Energy demand is increasing rapidly due to rapid growth and industrialization. It is becoming more and more complex to manage generation and distribution due to the diversification of energy sources to minimize carbon emissions. Smart grids manage reliable power generation and distribution efficiently and cater to a large geographical area and population, but their centralized structure makes them vulnerable. Cybersecurity threats have become a significant concern with these systems’ increasing complexity and connectivity. Further transmission losses and its vulnerability to the single point of failure (SPOF) are also major concerns. Microgrids are becoming an alternative to large, centralized smart grids that can be managed locally with fewer user bases and are safe from SPOF. Microgrids cater to small geographical areas and populations that can be easily managed at the local level and utilized for different sources of energy, like renewable energy. A small group of consumers and producers are involved, but microgrids can also be connected with smart grids if required to exchange the excess energy. Still, these are also vulnerable to cybersecurity threats, as in the case of smart grids, and lack trust due to their decentralized nature without any trusted third party. Blockchain (BC) technology can address the trust and cybersecurity challenges in the energy sector. This article proposes a framework for implementing a BC-based microgrid system for managing all the aspects of a microgrid system, including peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading, Renewable Energy Certificate (REC), and decentralized energy trading, that can be utilized in the case of Saudi Arabia. It can integrate cybersecurity standards and protocols, as well as the utilization of smart contracts, for more secure and reliable energy generation and distribution with transparency.
Iacopo Savelli, Hanumantha Rao Bokkisam, Paul Cuffe, Thomas Morstyn
The large deployment of renewable generation required to reach net-zero carbon emission requires significant investments in transmission network infrastructure to reduce grid congestion, as well as costly investments in dispatchable assets to manage the intermittency of renewable energy. The provision of flexibility services to system operators represents an additional method that could help solve these issues. However, this requires the engagement of a large number of small users, such as households and small commercial firms, that usually cannot directly participate in electricity markets due to their limited size. Blockchain technologies leveraging smart contracts can provide an autonomous, cost-saving and transparent tool to help engage these users in the provision of flexibility services to the grid. The aim of this paper is to design a new market layer for the on-demand provision of flexibility services by using smart contracts fully integrated with existing national-scale electricity markets. We demonstrate how this model can co-exist with the current electricity market architecture in Great Britain (GB), providing a whole-system least-cost solution to solve grid congestion and energy imbalances. Simulations based on a high-fidelity network of GB highlight the potential benefit that the proposed approach could create at the national scale.
Energy trading is currently transitioning from traditional centralized markets to decentralized peer to peer (P2P) solutions. More and more P2P projects are operating with the Blockchain technology, hosting e-auctions for prosumers who are part of microgrids and operating in the same network. This way of energy trading might be ideal for trading types of renewable energy with high predictability but the same does not apply for lower predictability types, such as solar energy. A critical issue of P2P energy trading markets, that operate only in the context of local energy communities, is the availability of resources when every prosumer adapts the same role in the market, thus leading to either large excess or deficit of energy. This paper introduces a blockchain-based semi-decentralized (hybrid) energy trading market that consists of more than one microgrids and each microgrid is composed of prosumers who produce and trade energy with others within their microgrid. Furthermore, inter-microgrid energy trading can be initiated, as well as trading with the main grid, when there are unmet energy requests. In order to ensure safety and security between untrusted parties, transactions happen in a permissioned blockchain network. As an alternative way to trade energy this solution proposes along with the Fungible Tokens, the use of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) that enclose amounts of energy to be used when needed. Each microgrid is equipped with an appropriately sized battery, a repository to maintain profits, and is coordinated by an administration manager, who is responsible for transactions happening outside of the microgrid.
The large-scale penetration of distributed power systems in the power grid makes the safe and stable operation of the power grid a difficult problem. The distributed control strategy is more suitable for distributed power management than centralized control. However, distributed control that relies on network communication is vulnerable to network attacks, so research on security control strategies is very urgent. Blockchain technology is widely used in the field of energy trading due to its special security mechanism, distributed ledger, and decentralization. It is difficult to develop in the control field due to performance and latency issues. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-based distributed control architecture for island microgrids. Through ingenious structural design, the communication security of the blockchain is fully utilized, and troublesome on-chain calculations are avoided. Simulation results demonstrate the superiority of this architecture.
