Modernization of distribution power systems is accompanied with 1) higher integration of wind turbine distributed generation (WTDG) and photovoltaic DG (PVDG) units as rooftop DGs or small power plants operated by private owners in de-regulated markets, 2) massive utilization of electric vehicles (EVs) in smart cities, and 3) extensive demand response (DR) services offered by smart homes. This paper proposes a systematic framework for modern distribution networks operation where DG aggregators (DGAGs), EV aggregators (EVAGs), and demand response aggregators (DRAGs) are motivated to contribute to real-time congestion prevention via greater local generation, flexible platform for charging schedule, and non-firm load curtailment, respectively. Moreover, a realistic mechanism is developed for microgrid operators (MGOs) to 1) relieve the system operator (SO) from the pressure of centralized congestion management and 2) optimally utilize the assets of each microgrid to prevent congestions in a decentralized manner. The performance of the proposed scheme is validated on an unbalanced distribution system containing 4 microgrids, 250 EVs, 31 WTDGs, 54 PVDGs, and 140 smart homes with DR contract.
Managing the energy demand and supply during peak hours is a challenging prospect, especially in areas where the energy demand grows rapidly. To alleviate the shortage in energy supply, an increasing number of renewable energy sources (RES) are being integrated into the main grid. However, the unpredictability and intermittency of energy generation in power systems may lead to unforeseen demand peaks. To address this issue, we propose two blockchain-based Local energy market (LEM) mechanisms that assist prosumers (i.e., users with RESs that can either produce or absorb energy) and consumers to trade energy securely, balance demand and supply in a decentralized approach, and sell surplus energy to the main grid. Specifically, this paper presents the concept of Proof of Energy Generation (PoEG) to increase energy production by rewarding a prosumer as a validator to add a block in the blockchain. Also, we propose the concept of Proof of Energy Consumption (PoEC) to incentivize a user to reduce energy consumption at peak hours. To validate the proposed mechanisms, we implement a blockchain-based transaction system that consists of five nodes, a wallet, and real price and consumption data from Ontario Electric Board. The results of our experiments show that prosumers could increase their probability to win as a validator with increased energy productions and decreased consumption. We simulate two case studies, and the results show that an increase of 20% generation increases wallet balance by 10% followed by PoEG algorithm while a reduction of 20% consumption increments the balance by 9% employing PoEC algorithm.
Muhammad Fahad Zia, Elhoussin Elbouchikhi, Mohamed Benbouzid, Josep M. Guerrero
Prosumers concept has evolved with the technology advancements in renewable energy sources and intelligent responsive load devices. Digitalization paves the way for prosumers participation in energy market with the help of big data and distributed ledger technologies. Hence, power system is becoming more decentralized at distributed level, which consists of prosumers, consumers, and distributed energy resources-based microgrid systems. These microgrid participants require a transactive energy system for energy price signals-based smooth energy transactions among themselves. In this regard, this paper proposes a microgrid transactive energy system design and its functional layers. Blockchain-based transactive energy systems are also discussed. Finally, the peer-to-peer and community-based energy markets are presented.
Michela Moschella, Pietro Ferraro, Emanuele Crisostomi, Robert Shorten
In this article, we propose a stochastic decentralized algorithm to recommend the most convenient charging station (CS) to plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) that need charging. In particular, we use different cost functions to describe the possibly different priorities of PEV drivers, such as the preference to minimize charging costs, charging times, or the distance between them and the CS. For this purpose, we leverage on an Internet of Things architecture based on a permissioned distributed ledger technology (DLT) to enforce compliance of drivers and reduces the occurrence of detrimental misbehaviors of drivers. Extensive simulations performed with the mobility simulator SUMO in realistic city-wide networks have been provided to illustrate how the proposed PEV assignment procedure works in practice, and to validate its performance.
Michela Moschella, Pietro Ferraro, Emanuele Crisostomi, Robert Shorten
In this paper we propose a stochastic decentralized algorithm to recommend\nthe most convenient Charging Station (CS) to Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs)\nthat need charging. In particular, we use different cost functions to describe\nthe possibly different priorities of PEV drivers, such as the preference to\nminimize charging costs, charging times, or the distance between them and the\nCS. For this purpose, we leverage on an IoT architecture based on a\npermissioned Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) to enforce compliance of\ndrivers and reduces the occurrence of detrimental misbehaviours of drivers.\nExtensive simulations performed with the mobility simulator SUMO in realistic\ncity-wide networks have been provided to illustrate how the proposed PEV\nassignment procedure works in practice, and to validate its performance.\n
The emergence of blockchain technology brings opportunities for the transactional energy to minimize the time gap and cost in the trading process. This paper proposes a public power exchange service network for Electric Vehicles (EV) to charge and discharge from the power grid. An enhanced novel consensus mechanism Proof-of-Benefit (ePoB) is proposed to improve the protocol security and performance of the electricity exchange system. Furthermore, the benefit number generation algorithm for choosing the leader in the network guarantees the overall power grid network performance by minimizing the load variance. Through theoretical and experimental analysis, the public power exchange system with ePoB consensus protocol achieves higher scalability than Proof- of-Work (PoW) and Paxo-based or BFT-based consensus protocols. Also, it demonstrates that the consensus protocol is capable of withstanding the Sybil attack while achieving lower power load fluctuation level compared with the benchmark.
