Renewable Energy Tokenization for EPEC & the Government of Córdoba

Can a citizen directly participate in a solar energy project, receive economic returns for energy injected into the grid, and obtain verifiable renewable energy certificates — all from their phone? That was the question that guided the development of our energy tokenization platform for EPEC and the Government of the Province of Córdoba, Argentina.

The Challenge

Distributed and community energy generation in Argentina is growing, but it faces significant barriers. Citizens lack clear mechanisms to participate as investors in renewable energy projects. Traceability of generated energy and its environmental impact is limited. And Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) — a global standard present in over 50 countries — did not have a verifiable digital implementation in the country.

EPEC, together with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Services of the Province of Córdoba, sought a solution that would democratize access to renewable energy projects, provide full transparency on energy and value flows, and establish the foundations for a traceable renewable energy certificate market in Argentina.

Solution Architecture: Three-Token System

We designed an innovative three-token system on blockchain, where each token represents a different dimension of participation in a renewable energy generation project.

Participation Token (PUG)

The first token represents participation or ownership in each sustainable generation project. Each PUG (Participación en Unidad de Generación — Participation in Generation Unit) certifies the holder's stake in a specific project, providing economic rights proportional to their investment.

Utility Token (ERI)

The second token represents economic utility: the returns generated by renewable energy injected into the electrical grid. Each ERI (Energía Renovable Inyectada — Injected Renewable Energy) is issued based on the kWh effectively generated and injected, creating a direct relationship between energy production and value received by participants.

Sustainability Attributes Token

The third token captures the environmental attributes of the generated energy. When a participant accumulates 1,000 sustainability tokens, they can burn them to issue a Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) certifying 1 MWh of renewable energy generated. This mechanism bridges distributed generation and the global environmental certificate market.

Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)

RECs are an international standard certifying that a specific amount of energy was generated from renewable sources. Used in over 50 countries, with standards like Guarantees of Origin in the EU and I-REC globally, RECs allow companies and organizations to verify their clean energy consumption.

Our implementation makes each issued REC fully traceable on blockchain: from the kWh generated at the solar park to the certificate issuance, every step is recorded immutably. This solves one of the historical challenges of the certificate market: verifiability and prevention of double counting.

Integration with Ciudadano Digital

The platform integrates with Ciudadano Digital, the Government of Córdoba's digital identity system. This allows participants to access their wallet and manage their tokens using their verified government digital identity, eliminating the need to create additional accounts and ensuring the identity of every participant in the ecosystem.

Impact: Mundo Maipú Solar Park

The first project to implement the system was the Mundo Maipú solar park, a municipality in Greater Córdoba. This park generates energy equivalent to the consumption of over 450 homes, and was the first to tokenize its energy generation. In January 2025, the project was covered by La Voz, Córdoba's leading newspaper, under the headline "The Mundo Maipú solar park will begin to tokenize its energy."

Scaling

Building on the success of the Mundo Maipú pilot, the solution is expanding to 3 new community generation parks in the Province of Córdoba. Additionally, Xcapit is developing a Blockchain Platform for the traceability of renewable energy certificates in Argentina in collaboration with IDB Labs (Inter-American Development Bank's Innovation Lab), taking the technology to a national scale.

Press Coverage

• Córdoba revolutionizes the energy market with blockchain and sets a master plan towards 2030 — Government of the Province of Córdoba
• How anyone can invest in renewable energy in Córdoba — La Voz
• The Mundo Maipú solar park will begin to tokenize its energy — La Voz
• The Province presented a pioneering model of Virtual and Tokenized Community Distributed Generation — Government of the Province of Córdoba

Collaborators

• EPEC (Empresa Provincial de Energía de Córdoba): the province's main energy distributor
• Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Services of the Province of Córdoba
• Blockchain Lab: blockchain innovation laboratory
• UTN FRV (Facultad Regional Villa María): academic and technical contribution

Key Takeaways

• Tokenization enables democratizing access to renewable energy investments for ordinary citizens
• A three-token system captures the dimensions of participation, economic utility, and sustainability separately and traceably
• Issuing RECs on blockchain solves the verifiability and double-counting problems of renewable energy certificates
• Integration with government digital identity removes access friction and ensures participant identity
• Public-private-academic collaboration is key for impact projects at provincial and national scale