Andrea Lisi, Nunzio Lopardo, Domenico Tortola, Paolo Mori · 6 authors
Rating systems are services collecting users' opinions about any kind of item, such as movies, locations, or hobbies, typically characterized by centralized governance making them susceptible to censorship or rating manipulation. This paper leverages blockchain technology to build a decentralized system to secure the ratings and operations performed by the users. We assume a scenario where many rating systems coexist and are hosted by different blockchains, and these blockchains are connected with one that could handle monetary-like operations common to the rating systems. The paper describes an experiment with Chainbridge, a tool to perform transfers across two Ethereum-like blockchains, applied to a cross-chain rating system prototype involving two blockchains: one hosting the ratings and one handling the payments. The results include the costs in units of gas and USD, i.e. the blockchain fees, and the latency time to perform a transfer across two test networks, Goerli and Mumbai.
Purpose The purpose of this study is to propose a decentralized multi-party cross-trading scheme based on a certificate transaction mechanism for the transaction of excess consumption certificates (ECCs) of renewable energy. The aim is to address the problems associated with the existing centralized transaction mode and to promote the development of the green electricity industry. Design/methodology/approach The proposed scheme involves calculating the quotation difference for the same type of certificate transaction based on the quotations of all users of both buyers and sellers. The transaction volume is then determined based on the order of quotation difference from large to small, and the total interests of cooperation are calculated. The nucleolus method is adopted to allocate the total interests to each member of the alliance and calculate the final transaction price. The blockchain technology is used for the transaction to achieve accurate traceability and efficient supervision, and a corresponding smart contract is designed and simulated in the Ethereum consortium chain. Findings The results of the simulation show the rationality and effectiveness of the proposed scheme. The decentralized multi-party cross-trading scheme can overcome the problems associated with the existing centralized transaction mode, such as low transaction efficiency, difficulty in obtaining the optimal transaction strategy and efficient supervision. The proposed scheme can promote the development of the green electricity industry by stimulating users' demand potential for green electricity. Originality/value The proposed scheme is original in its use of a certificate transaction mechanism to facilitate the trading of ECCs of renewable energy. The scheme adopts a decentralized multi-party cross-trading approach that overcomes the problems associated with the existing centralized transaction mode. The use of the nucleolus method for the allocation of total interests to each member of the alliance is also original. Finally, the use of blockchain technology for accurate traceability and efficient supervision of the transaction is an original contribution to the field.
The concept of "energy prosumer" is a relatively new phenomenon resulting from distributed energy production through photovoltaic (PV) technology, which has blurred the line between energy producers and consumers. Blockchain technology has facilitated secure and cost-effective energy transactions among consumers, prosumers, and utilities, automating the process. This study aims to develop an agent-based modeling (ABM) simulation framework for energy exchange, demonstrating the power profiles of households and the operation of blockchain operations. The simulation was conducted in the Education City Community Housing (ECCH) microgrid, using a multi-agent framework for a transactive energy (TE) distributed energy resource (DER) that requires blockchain technology. The current blockchain-based local energy market (LEM) aims to balance supply and demand using precise short-term energy generation forecasts and home consumption estimates. This study evaluated the accuracy of state-of-the-art energy forecasting methods in predicting household energy generation and consumption. It examined the impact of forecasting errors on market outcomes under different supply scenarios. Although LSTM models may provide low forecasting errors, the researchers found that the prediction process needs modification for a LEM built on a blockchain. This study stands out from previous research by forecasting the timeline of smart meters in general.
Manuel Sivianes, J. M. Maestre, Ascensión Zafra‐Cabeza, Carlos Bordons
In this article, a stochastic programming method is used to control a residential microgrid where possible disturbance realizations over a horizon are shaped into a tree structure with a given probability. This tree is used by model predictive controllers within a hierarchical and distributed scheme. The upper layer is characterized by a smart contract deployed in the blockchain, acting as a fully distributed coordinator that performs control tasks and collects and distributes relevant data. The bottom layer consists of individual agents that solve locally a reduced tree-based model predictive control (TBMPC) problem and interact with the smart contract to iteratively optimize the overall problem in a distributed fashion. The performance of the approach is demonstrated through several simulations in which various power-trading configurations are assessed.
Riccardo Trevisan, Mario Mureddu, Emilio Ghiani, Marco Galici · 5 authors
In the near future, renewable energy communities will play a crucial role in the transition to a cleaner energy system and the reduction of carbon emissions in the electricity sector. In order to ensure a broad base of participation among consumer and producers (prosumers), it is necessary to develop new business models and governance tools for energy communities, and, in this context, blockchain technology may have several applications in the implementation and management of these communities. This paper proposes a decentralized autonomous organization model for renewable energy communities, which will enable a transactive energy scenario for the community governance process. In order to illustrate the usefulness of the methodology, an example of the proposed approach with a distributed organization process for an automated local energy market among community members is presented.
