Blockchain application in renewable energy microgrids: an overview of existing technology towards creating climate - resilient and energy independent communities

Abstract

Citizens and stakeholders are increasingly associating in so-called renewable energy communities and are participating in the energy transition by investing in, producing, selling and distributing renewable energy. Such communities usually use photovoltaic systems on the rooftops of public and private buildings that are connected to a microgrid. Those energy system models represent an electrical network that is decentralized in which energy consumers also become producers (prosumers) and management of the grid is done by users. Optimization and trading of surplus energy produced in microgrids could be done via blockchain technology. On one hand, those innovations could offer a solution for adaptation and mitigation of climate change, and on the other hand include economic development, creation of new jobs, cheaper energy, and energy security. The present paper gives an overview of existing technology and its usage on cases in the world but is focusing on implementation in the EU and Croatian markets.