☀️ Helios Protocol

Mint, trade and retire solar energy certificates on Solana — in seconds, not months.

Named for Helios — the Greek titan who carried sunlight across the sky every day.

---

The Problem

The US solar credit (SREC) market is worth $28 billion and runs entirely on paper.

Pain Point	Today	Helios
Time to get paid	2–4 months	< 10 seconds
Broker fee	5–10%	0.5%
Market access	1 state at a time	All 29 states
Fraud prevention	Manual audits	On-chain burn

---

How It Works

Inverter API → Oracle → Anchor Program → cNFT minted → DEX listed → Utility buys → Token burns → USDC settled

Layer 1 — IoT Oracle → Mint The moment a solar system crosses 1,000 kWh, a Solana oracle reads from the Enphase or SolarEdge API and mints a compressed NFT certificate automatically. No forms. No 30-day wait. Under 400 milliseconds.

Layer 2 — Cross-State DEX Producers list certificates on a single marketplace. Utility companies — legally required to buy SRECs or pay heavy government fines — bid across all 29 state markets from one dashboard for the first time.

Layer 3 — Atomic Burn and Settle Certificate burns and USDC transfers in the same transaction. If either fails, both fail. Double-counting is cryptographically impossible. A regulatory retirement proof PDF auto-generates with the on-chain transaction hash — ready for immediate regulatory filing.

---

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Smart Contract	Anchor (Solana)
Certificates	Compressed NFTs via Metaplex Bubblegum v2
Oracle	Pyth / Switchboard + Node.js adapter
Inverter Data	Enphase API v4 + SolarEdge Monitoring API
Frontend	Next.js 14 + Tailwind CSS
Wallet	Solana Wallet Adapter (Phantom, Solflare)
Settlement	USDC via Circle
Database	PostgreSQL
Network	Solana Devnet

---

Project Structure

helios-protocol/
├── helios-program/               ← Anchor smart contract (Rust)
│   └── programs/helios-program/
│       └── src/lib.rs            ← mint_srec, list_srec, purchase_srec
├── oracle-service/               ← Node.js oracle (inverter → blockchain)
│   └── src/
│       ├── oracle.ts             ← Main polling loop
│       ├── enphase.ts            ← Enphase API adapter (mock + live)
│       ├── mint.ts               ← Calls Anchor program to mint cNFT
│       └── db.ts                 ← PostgreSQL state tracking
├── frontend/                     ← Next.js dashboard
│   └── src/
│       ├── app/producer/         ← Homeowner dashboard
│       ├── app/utility/          ← Utility compliance portal
│       ├── components/           ← SrecCard, StatCard, LiveMintFeed
│       └── lib/retirementPdf.ts  ← Auto-generates proof on purchase
├── db/init.sql                   ← Schema + 3 demo solar systems
├── docker-compose.yml            ← Spins up PostgreSQL locally
└── .env.example                  ← All environment variables

---

Quick Start

Prerequisites

# Node.js 20+
nvm install 20 && nvm use 20

# Rust
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

# Solana CLI
brew install solana

# Anchor
cargo install --git https://github.com/coral-xyz/anchor avm --locked
avm install latest && avm use latest

Run locally

# 1. Clone
git clone https://github.com/Parinagpal11/helios-protocol.git
cd helios-protocol

# 2. Environment
cp .env.example .env

# 3. Database
docker-compose up -d

# 4. Oracle (Terminal 1)
cd oracle-service && npm install && npm run dev

# 5. Frontend (Terminal 2)
cd frontend && npm install && npm run dev

# 6. Open http://localhost:3000

Deploy Anchor program to devnet

cd helios-program
anchor build
anchor deploy --provider.cluster devnet
# Copy program ID into .env as PROGRAM_ID

---

Demo Flow

1. Oracle detects 1,000 kWh produced by solar system
2. Calls Anchor program → cNFT mints to producer wallet
3. Producer logs into dashboard → sees certificate → lists for $190
4. Utility buyer logs in → sees listing → purchases
5. Certificate burns on-chain (atomic with USDC payment)
6. Retirement proof PDF auto-downloads with tx hash

Total time: under 10 seconds. vs. 2–4 months the traditional way.

---

Market Opportunity

Metric	Value
REC market size 2025	$27.99B
Projected by 2030	$45.45B
US homes with solar	3.6M+
Active SREC states	29
DC SREC price	$440 per certificate
NJ SREC price	$190 per certificate
Traditional broker fee	5–10%
Helios protocol fee	0.5%

---

Why Solana

Factor	Ethereum	Solana
Mint 1M SRECs	~$12,000	~$5
Settlement time	12+ seconds	400ms
Fee per tx	$5–50	<$0.001
RWA ecosystem	Legacy	Leading

Compressed NFTs via Bubblegum make minting 24,000× cheaper than standard NFTs — essential for scaling to millions of residential solar systems nationally.

---

License

MIT © 2026 Helios Protocol

---

The sun rises every day. So should the income it generates.