As the proportion of renewable energy sources in the energy system rises, new market approaches are needed to pricing and distribute the unsteady and dispersed generation. Markets for locally generated renewable energy that are decentralized and accessible to consumers and prosumers create a virtuous cycle of supply and demand. We provide a complete model of a local energy market serving 100 houses, including an explanation of how the market works and a simulation of how it might function. In order to highlight the decentralized character of regional energy markets, our approach is predicated on a distributed ledger system, sometimes known as a private blockchain. As a consequence, we give end-users and prosumers of energy a decentralized marketplace where they may trade locally produced energy directly with one another. We also present a preliminary economic assessment of the market mechanism and an agenda for further research into the technological assessment of blockchain technology as the principal information and communication technology for the local energy market.
Xin Zhou, Bin Wang, Haotian Zhao, Hongbin Sun · 6 authors
The coordination of multienergy systems has been commonly adopted to improve energy utilization performance. Reallocating profits of all systems is utilized to provide incentives for the coordination. However, some systems might forge their profits to maliciously obtain more reallocated profits. Existing works partially solve this problem by developing privacy-preserving anti-forgery methods that focus on the coordination of two energy systems with linear constraints. This article proposes a coordinated heat-electricity-gas dispatch mechanism that addresses incentive, privacy and anti-forgery issues. The coordination model based on Nash bargaining is decomposed into both a dispatch problem that maximizes the total profit and a profit reallocation problem that provides incentives. The profit reallocation problem is solved using exponential ElGamal encryption to avoid leaking the profit variation of each system before and after coordination. Furthermore, to prevent any system from forging its profit for maliciously obtaining more reallocated profit, we propose a privacy-preserving anti-forgery method based on zero knowledge proof. The method enables each system to prove that its profit variation satisfies the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions of the dispatch problem with nonlinear constraints. The numerical tests show that our proposed method provides incentives for coordination and detects forgery of profit variation without leaking privacy.
With the advancement of distributed generation and information technology, energy trading in micro grid (MG) becomes popular in recent years. However, due to the lack of authority management in the MG, the traditional energy trading method with trusted system operator (SO) and market operator (MO) is no longer suitable. This paper proposes a novel, secure and privacy-preserving energy trading architecture with the state-of-the-art cryptosystem. Firstly, a zero-knowledge-proof based non-interactive protocol is proposed to authenticate prosumers. Next, a novel energy data evaluation method is proposed to achieve privacy-preserving power pricing and dispatching with the homomorphic encryption. Moreover, a lightweight tree-chained trading book is proposed to protect the transaction information. Then, we analysis the security performance and emphasize the advantages of our proposed architecture. At last, we exam the performance of our proposed methods in the IEEE benchmark systems. We observe that, our proposed architecture could achieve the privacy-preserving and secure energy trading in a low-time-cost but high-accuracy way.
With the rapid adoption of renewable energy and smart meters, more distributed energy consumers are becoming capable of generating energy and participating in energy trading. However, it raises great challenges to establish trust among these distributed energy sources. A more transparent and fair energy trading market is required. With its unique advantages in supporting fair and transparent transactions, blockchain is recognized as an effective solution to facilitate distributed energy transactions. However, existing studies often propose blockchain-based energy trading schemes without considering the management of energy generation, consumption, and transmission. In addition, the sensitive nature of the power grid may make the grid operators hesitate to adopt anyone to directly access the energy trading market. Therefore, in this study, we adopt a permission-based blockchain, Hyper-ledger Fabric, to establish a fair and transparent distributed energy trading market, due to its strong access control and efficient consensus mechanism. Furthermore, the proposed blockchain-based energy trading market is integrated with the Packetized Energy Management and Trading Co-Simulation platform (PEMT-CoSim), developed by our prior work, so that a holistic co-simulation platform is established to facilitate further studies by closely coordinating energy trading and management. The demonstration results based on the proposed blockchain-based co-simulation platform are discussed in detail, which validate the effectiveness of the proposed architecture.
The digitalization trend is prominent in a wide variety of sectors, and the energy sector is no exception. The incorporation of blockchain, a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), in energy services has been examined in literature and quite a few endeavors of DLT adoption in energy applications have been implemented by companies, universities and other organizations. The European LIFE project “InEExS” pursues to apply DLT through specific business cases, so as to offer improved digital energy services and encourage energy efficiency. In this paper, a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis has been conducted as a first stage of DLT potential usages evaluation in the contexts of the InEExS, with the purpose of demonstrating the reasons why blockchain could support the digitalization of energy applications and acceleration of energy transition, while pointing out the most important barriers that should be addressed to ensure that DLT integration would be truly beneficial. The decentralized nature of blockchain, combined with the transparency and safety it provides, make it a very promising technology for energy management and trading implementations, among others. However, technical constraints, such as the scalability problem, security threats, as well as sociopolitical and regulatory barriers should not be neglected. The findings of our SWOT analysis are combined with an assessment of prospective blockchain usages in the business cases deployed by the InEExS, so that the best practices to optimally exploit DLT in various energy applications, within and beyond the project, are identified.
