Learning Library

← Back to Library

Blockchain Energy Access with IBM Cloud

Key Points

  • Francois Douches highlights that 600 million to 1 billion people in Africa still lack electricity, creating a demand for affordable, adaptable solutions for energy service providers.
  • Traditional blockchain setups protect private keys with costly hardware security modules, which are too expensive for low‑cost electricity projects.
  • By adopting IBM’s next‑generation cloud tools—IBM Cloud Data Shield and the IBM Kubernetes Service—they achieve secure cryptography while keeping infrastructure inexpensive and scalable.
  • IBM’s emphasis on practical, field‑focused technology, rather than only serving large enterprises, aligns with the goal of reducing electricity access costs in developing regions.

Full Transcript

# Blockchain Energy Access with IBM Cloud **Source:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F-ZuKsT_q8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F-ZuKsT_q8) **Duration:** 00:02:19 ## Summary - Francois Douches highlights that 600 million to 1 billion people in Africa still lack electricity, creating a demand for affordable, adaptable solutions for energy service providers. - Traditional blockchain setups protect private keys with costly hardware security modules, which are too expensive for low‑cost electricity projects. - By adopting IBM’s next‑generation cloud tools—IBM Cloud Data Shield and the IBM Kubernetes Service—they achieve secure cryptography while keeping infrastructure inexpensive and scalable. - IBM’s emphasis on practical, field‑focused technology, rather than only serving large enterprises, aligns with the goal of reducing electricity access costs in developing regions. ## Sections - [00:00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F-ZuKsT_q8&t=0s) **IBM Cloud Powers African Energy** - Francois Douches explains how his firm uses IBM Cloud Data Shield and Kubernetes to replace costly hardware security for blockchain‑based energy services, aiming to lower electricity access costs for Africa’s underserved population. ## Full Transcript
0:01my name is Francois douches heh and I'm 0:05CEO of Dalian Irene energy is a great 0:08project of a customer of ours that we're 0:11working with because in Africa there's a 0:14real issue that between 600 million and 0:181 billion people don't have electricity 0:20access Irene energy so an opportunity to 0:23solve problems that energy service 0:27providers are facing today because the 0:30systems they are using are not easy to 0:33adapt to the evolution of the energy 0:35markets there were a number of technical 0:37challenges 0:38Danae we needed to tackle blockchain 0:41involves cryptography it involves 0:43private keys for doing cryptography and 0:46the private keys are something that you 0:49must absolutely keep private the way to 0:52do it 0:53the way it's been done by systems to 0:55protect it really well up to now was to 0:58use expensive hardware equipment 1:01expensive hardware servers specifically 1:06designed for protecting this this was 1:09absolutely not fit for the project 1:11because we're talking about specifically 1:13a project that wants to lower the costs 1:16of accessing electricity lowering the 1:19cost of the technologies the back 1:21offices that the energy service 1:23providers use we found the right 1:26solution in really next-gen technologies 1:31next-gen technologies that IBM provides 1:34I'm talking about IBM Cloud Data shield 1:37and was blast really it also provides 1:41scalability because it's based on the 1:43IBM kubernetes service it's a very nice 1:47feeling because that shows that IBM 1:50really cares about what's going on in 1:53the field they're not simply addressing 1:56large companies with a project that are 2:00gonna take years to to be put on no they 2:04want to address real concerns with real 2:07solutions and actually real disruptive 2:10solutions and that was exactly why we 2:12were looking for 2:16[Music]