Anselma Wörner, Arne Meeuw, Liliane Ableitner, Felix Wortmann · 6 authors
Abstract Due to environmental and resiliency benefits, distributed energy resources (DER) are a potential solution for meeting future electricity demand, but their integration into centralized power markets on the large scale is challenging. Many practitioners argue that blockchain technology can create new market structures for DER like local peer-to-peer energy markets which foster renewable generation. To get an understanding of the status quo of the research on blockchain-based energy exchange, we conducted a systematic literature review on the existing academic articles and industry projects. This article describes the design and technical specifications of the first real blockchain-based electricity market in Switzerland derived from this literature review and outlines the implementation of this market in the real world. The findings provide valuable guidelines for the integration of DER into future sustainable energy markets.
최근 블록체인에 대한 관심이 증가하고 연구가 진행됨에 따라, 여러 ICT 환경에서 블록체인과의 융합에 대한 관심도 증가하고 있다. 스마트그리드 핵심 도메인 중 하나인 전기자동차 충전 인프라에서는 전기자동차 충전에 대한 거래가 존재하고 이에 따른 데이터가 생성된다. 본 논문에서는 전기자동차를 충전하는 행위 자체를 계약으로 판단하고 해당 계약을 스마트 컨트랙트에 담아 블록체인에 저장하고자 한다. 전기자동차 충전 인프라는 스마트그리드의 핵심 도메인이므로 법규에 의거하여 검증필암호모듈을 사용하여 전기자동차 충전 인프라에서 사용할 프라이빗 블록체인을 설계하고 블록체인에 담길 스마트 컨트랙트를 제안한다.
Mahdi Daghmehchi Firoozjaei, Ali A. Ghorbani, Hyoungshick Kim, JaeSeung Song
The Digital economy is based on confidence in its trustworthiness. Blockchain distributed consensus provides a reliable and trustful network for financial and non-financial transactions. Blockchain-based electric vehicles (EVs) charging applications benefit blockchain features to provide automated and verifiable services for EV charging market. Requirements for feasible charging operation and privacy concerns are challenging issues with blockchain-based EV charging approaches. To provide a feasible charging ability and preserve EV owner's privacy, we introduce EVChain. The EVChain is a trustful and decentralized platform based on blockchain technology to share charging credits in the EV charging market. To share credits, the main blockchain in EVChain is connected to one or more subnetwork blockchains. We introduce an interconnection position to preserve EV owners' privacy with k-anonymity protection. We simulate and evaluate the privacy protection it provides, based on an example EV charging scenario.
The renewable energy industry represents a very dynamic sector, connected with other economic sectors. The trends in this field are numerous and various. The setting of EU targets for greenhouse gas emission reduction is a policy at European level. The huge amount of data calls for the use of complex data processing equipment and systems, so now we can talk about the smart grid, decentralization, the Energy Management System and the Energy storage system. Business development requires very large investments and various financing methods, but especially well-detailed and reasoned business models that can be adapted to local conditions. There are changes at the level of HR through the creation of new specific jobs, as well as continuous training for specialists. The main objective of this chapter is to present the major trends related to the renewable energy sector and their impact on the economic development and on the environment. This chapter presents 18 main trends identified by the authors and analyzed in the renewable energy field. Each of these trends follows in a brief overview the actual situation and the future perspective.
To reduce vehicle emissions and to save the depleting fuel resources, Electric Vehicles (EVs) are gaining more attention due to low operating cost and less carbon footprint. The Renewable Energy Sources (RES) such as Solar PV can be suitably used for fulfilling the high energy demands of EVs. In addition, EVs can be used to provide ancillary services such as energy storage, spinning reserve, frequency and voltage regulation for Grid-connected environment. The major challenge is to develop EV charging station integrated with RES, Grid Power and Information Communication Technologies (ICT) in order to provide these ancillary services. To address these issues, we propose a novel framework for monitoring solar PV based EV community charging station and load frequency regulation using Blockchain technology. In addition, we propose Smart Energy Management Controller (SEMC) which optimally decides the EV charge and discharge operation by considering the present capacity, frequency of the Grid and solar PV availability. We integrate Blockchain technology with the SEMC to record EV owner information, energy status and financial transactions while fulfilling different requirements viz; Owner privacy, data immutability, energy data transparency, tracking and availability with the improved trust among the users. The key features of the proposed framework are analysed.