David Vangulick, S.J. Escalona Coronel, Damien Ernst
Grid monitoring is the process of collecting data from sensors across a distribution grid and sending it to a central system (SCADA) to identify and diagnose problems, improve reliability, and save energy and money. The increasing complexity of power flows and the need to manage them using active network management (ANM) strategies requires accurate data and strong defences against cyberattacks. A proof-of-concept software called "MonitORES" was developed using Hyperledger Fabric to demonstrate how a distributed ledger technology (DLT) such as blockchain can be used to monitor and control generation units within ANM schemes, with improved resilience against cyberattacks.
The energy use of Bitcoin is fiercely debated among academics, practitioners, and the general public. This debate is often biased and characterized by a lack of understanding. Therefore, I start this paper with a discussion of the fundamentals of Bitcoin, which includes the clarification of widely held misconceptions. Next, I illustrate how Bitcoin is related to energy and describe the underlying incentive mechanism. In the main body of the paper I discuss various components of Bitcoin’s energy use, including the amount, composition, and geographical distribution of the energy, as well as emerging positive and negative effects. These components are then combined into a comprehensive framework that provides a solid foundation for future academic research and presents practitioners with the big picture of how and why Bitcoin requires energy and whether this can be justified from an environmental point of view.
The emergence of the Internet of Energy (IoE) has paved the way for decentralized energy trading, which involves the exchange of energy among prosumers (both producers and consumers) in a peer-to-peer (P2P) fashion. Smart energy meters, which can measure the energy consumption and production of prosumers, play a critical role in IoE-based energy trading. However, the lack of trust and transparency among prosumers and energy traders is a major barrier to the widespread adoption of P2P energy trading. In this context, Ethereum smart contracts can provide a solution by enabling transparent and secure execution of energy trading agreements among prosumers. This paper proposes an energy trading system that leverages Ethereum smart contracts and smart energy meters to enable P2P energy trading in the IoE. This work describes the architecture of the system and the implementation details of the smart contracts used for energy trading. This paper has presented a case pseudo code for an efficient and secure approach to trade energy based on Ethereum. It moved most of the processing and storage off-chain (in opposition to several existing solutions) to minimize the cost of using Blockchain, in terms of gas paid to process and store data related to smart. This was done while keeping the trading process as secure as when all processing and storage are performed on-chain. It also made use of stable coins to overcome the exchange rate instability of cryptocurrencies.
The term “energy prosumer” refers to a new job category that has emerged with the advent of distributed energy production via residential and commercial photovoltaic (PV) applications. The conventional distinction between energy providers and consumers becomes muddled as a result. For the procedure to be automated, blockchain technology has been used. This will make it easier for consumers, prosumers, and utilities to deal directly with energy safely, conveniently, and cost-effectively. This research aims to provide an agent-based modeling (ABM) simulation framework for energy exchange, exhibiting the anticipated power profiles of families and illustrating the operation of blockchain operations (see Figure. 1). A distributed energy resource (DER) of the transactive energy (TE) type was simulated inside the Education City Community Housing (ECCH) microgrid using a reliable multi-agent framework. Blockchain technology is necessary for this. Current blockchain-based local energy market (LEM) plans depend on precise short-term energy generation forecasts and home consumption to balance supply and demand. The present research evaluated the precision of cutting-edge energy forecasting methods in estimating homes’ energy production and consumption. It examined the effects of forecasting mistakes on market results under various supply scenarios. While LSTM models may provide few forecasting errors, the researchers discovered that the prediction process must be changed for a LEM constructed on a blockchain. Since this study tries to predict the timeline of smart meters generally, it sets itself apart from past investigations.
Riccardo Vicente, Gert‐Jan van Rooyen, Louzanne Bam
Cryptocurrency mining has been proposed to supplement conventional electricity exporting as a revenue stream with a view to improving the financial performance of renewable energy projects. To analyse this proposal, this paper presents the development of a model which is used as a decision-support tool to inform managerial decisions regarding renewable energy investments. This tool can be used to determine the feasibility of cryptocurrency mining as a hedge for a specific renewable energy project, as well as to inform various decisions that relate to the structuring of such a project. The model is implemented in both a spreadsheet-based environment and a simulation environment and is applied to a number of illustrative scenarios. The results indicate that using cryptocurrency mining to hedge renewable energy investments has potential. Furthermore, results improve for cooler climates and when a flexible approach is employed that entails switching between electricity exporting and cryptocurrency mining as revenue streams.
