Picture a world where financing energy infrastructure was a matter of a few clicks, releasing capital from global investors in seconds— where settlements are instant, banking procedures obsolete, and real-time IoT data verifies every asset’s status with absolute transparency. Where discounted energy utility flows freely, unaffected by geography.

This isn’t a future scenario — it’s happening right now through tokenization!

Before that…What is Tokenization in Energy?

Tokenization involves converting real-world assets (RWAs), such as Solar farms, Battery Storage units, Modular reactors into regulated, secured digital tokens containing the underlying asset data on a blockchain. These tokens can then be bought & traded, representing a fractional ownership of the underlying asset. Blockchain’s transparency, security, and traceability in transactions solves an Asset Manager’s pressing challenge of unclear asset status and costly valuation audits, thus building confidence and trust to streamline investment decisions and risk assessment.

Rising Industrial Adoption

Innovation adopters are using tokenization to break further away from competition, and make their offerings more compelling:

B2C: Enel Group’s Product on Tokenized Solar Ownership

A prime example of innovation in this space is Enel Group’s groundbreaking initiative in Italy. The major European utility company has partnered with crypto wallet provider Conio to revolutionize solar energy ownership. Their project, built on the Algorand blockchain, allows Italian residents to purchase fractional ownership in solar farms through tokenization. This innovative approach not only democratizes access to renewable energy investments but also enables participants to offset their residential electricity usage with their owned portion of solar production.

Europe’s largest utility provider adopts tokenized finance. Source: Smart Energy International

B2B: Ant Group’s cross-border EV Charger tokenized financing integration

The integration of tokenized energy assets with financial systems is gaining institutional support. A notable example is Ant Digital Technologies using blockchain and IoT to enhance transparency in green finance. It tokenized and secured 9,000+ EV charging stations owned by Longshine Technology Group, converting them into Real-World Assets (RWAs). This enabled the company to secure cross-border financing in Hong Kong, accelerating investment in renewable energy.

Source — The Tokenizer

B2B: GCL Energy raises CNY 200 million through global investors by tokenizing its solar assets.

Another notable example is the tokenization of two of GCL Energy’s solar power plants in China’s Hunan and Hubei provinces, totaling 82 MW in capacity — a first for China’s solar industry.

This financing model, secured through global investors, provides GCL Energy with fresh capital to scale its operations while pioneering a blueprint for other photovoltaic companies to leverage tokenization for sustainable energy expansion.

Source — PV Magazine International

Now… What Makes Tokenization stand out in Energy Markets?

1. From Illiquid to Liquid

Tokenization transforms traditionally illiquid energy assets into divisible, tradeable and regulated digital tokens. This levels the climate finance playing field across capital markets and creates new capital streams for energy transition finance. For instance, large solar farms can now be fractionally owned, allowing institutional allocators & retails investors alike to participate in previously inaccessible asset-heavy markets.

2. Wider Capital Access

Tokenization lowers capital entry barriers allowing a broader range of capital allocators — venture funds, asset managers, banks, and individual citizens — to participate in energy infrastructure financing. Tokenized energy assets can be listed on regulated digital asset marketplaces, expanding capital raising beyond traditional debt / lending and opening opportunities, especially for underfunded projects in emerging markets.

3. Speed and Cost of Capital

Tokenization reduces friction in capital markets, enabling faster allocations by lowering entry barriers and providing liquid investment instruments. While legal, compliance, and underwriting remain crucial, tokenized assets bypass traditional banking bottlenecks, eliminating slow reconciliations and excessive intermediary fees.

Tokenization also brings the opportunity to use asset fractions as collateral for better refinancing deals and new capital-raising opportunities.

Source — Penomo

But…Here are some Challenges to Consider

While the benefits are compelling, decision makers must navigate several challenges:

1. Regulatory Compliance: Each jurisdiction continues to evolve it’s regulation for tokenized assets, requiring careful attention to compliance requirements.

2. Technical Infrastructure: Implementing tokenization requires significant investment in technical infrastructure and expertise.

3. Market Education: As every new technology, tokenization has an adoption curve, and usability needs to be as easy as possible.

The Road Ahead

While challenges like those mentioned above exist, Penomo addresses these with a compliant, easy-to-use infrastructure that turns existing debt & receivables into secured financial products for your growth finance.

And as technology matures and regulatory frameworks evolve, we can expect to see:

• Compliant access to broader cross-border allocator networks

• Deeper integration of physical infrastructure and financial instruments

• Greater impact with citizen participation and direct utility access