Chi-Kin Chau, Jiajia Xu, Wilson G. Bow, Khaled Elbassioni
P2P (peer-to-peer) energy sharing allows household users to share their local energy resources (e.g., rooftop PVs, home batteries) based on an agreed cost-sharing mechanism (e.g., implemented as a smart contract over a blockchain ledger). Sharing energy resources is becoming a new form of sharing economy. This not only promotes renewable energy adoption among household users but also optimizes their energy resources efficiently. However, household users are self-interested and incentive-driven. It is not clear how to motivate them to team up for energy sharing, and what proper economic mechanisms are to incentivize them to do so in a socially efficient way. This paper sheds light on the economic principles of cost-sharing mechanisms for P2P energy sharing. We investigate P2P energy sharing scenarios of direct connections and grid settlement with simple cost-sharing mechanisms (e.g., proportional-split, bargaining games), and the subsequent stable coalitions, such that no group of users will deviate to form other coalitions. We characterize the social efficiency of P2P energy sharing by the strong price of anarchy that compares the worst-case stable coalitions and a social optimum. We show that the strong price of anarchy is mild, both in practice (by an extensive data analysis on a real-world P2P energy sharing project) and in theory (by a small bound in general settings). This can hence bolster the viability of P2P energy sharing.
Christian Gorenflo, Lukasz Golab, Srinivasan Keshav
Energy systems are rapidly becoming decentralized due to advances in distributed renewable generation, storage technologies, and electric vehicles (EVs). One consequence of decentralization is the loss of a central trusted party. There is, therefore, a need for a solution that enables interactions between mutually untrusting agents. In this paper, we present a general methodology for blockchain-oriented system design and demonstrate its use to design a system for EV charging in a decentralized network of charging stations. We also show how a blockchain can be integrated with minimal changes to a legacy back end. Our solution is scheduled for roll-out by the EV charging service provider SWTCH in the near future.
U. Asfia, V. Kamuni, A. Sheikh, Sushama Wagh · 5 authors
Research related to electric vehicles (EV) is mainly focused on the hardware such as battery charging method, and still there is a lack of software research such as billing system that needs to be developed realistically. The result of charge measured in the charging EV can be different from the charged amount claimed to be charged in the charging system (CS). However, due to the potential security and privacy issues caused by untrusted and opaque energy markets, it becomes a great challenge to optimally schedule the charging behaviors of EVs with distinct energy delivery preferences of the CSs. In this paper, a novel EV participation charging scheme is proposed for a decentralized blockchain using smart contracts. Firstly, a permissioned blockchain system is introduced to implement secure charging services for EVs with the execution of smart contracts. Furthermore, based on the smart contract designed each EVs individual needs from CS is satisfied while maximizing its utility.
By leveraging the charging and discharging capabilities of Internet of electric vehicles (IoEV), demand response (DR) can be implemented in smart cities to enable intelligent energy scheduling and trading. However, IoEV-based DR confronts many challenges, such as a lack of incentive mechanism, privacy leakage, and security threats. This motivates us to develop a distributed, privacy-preserved, and incentive-compatible DR mechanism for IoEV. Specifically, we propose a consortium blockchain-enabled secure energy trading framework for electric vehicles (EVs) with moderate cost. To incentivize more EVs to participate in DR, a contract theory-based incentive mechanism is proposed, in which various contract items are tailored for the unique characteristics of EV types. The contract optimization problem falls into the category of difference of convex programing, and is solved by using the iterative convex-concave procedure algorithm. Furthermore, we consider the scenario where the statistical knowledge of the EV type is unknown. In such a case, we demonstrate how to derive the probability distribution of the EV type by exploring computational intelligence-based state of charge estimation techniques, e.g., Gaussian process regression. Finally, the security and efficiency performance of the proposed scheme is analyzed and validated.
Zhenyu Zhou, Bingchen Wang, Mianxiong Dong, Kaoru Ota
Smart grid has emerged as a successful application of cyber-physical systems in the energy sector. Among numerous key technologies of the smart grid, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) provides a promising solution to reduce the level of demand-supply mismatch by leveraging the bidirectional energy-trading capabilities of electric vehicles. In this paper, we propose a secure and efficient V2G energy trading framework by exploring blockchain, contract theory, and edge computing. First, we develop a consortium blockchain-based secure energy trading mechanism for V2G. Then, we consider the information asymmetry scenario, and propose an efficient incentive mechanism based on contract theory. The social welfare optimization problem falls into the category of difference of convex programming and is solved by using the iterative convex-concave procedure algorithm. Next, edge computing has been incorporated to improve the successful probability of block creation. The computational resource allocation problem is modeled as a two-stage: 1) Stackelberg leader-follower game and 2) the optimal strategies are obtained by using the backward induction approach. Finally, the performance of the proposed framework is validated via numerical results and theoretical analysis.
