Inside BlockStart programme – a look back from Cuerva

Cuerva has 80 years of innovation looking for new, and better, ways to understand energy. We want to be the small-great company capable of taking energy to the next level. We cover different areas of energy: commercialisation, distribution, O&M, generation and new services.

As part of their journey on BlockStart’s 3rd Acceleration Programme, as an SME adopter, they were looking for new opportunities for collaboration with technology providers of DLT/blockchain solutions that could improve their business. This is the testimonial of their experience in our programme.

In one paragraph, what is Cuerva?

We are a company which has been living in the future for more than 80 years. And the fact is that more than 80 years ago we were already committed to innovation, understanding that this was how we would find the answers to the needs of people and society.

What is Cuerva passionate about achieving?

We understood that to do our work well, it was not enough to know how. We also had to find out why. And more than 80 years ago we opted for a different approach in the sector and we knew how to see in nature what others did not see. Now we want to use all our knowledge and experience to go further. To imagine future scenarios, new needs to which we can respond, to find new uses for energy and, of course, to be the best at generating, distributing and marketing energy, and also to design and build the infrastructures that make this possible, both for us and for others. Because that’s how sharing what we know will take the energy to the next level

Can you tell us why you have decided to apply to BlockStart’s 3rd Call for end-user SMEs?

Leveraging our experience in the energy sector and our knowledge of blockchain technology, we thought we could help in the creation of a sustainable self-consumption energy community where we can provide our services.

Our collaboration in this solution goes beyond our economic benefit, as we also think about the value and image that it gives our company to participate in a project with great social impact as Comunitaria. Offering our services in something that will help many people and that will have a positive social and environmental impact in a poor neighborhood is very satisfying.

What major challenges have you faced during the implementation/testing of BlockStart’s blockchain-based solution?

Blockchain is a nascent technology. It must improve its transaction speed, the energy expenditure involved in the verification process and the uncertainty related to regulation.

It is a disruptive technology, it presents solutions from change, existing systems must be completely replaced. In addition, it is complicated on the one hand for programmers to understand how it works and implement it, and on the other hand for users to understand what value it brings to their lives.

People most of the time present a significant resistance to change. This decentralised network will need to be accepted by both users and operators to have value

What kind of impact do you think the blockchain-based solution you have implemented in the scope of BlockStart may bring to your company?

Learning and growth, getting closer every day to new services and business models which go beyond energy. To continue to expand our knowledge and to be able to see energy from a different perspective, exploring the needs of users and overcoming new challenges.

Where do you see your company in 5 years?

Discovering new uses for energy that go beyond what we know today. Maybe one day energy will be free, maybe through energy we will be able to help elderly people living alone at home by knowing their routines and consumption, maybe our customers or users will have managed to learn with us everything they want and more about their energy and how to use it in the best way

Want to know more about the blockchain-based solution adopted by Cuerva?

Visit Comunitaria‘s webpage or watch the video below to learn more about the “Blockchain of Things Devices”, solution implemented by Cuerva in the scope of BlokStart’s 3rd Acceleration Programme.