Brianna Welsh

WOMEN WE ADMIRE

Vice President, Head of Asia

WHICH TECHNOLOGY HAS THE POTENTIAL TO DISRUPT THE CURRENT STATUS QUO IN YOUR FIELD?

As an entrepreneur building a blockchain-based platform to drive investment into new clean energy operations, I feel strongly about the potential of the blockchain's decentralized ledger technology can positively disrupt the energy sector. As a software infrastructure layer, blockchain can incentivize the adoption of renewables and clean technology, creating institutions architected to prioritize sustainable tech. I believe that the existing financial system has failed to support the energy transition, which is why I am focusing on leveraging the distributed ledger technology to draw in capital to renewables through alternative financing.

VISIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF ENERGY : I am particularly excited about the potential for global electrification through renewable technologies, leveraging innovative digital technologies. I believe in the power of technology for good, and see tools like AI, blockchain, and the Internet of Things to have the capacity to simultaneously drive the energy transition while including those who have historically been left without access to power.

EXCITING CURRENT PROJECTS : I am building a company that applies blockchain to the commodities side of renewable energy generation. The application operates similarly to a trading platform, but the commercial use aims to stimulate investment into clean energy, specifically in emerging markets. The project, called Reneum (www.reneum.com) uses blockchain as a data management tool — a registry of “environmental attributes” from the producing of green energy — that issues asset-backed utility tokens. It leverages blockchain’s traceability features to bring an unprecedented level of integrity to the market, helping to provide assurance to corporate multinationals purchasing these commodities. Big picture, the platform aims to increase liquidity in a traditionally paper market to help prospective renewable energy developers achieve bankability in markets where lenders typically shy away from.

I am also exploring blockchain as a medium to democratize investment into green infrastructure assets through the tokenization of equity. The aim is to open up the arena to smaller ticket prices, broadening the scope to and accredited investors rather than remaining the exclusive domain of institutional investors. This will leverage blockchain as a repository of sensitive data — colloquially known as the ‘data room’ in investing — as well as for ownership rights and trading contracts, with tokens being sold or traded through private and permissioned exchanges.

WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE LIKED TO KNOW WHEN YOU STARTED YOUR CAREER IN ENERGY? "Energy" is a broad sector encompassing a myriad of moving parts, and as an industry, does not behave consistently across all jurisdictions. This means that institutional knowledge garnered in one market does not necessarily apply in neighbouring regions, and progressive policies adopted in one country may be thwarted in others. When working cross-border, this can feel frustrating and demoralizing at times. And as a traditionally slow-moving industry, it is not the quickest to adopt new technologies and tools that may threaten centralized power. That being said, there is a rapidly growing number of nimble startups that are partnering with institutional incumbents who are inspiring innovation and driving change.