Kimia Honari, Sara Rouhani, Nida E. Falak, Yuan Liu · 8 authors
Blockchain technology and, in particular, smart contracts based on it, offers a new, decentralized mechanism for entering into and fulfilling contracts in diverse markets. Energy markets are no exception, and indeed, the decentralized nature of the blockchain may be particularly important for them as the penetration of residential prosumers offering microgeneration to the grid grows. At this time, however, the literature on smart contracts in energy markets—and particularly their interaction with the technical infrastructure of the smart grid—is limited and scattered. There is a need to consolidate these studies into a comprehensive understanding of the state-of-the-art in smart contract design for the smart grid. However, no existing reviews focus on smart contracts in energy systems. The scope of our study is the role of smart contracts in energy systems and what limitations they encounter. We conduct a systematic review of this topic, focusing on systems that have been implemented as prototypes. These studies provide key evidence on the scalability of smart contracts for energy systems and their interaction with the technical elements of the smart grid. We selected a pool of 76 papers meeting our criteria, with three others excluded for misinterpreting fundamental aspects of blockchains and smart contracts. After reviewing each paper, we found that this literature falls into four categories: market operations, ancillary services, auditing and monitoring, and cybersecurity. We then identify and examine the cross-cutting concerns of data storage in and interoperability between blockchains. We finally discuss the implications of our findings for future research. In particular, there is likely to be a complex interplay between the data generated and stored via the blockchain versus the data required to meet energy system reliability targets and market obligations for participants.
Athira Jayavarma, Abhijith Rajeev Menon, P. Vyshnav, S. B. Susilkessav · 6 authors
Over these years, there has been an observable effect on the environment due to Global Climatic Change. Scientists all over the world have predicted many of these disasters, and the main reason behind this is the emission of greenhouse gas. The use of fossil fuels to generate electricity contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. If this conventional fossil fuel-based energy is replaced by renewable energy resources like solar energy, wind energy, etc., more than half of the emissions can be curbed. Increasing the usage of renewable sources of energy, mostly photovoltaic devices, and enabling distributed energy services will thereby encourage an energy trading environment among the users. This paper focuses on providing an approach to implement a prototype that integrates a microgrid and blockchain to trade electricity without an intermediary. It comprises of smart contracts and an interface which together forms a microgrid management system creating a peer-to-peer platform for users to trade electricity and thereby contributing towards sustainable and affordable energy.
This article details the implementation of a decentralized application (DApp) based on public blockchain Ethereum for token backed P2P electricity trading, with electric vehicle as one the peers. A hybrid market model with a peer matching mechanism with score-based peer matching orchestrated by smart contracts is used and results are presented. Solidity language is used to create smart contracts which runs on the top of open source Ethereum public blockchain. Lockable tokens are created by modifying ERC20 APIs with wallets deployed using MetaMask. Client-side programming with Node-Express with a user interface is deployed. Truffle suite-based unit testing of whole DApp is carried out and deployed to block chain. The cost analysis for deployment of DApp both the simulation environment Ganache and test network Goerli is also presented with cost allocation to different market players.
The rapid adoption of smart grids demands robust security and efficiency measures due to their critical role in delivering electricity and their potential for customer-oriented benefits. This paper presents an innovative framework, named RETINA, which provides a resilient and secure energy trading mechanism within smart grid systems. RETINA tackles the inherent security and infrastructure challenges in smart grids by establishing a trust-based security layer and facilitating energy transactions through blockchain technology. Our proposed solution integrates Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and the Web of Trust (WoT) concepts, promoting decentralized communication channels and robust key management. We further introduce a smart contract-based energy trading mechanism that factors in trust, distance, and energy type (green or non-green) in cost calculation. The utility and robustness of RETINA have been validated in a virtualized testbed environment with 500 nodes, demonstrating superior performance in terms of scalability and resilience compared to the existing WoT scheme. Furthermore, RETINA successfully enables a secure and efficient energy trading scheme, promoting the use of renewable energy sources. Future enhancements will include application to a realistic smart grid deployment and the integration of additional functionalities. This groundbreaking solution has the potential to revolutionize the smart grid ecosystem, addressing its current limitations and propelling the industry towards a future of advanced and secure energy exchange.