Smart Energy Management System: Blockchain-Based Smart Meters in Microgrids

Abstract

Smart energy management systems have shown lately efficient solutions to optimize the energy consumption, maximize the energy productions, predict the demand response, and grid self-diagnosis. These systems give insights on energy behaviour within the electrical power grid, where the consumers and producers can have real-time key performance indicators related to the energy that help them to take decisions in order to optimize their consumption. The management of loads and sources is a critical component of the mentioned systems especially when it comes to decentralized energy production within the grid, which create a huge energy market, where prosumers can buy and sell green energy interfacing with a certified agency that approve these transactions. The goal of this paper is to de-sign a blockchain base energy management system which enable a peer-to-peer energy market, the key element of this design is the power meters and their inter-actions with the electrical grid not only as measurement devices but also as digital wallet, that enable the prosumers to sell and buy energy. This concept integrates all blockchain components including cybersecurity, bidding techniques and welfare optimization. A simulation of these optimization techniques, hashing algorithms and their interactions with the smart meters to generate smart contracts and to increase security according to the blockchain concept were proposed.