With the increasing electric vehicle (EV) integration, challenges arise in the operation of a distribution network in that charging numerous EVs at the same time may overload distribution facilities. The charging power should be distributed among the charging stations in such a way that both individual EV charging demands and security constraints are met. Meanwhile, there usually does not exist a coordinator over all EV charging stations. This paper proposes an EV charging coordination method by designing a charging power quota (permissible charging power of a charging station) trading platform on blockchain. After collecting the future charging demands from charging stations, the proposed platform distributes initial charging power quotas in an equitable and secure manner while considering facility ratings. Then, considering the elasticity of different charging stations, the platform allows EV charging stations to trade the initially-allocated charging power quota via a double auction. By matching the submitted offers and bids from charging stations, the optimal allocation of charging power quotas is realized. By designing corresponding smart contracts, a charging power quota allocation and trading platform is established based on the Ethereum blockchain, ensuring the transparency, trustfulness, and intelligence of the charging power quota trading. A case study based on an Ethereum private blockchain shows the fairness and efficiency of the proposed mechanism and the effectiveness of the method.
Technologies such as blockchains, smart contracts and programmable batteries facilitate emerging models of energy distribution, trade and consumption, and generate a considerable number of opportunities for energy markets. However, these developments complicate relationships between stakeholders, disrupting traditional notions of value, control and ownership. Discussing these issues with the public is particularly challenging as energy consumption habits often obscure the competing values and interests that shape stakeholders' relationships. To make such difficult discussions more approachable and examine the missing relational aspect of autonomous energy systems, we combined the design of speculative hairdryers with performance and deliberation. This integrated method of inquiry makes visible the competing values and interests, eliciting people's wishes to negotiate these terms. We argue that the complexity of mediated energy distribution and its convoluted stakeholder relationships requires more sophisticated methods of inquiry to engage people in debates concerning distributed energy systems.
Blockchain technique, with the novelties of decentralization, smart contract, security and cooperative autonomy, is expected to play great effects on promoting the development of energy local networks (ELNs). This paper presents an automated demand response (ADR) framework for decentralized scheduling and secure peer-to-peer (P2P) trading among energy storage systems in ELNs. Different from most existing works that trade electricity over long distances and through complex meshes, this proposed work performs decentralized and automated demand response through energy sharing of P2P executors. We explore for the first time the benefits of a promising blockchain to conduct the overall ADR framework and increase the P2P trading security. To achieve decentralized scheduling without relying on a central entity, a price-incentive noncooperative game theoretic model is introduced to produce equilibrium solutions for energy storage systems. Moreover, we develop a schedulable ability evaluation system to match trading pairs involving buying and selling nodes. On this basis, a state-machine-driven smart contract mechanism is built to realize P2P trading without reliance on a trusted third party. To illustrate the implementation details of the ADR method, a distributed algorithm is designed. Case studies are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.
The massive adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs) requires the grid system to coordinate with a large number of energy transactions, where the current grid network poses vulnerability against the excessive power loads and attacks. The difficulty of an efficient charging/discharging control mechanism lies on the randomness of future events and scalability of the transaction platform. In this paper, a Proof-of-Benefit consensus mechanism with Online benefit generating (ONPoB) algorithm is proposed on the blockchain platform to handle the EV charging/discharging loads to flatten the overall power load fluctuation. It is demonstrated that all EVs can be charged and achieves a best-known competitive ratio of 2.39. The ONPoB consensus mechanism is approved to better accommodate the EV scenario compared with other mechanisms. And the ONPoB algorithm is able to substantially reduce the Power Fluctuation Level (PFL) in comparison with popular scheduling algorithms.
With the development of the autonomous hybrid plug-in electric vehicles (AHEVs), majority of AHEVs are equipped with bidirectional chargers. However, during the energy trading process, the centralized schemes are exposed to many flaws like the high energy transmission loss and cannot resist the single-point failure. Therefore, it is more important to use the decentralized manner to keep the safety energy trading between AHEVs. In this paper, we propose a decentralized energy trading architecture in which AHEVs can broadcast their requirements to neighbors and negotiate with other AHEVs on the transmission parameters without a transaction server. The smart contract (SC) is deployed among RSUs which can be automatically executed after the negotiation process. To promote AHEVs to behave honestly on the road, we associate the trust value of AHEVs with the charging price. We use proof-of-concept to theoretically demonstrate the feasibility of the development of the SC and the security properties of the proposed scheme. The simulation results demonstrate the proposed negotiation scheme outperforms the non-negotiation scheme in the aspect of efficiency.