Performance Analysis of an Energy Trading Platform Using the Ethereum Blockchain

Abstract

We evaluate and analyze the performance of a local electricity market for energy trading that we implemented on the Ethereum platform. The energy trading is based on a double auction with multiple sellers and multiple buyers; the matched price and volume are determined by a trade reduction mechanism. We benchmark the performance of Ethereum using a systematic blockchain performance evaluation method. Based on this, we propose and analyze an efficient market operation method. In particular, we relate the limits on the scalability and real-time performance of the market to the throughput and latency of the Ethereum platform. We also identify the minimum resources necessary to operate an Ethereum client.