The UK’s first blockchain energy trade has taken place at Hackney’s Banister House Estate.

That’s according to Verv, the energy trading platform through which the deal took place – using a significant grant from Innovate UK, the organisation installed a series of solar panels, batteries and smart hubs on 13 blocks of flats.

It is currently trialling its technology, which it says enables residents to benefit from local renewable energy sources and bring down their energy bills.

The smart hubs calculate the energy demand profile of homes, determine the solar energy supply in each storage battery and in turn allocate green power to residents based on their needs.

The first trade saw 1kWh of energy being sent from an array of solar panels with excess energy on one of the block’s roofs, to a resident residing in another block within the estate.

A Banister House Community Member called Roger said: “Until now, we have been unable to take advantage of the solar panels on the roofs to power our homes due to the structure of the UK electricity market.

“With the installation of our Verv smart hubs, we are being empowered to generate, store and trade our own community energy and I’m really excited to see how this trial evolves!”