascript (front end), plutus, haskell, C#, dotnet, nodejs, mongodb and postgres (back end), terraform, ansible, prometheus and grafana (dev ops).

WORK PACKAGE 2: FREA - Fractionalization

Technical summary: Implementation of the Fractionalization Value Chain for FREA. Main technical features are: Cloud Native, API & Service Oriented Architecture, Responsive Web Frontend, Web3 & Smart Contract powered. This WP is key in that it delivers our capability to use Blockchain technology as a system of record (SOR) for both fractionalized asset ownerships rights and crowd funding smart contracts. This is key in bringing transparency and confidence into the Renewable Energy Asset market and is a key differentiator compared to incumbents in that space.

WORK PACKAGE 3: FREA - Marketplace

Technical summary: Implementation of the Marketplace Value Chain for FREA. Main technical features are: Cloud Native, API & Service Oriented Architecture, Responsive Web Frontend, Web3 & Smart Contract powered.

The UX/UI will play a major role in making our Marketplace a success, so defining in details User Journeys upfront will be key. The marketplace will use a grid display of al FREA solar/wind farms, utilise metadata to perform simple navigation, and contain features such as interactive maps, one-click purchases and sales analytics. This will also include a user portal to manage their assets and display their own assets’ analytics.

WORK PACKAGE 4: FREA - Reporting

Technical summary: Implementation of the Reporting Value Chain for FREA. This provides comprehensive and detailed information on the performance, financial returns, and environmental impact of the individual renewable energy assets owned by multiple investors, allowing them to monitor and analyse the outcomes of their investments, but also enable regulatory reporting, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations and standards by generating accurate and transparent reports required by regulatory authorities. Main technical features are: Cloud Native, API & Service Oriented Architecture, Responsive Web Frontend.

WORK PACKAGE 5: PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project management summary: Overall management of the delivery of the proposed roadmap following an Agile methodology: 5-day Sprints, weekly alignment/prioritization meetings, daily stand-up meeting.

Progress & Risk management: Each Sprint to track KPIs: Velocity (the amount of work effort delivered), Predictability (the ratio of delivered Story Points vs committed Story Points in one sprint), Satisfaction (collected from CEO/CTO), Team Satisfaction (collected from each team member). We will leverage Github Project for sprint management.

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Labour: £42K (76.2%)

This allocation will pay for labour allocated to the project. This will include backend development, smart contract development and frontend development.

Materials: £8.4K (15.2%)

Materials comprise monthly cloud operational expenditure of £7K for 12months.

Travel: £840 (1.5%)

Economy travel/subsistence for two trips a month to R&D-specific meetings with renewable energy asset providers, UK-wide, for three team members over18 months.

Other: £3.85K (7%)

Other costs include £500 for a trademark and £3.35K for regulatory/legal advisor.

Work package breakdown:

WP1: £9,531 (17.3%)

WP2: £16,637 (30.2%)

WP3: £14,985 (27.2%)

WP4: £9,476 (17.2%)

PM: £4,461 (8.1%)

SUMMARY

Labour: Developing Platform = £42,000.00

Materials: Cloud Operational Expenditure (monthly) = £8,400.00

Travel: R&D Meetings = £840.00

Other costs: Trademark Submission (£500), Regulatory/Legal Advisor (£3350) = £3,850.00

TOTAL

£55,090 = 243,266 ADA (at time of submission)

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

These funds would allow Zero Citizen to develop all software components to deliver a minimum viable product (MVP), achieve all necessary regulatory compliance and expand into global markets. Zero Citizen would be in a prime position for VC investment, to invest in/fractionalise more renewable energy assets at scale.

Zero Citizen estimates there are 442.1K+ active renewable energy UK investors, including 441K crowd investors (£400m) and 1.1K+ PE investors (£1.14b). The global crowdfunding market is 31x the UK, and PE investment is 31x the UK (Statista,2023). The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for renewable energy investing is 16.9% for 2023-2030 (Grand View Research,2023). Each renewable energy asset fractionalised on Cardano can introduce hundreds, potentially thousands of new users to Cardano's blockchain infrastructure.

This is an emerging market with no dominant players. Once established in the UK, the product can be expanded to international markets, including Africa where Zero Citizen will aim to power the unpowered. Zero Citizen's intent is to become a flagship for ClimateTech on Cardano, and will endeavour to support other ClimateTech start-ups to promote Cardano's image as an environmentally-friendly blockchain.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agreed to Fund10 rules and also that data in the Submission Form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept