It is always desired for optimizing energy trading to disable manipulation and preserve individual privacy. These two features become increasingly appealing for an energy market where interest parties do not mutually trust each other, such as peer-to-peer energy trading. Traditional centralized or hierarchical optimization schemes are vulnerable to an untrusted coordinator who may dishonestly broadcast coordination results or be curious about individual privacy. Recent blockchain-based optimization schemes resist dishonesty but increase the risk of privacy leakage. This paper proposes a privacy-preserving blockchain-based method to optimize energy trading. In the proposed method, participants submit encrypted bids/offers based on a bid/offer encryption algorithm to preserve their privacy. A privacy-preserving-Byzantine-fault-tolerance-based coordination algorithm is proposed to ensure the correctness of trading results with considering dishonesty. Numerical results in a peer-to-peer energy trading case demonstrate the performance of our method on convergence, resisting dishonesty, preserving privacy, and scalability.
Hugo Schönbeck, Anna Gorbatcheva, Alexandra Schneiders
This chapter discusses the combination of community energy and digitalisation. From a historical and futuristic perspective, the needs and demands are discussed in a rapidly changing energy and communications landscape. The chapter explores how the proliferation of distributed energy resources and the changing role of the consumer are changing the entire nature of the industry. Ideas are presented for integrating the desire for autonomy and community exchange with the needs of an optimised system, and how these developments are driving change and creating new market opportunities. This chapter further assesses the role and opportunities blockchain and distributed ledger technology take in a traditional industry that must always keep the lights on. We identify the Internet as a key enabler of change that can be seen as a grid of data that supports the increasing complexity in the energy industry. The concept of the ‘energy internet’ is used in this context to enable local, national and international balancing of electricity networks. Finally, we highlight the opportunities presented by local energy markets and discuss the risks if consumers are not adequately protected from energy system vulnerabilities. The technical and legal opportunities for prosumers to become local, self-balancing, holons that are part of the market may result in increasing reward systems when they contribute to electricity grid balancing services.
Nor Ashbahani Mohamad Kajaan, Nurul Hanisa Nor Amidi, Zainal Salam, Raja Zahilah Raja Mohd Radzi
Abstract The purpose of this study is to propose a method of peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading that allow prosumers with energy deficiency to buy energy from prosumers with excess energy in a microgrid system. The proposed method solves the problems associated with lack of trust in P2P energy trading and utilized the blockchain technology that made it impossible to tamper with data. The data is referred as transaction generated by using blockchain. A blockchain based smart contract execute the trading and payment rules without the intermediaries. Thus, the security and fairness of energy trading are significantly enhanced compared to conventional database technology. Without the third-party intervention, a miner that is selected among the participants in the microgrid environment process all the transaction generated from buying and selling energy. The smart contract consists of two main components; bidding and settlement module, payment module. The smart contract deployed in blockchain test network to test the interaction of smart contract. From the simulation, the proposed method is validated using realistic data with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). The method will be expected to be useful to designers who need to integrate renewable energy in a microgrid system.
Thailand’s current energy trading system is an Enhanced Single Buyer (ESB), a market monopoly by a single buyer. It will produce and distribute electricity to service providers in each area, enabling them to distribute services to consumers. In terms of the consumer aspect, it is necessary to purchase electricity from only one seller, and it is not possible to choose the manufacturer independently. Since the price mechanism is not competitive, the market price is mainly determined by a single buyer. Meanwhile, alternative energy power generation technology has progressed. Anyone can become a power producer using wind power or solar energy. People can easily produce electricity to use in their households. Besides, residual energy from use will be sold only to the ESB. However, there is a selling restriction because there is only one buyer. Importantly, Blockchain technology can be applied to enable independent electricity trading. In other words, called peer-to-peer (P2P) trading, the Thai government has policies to promote P2P trading. However, there are not many systems supporting P2P energy trading since P2P trading is still in the beginning stages of the Pilot Project. In this study, the researchers have presented a P2P Power Trading Model using Blockchain technology. This research presents a system with efficiency and simplicity. Also, there are other technology highlights such as IoT, Lora, and Electronic Double Auction. The researcher has designed, implemented, and tested it for actual electrical power trading. It can prove to be traded according to the designed test cases. Importantly, we are truly confident that this research will benefit those interested in developing real-world applications. This research can also be used as an alternative to the traditional power purchase and sale system.
The conventional electrical grid is undergoing substantial growth for reliable grid operation and for more efficient and sustainable energy use. The traditional grid is now metamorphosing into a smart grid (SG) that incorporates a diverse, heterogeneous blend of operating measures such as smart appliances, meters, and renewable energy resources. With better efficient results and dependability, the SG can be described as a modern electric power grid architecture. The SG is one of the greatest potential advances as a promising solution for the energy crisis. However, it is complex and its decentralization could be of tremendous benefit. Moreover, digitalization and integration of a large number of growing connections make it a target of cyber-attacks. In this sense, blockchain is a promising SG paradigm solution that offers several excellent features. There has been considerable effort put into using blockchains in the smart grid for its decentralization and enhanced cybersecurity; however, it has not been thoroughly studied in both application and architectural perspectives. An in-depth study was conducted on blockchain-enabled SG applications. Blockchain architectures for various applications, such as the synchrophasor applications, electric vehicles, energy management systems, etc., were proposed. The purpose of this article is to provide directions for future research efforts aimed at secure and decentralized SG applications using blockchain.
Infrastructure is critical for enabling society to function and the economy to thrive, but there is an increasing mismatch between the need for infrastructure investments and available capital, which is in consequence of constraints on public resources and limited capacity to leverage the private sector co-financing under the current system. With the emergence of distributed ledger technology, such as blockchain-enabled tokenization, there is a significant potential to improve investment liquidity, transparency, efficiency and create new economic models to integrate non-financial values to promote sustainability and inclusiveness. This research analyzed 21 projects to investigate how tokenization is implemented in energy infrastructure projects. Exploratory case study analyses were conducted, which shows the diversity of tokenization arrangements. The state of the art, potential benefits, implications, and obstacles associated with the application of tokenization in infrastructure investment and development are discussed. The purpose of this research is to understand tokenization within the context of the energy sector but also to forecast its application in a broad spectrum of infrastructure projects (e.g., transportation, telecommunication, healthcare, education).
Uyikumhe Damisa, Peter Olabisi Oluseyi, Nnamdi Nwulu
Inadequate gas supply is partly responsible for the energy shortfall experienced in some energy-poor nations. Favorable market conditions would boost investment in the gas supply sector; hence, we propose a blockchain-based fair, transparent, and secure gas trading scheme that facilitates peer-to-peer trading of gas. The scheme is developed using an Ethereum-based smart contract that receives offers from gas suppliers and bid(s) from the thermal plant operator. Giving priority to the cheapest offers, the smart contract determines the winning suppliers. This paper also proposes an economic dispatch model for gas-deficient plants. Conventional economic dispatch seeks to satisfy electric load demand whilst minimizing the total gas cost of generating units. Implicit in its formulation is the assumption that gas supply to generating units is sufficient to satisfy available demand. In energy poor nations, this is hardly the case as there is often inadequate gas supply and conventional economic dispatch is of little practical value. The proposed economic dispatch model’s objective function maximizes the quantity of available gas and determines the optimal power output of each generating unit. The mathematical formulation is verified using data from the Egbin thermal station which is the largest thermal station in Nigeria and is solved using the General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS). Obtained results indicate the viability of the novel approach as it results in a net power gain of 35 MW. On the other hand, the smart contract proved effective in accurately selecting winning suppliers and making payment.
With the popularization of distributed energy resources, residents are able to trade electricity with each other as prosumers, promoting the emergence of community electricity markets with double auctions. Since these markets are small in scale, there is typically no authoritative market operating organization. Moreover, for the double auction market to last, budget deficits should not occur. To address these issues, this paper develops a blockchain-based trading framework for community electricity markets. A hierarchical architecture is established including a trading layer that supports prosumers and an incentive layer that encourages miners to maintain the blockchain system. Moreover, smart contracts are designed for prosumers and market operations. To resolve the budget deficit issue from the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) mechanism with double auctions, an improved VCG double auction mechanism is developed with budget balance. Moreover, the improved mechanism retains the individual rationality and truthfulness properties of the original VCG mechanism. In addition, the possible budget surplus can be used as rewards for miners. A prototype is developed using the Ethereum platform. Case studies demonstrate the performance of the system and the budget balance of the improved mechanism.
The electricity sector is facing the dual challenge of supporting increasing level of demand electrification while substantially reducing its carbon footprint. Among electricity demands, the energy consumption of cryptocurrency mining data centers has witnessed significant growth worldwide. If well-coordinated, these data centers could be tailor-designed to aggressively absorb the increasing uncertainties of energy supply and, in turn, provide valuable grid-level services in the electricity market. In this paper, we study the impact of integrating new cryptocurrency mining loads into Texas power grid and the potential profit of utilizing demand flexibility from cryptocurrency mining facilities in the electricity market. We investigate different demand response programs available for data centers and quantify the annual profit of cryptocurrency mining units participating in these programs. We perform our simulations using a synthetic 2000 bus ERCOT grid model, along with added cryptocurrency mining loads on top of the real-world demand profiles in Texas. Our preliminary results show that depending on the size and location of these new loads, we observe different impacts on the ERCOT electricity market, where they could increase the electricity prices and incur more fluctuations in a highly non-uniform manner.
Transactive Energy Systems (TES) represent a new approach to achieve an optimal utilisation of distributed energy resources (DER) as well as realising a better integration of prosumers. As transactive participants, producers, consumers and prosumers take part in achieving a dynamic and efficient grid operation based on economic and control mechanisms. A key challenge of realising TES is to enable a decentralised structure. With the gaining popularity of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) and especially Blockchain in the year 2017, this trend has also gained traction in the field of TES to build a decentralised system. However, even before the aforementioned DLT approaches from 2017 onwards, there have been functioning TES implementations that are not based on DLT. It is also important to note that with all the advantages that the use of DLT brings, there are also new challenges linked with. The objective of this paper is to analyse, whether the use of DLT for TES is scientifically plausible or can be identified as a temporal hype. At first, the foundations of TES as well as the basic principles of using DLT for TES are being presented. Furthermore, different implementations of TES with and without the use of DLT are being shown. On this basis a comparative analysis of regular TES as well as TES based on DLT is executed. Within this framework an assessment of the effectiveness of using DLT for TES is formed.
Electric Vehicles (EVs), as well as the number of applications for their management, are rapidly increasing due to the fact that Internet of Vehicles (IoV) becomes more informative and industrialized. According to the literature, IoV requires decentralization towards the energy Demand Response (DR) management, with secure energy trading, efficient charging scheduling, and incentives for making the drivers to participate. Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) can be used to enable a foundational environment to support DR management. However, and to the best of our knowledge, none of the existing research works discussed in the literature adopts a holistic approach to address them. As such there is a demand for exploring a unified blockchain-based framework for distributed DR management. Therefore, the aim of this work is focused on the blockchain adoption in IoV-assisted smart cities. More specifically, we propose a blockchain based approach, to be used for building a secure and user-centric DR management framework. Our proposition aims to address the DRP in IoV through charging scheduling based on the generation of EV driving profiles, and optimal Vehicle-to-Vehicle/Grid (V2V | V2G) energy trading.
Deep integration of variable renewable energy sources in electrical power systems requires widespread use of digital technologies and novel citizen-oriented business models. The emergence of distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) has spurred the development of pilot projects and the assessment of the opportunities for the application of DLTs in the energy sector. In this paper, we examine DLTs considering their key features and applications in the energy sector, with a focus on their potential use in energy communities. As a case study, we present the pilot site in the city of Križevci in Croatia, where an energy community is being established. Based on this case, we assess the potential use cases, advantages, and possible drawbacks in the application of DLTs in comparison with the business-as-usual non-DLT solutions.
Mirza Jabbar Aziz Baig, M. Tariq Iqbal, Mohsin Jamil, Jahangir Khan
A low-cost, open-source peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading system for a remote community is presented in this paper. As a result of its geographic location, this community has never been able to access electricity and other modern amenities. This study aims to design and implement a P2P energy trading system for this remote community that allows residents to take advantage of distributed energy resources. A Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (Pi4B) hosts the main server of the trading system that includes the user interface and a local Ethereum blockchain server. The Ethereum blockchain is used to deploy smart contracts. The Internet-of-Things (IoT) servers run on ESP32 microcontrollers. Sensors and actuators connected to the ESP32 are field instrumentation devices that facilitate acquiring, monitoring, and transferring energy data in real-time. To perform trading activities, React.JS open-source library was used to develop the blockchain-enabled user interface. An immutable blockchain network keeps track of all transactions. The proposed system runs on a local Wi-Fi network with restricted authorization for system security. Other security measures such as login credentials, private key, firewall, and secret recovery phrases are also considered for information security and data integrity. A Hypertext Transfer Protocol is implemented for communication between the servers and the client. This explains the overall system design, implementation, testing, and results.
Virtual power plants are among the promising ways that variable generation and flexible demand may be optimally balanced in the future. The virtual power plant is an important branch of the energy internet, and it plays an important role in the aggregation of distributed power generation resources and the establishment of virtual power resource transactions. However, in the existing virtual power plant model, the following problems are becoming increasingly prominent, such as safeguard, credit rating system, privacy protection, benefit distribution. Firstly, the operation and transaction mechanism of the virtual power plant was introduced. Then, the blockchain technology is introduced into the virtual power plant transaction to make it more conducive to the information transparent, stable dispatch system, data security, and storage security. Finally, the operation and transaction system based on blockchain technology for the virtual power plant was design.
Kimia Honari, Xiaotian Zhou, Sara Rouhani, Scott Dick · 7 authors
Blockchain technologies are one possible avenue for increasing the resilience of the Smart Grid, by decentralizing the monitoring and control of system-level objectives such as voltage stability protection. They furthermore offer benefits in data immutability and traceability, as blockchains are cryptographically secured. However, the performance of blockchain-based systems in real-time grid monitoring and control has never been empirically tested. This study proposes implementing a decentralized voltage stability algorithm using blockchain-based smart contracts, as a testbed for evaluating the performance of blockchains in real-time control. We furthermore investigate sharding mechanisms as a means of improving the system's scalability with fixed computing resources. We implement our models as a proof-of-concept prototype system using Hyperledger Fabric as our blockchain platform, the Matpower library in MATLAB as our power system simulator, and Hyperledger Caliper as our performance evaluation tool. We found that sharding does indeed lead to a substantial improvement in system scalability for this domain, measured by both transaction success rates and transaction latency.
In Smart Grid (SG), Transactive Energy Management (TEM) is one of the most promising approaches to boost consumer participation in energy generation, energy management, and establishing decentralized energy market models using Peer-to-Peer (P2P). In P2P, a prosumer produces electric energy at their place using Renewable Energy Resources (RES) such as solar energy, wind energy, etc. Then, this generated energy is traded with consumers (who need the energy) in a nearby locality. P2P facilitates energy exchange in localized micro-energy markets of the TEM system. Such decentralized P2P energy management could cater to diverse prosumers and utility business models. However, the existing P2P approaches suffer from several issues such as single-point-of-failure, network bandwidth, scalability, trust, and security issues. To handle the aforementioned issues, this paper proposes a Decentralized and Transparent P2P Energy Trading (DT-P2PET) scheme using blockchain. The proposed DT-P2PET scheme aims to reduce the grid’s energy generation and management burden while also increasing profit for both consumers and prosumers through a dynamic pricing mechanism. The DT-P2PET scheme uses Ethereum-blockchain-based Smart Contracts (SCs) and InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) for the P2P energy trading. Furthermore, a recommender mechanism is also introduced in this study to increase the number of prosumers. The Ethereum SCs are designed and deployed to perform P2P in real time in the proposed DT-P2PET scheme. The DT-P2PET scheme is evaluated based on the various parameters such as profit generation (for prosumer and consumer both), data storage cost, network bandwidth, and data transfer rate in contrast to the existing approaches.
Yue Zhou, Andrei Nicolas Manea, Weiqi Hua, Jianzhong Wu · 7 authors
In the transition to a society with net-zero carbon emissions, high penetration of distributed renewable power generation and large-scale electrification of transportation and heat are driving the conventional distribution network operators (DNOs) to evolve into distribution system operators (DSOs) that manage distribution networks in a more active and flexible way. As a radical decentralized data management technology, distributed ledger technology (DLT) has the potential to support a trustworthy digital infrastructure facilitating the DNO–DSO transition. Based on a comprehensive review of worldwide research and practice, as well as the engagement of relevant industrial experts, the application of DLT in distribution networks is identified and analyzed in this article. The DLT features and DSO needs are first summarized, and the mapping relationship between them is identified. Detailed DSO functions are identified and classified into five categories (i.e., “planning,” “operation,” “market,” “asset,” and “connection”) with the potential of applying DLT to various DSO functions assessed. Finally, the development of seven key DSO functions with high DLT potential is analyzed and discussed from the technical, legal, and social perspectives, including peer-to-peer energy trading, flexibility market facilitation, electric vehicle charging, network pricing, distributed generation register, data access, and investment planning.
This paper presents the PEACEFULNESS software platform (Platform for transvErse evAluation of Control stratEgies For mULti-eNErgy Smart gridS), an open framework dedicated to multi-energy smart-grids, based on a techno-economic model that integrates economic considerations (contracts). As such, it is mainly oriented towards the evaluation of multi-energy grid supervision strategies, that is, energy management, and the corresponding policies and legal organization. The main goal is then to highlight the various possible behaviors and strategies to organize the probable future interconnections between the different energy carriers. In particular, it aims at investigating how to maximize the use of renewable energy sources (RES), using Demand Side Management (DSM) techniques and energy storage, in a shared economy context. The open-source tool PEACEFULNESS, written in Python, is described here in detail. It combines a top-down description of the energy networks and connections between the various agents (energy providers, distribution system operators, aggregators, consumers, producers, prosumers, etc.), together with a techno-economic bottom-up description for all devices. Here, both public databases and users’ data (basic heating demands or based on building modeling) can be used, as well as generic or more specific models (e.g., PV panels with constant or temperature-dependent efficiency). One of its major unique features compared with other tools is that it extends the use of DSM techniques to various energy grids which can also interact together. Furthermore, different economic models can be set for both the aggregators and the customers, and even within these groups. As a last competitive advantage, PEACEFULNESS allows the user to simulate the operation and supervision of tens up to hundreds of thousands of agents. It also provides a reporting system giving access to all the data, with a configurable granularity and frequency for the retained indicators. Finally, several validation cases are presented, followed by a series of test cases with increasing size: a smart home, a smart district (2 000 dwellings) and a smart community (50 000 dwellings).
The dynamic nature of competitive electricity markets means that participants often resort to some form of derivative financial instrument. One such instrument is a contract-for-difference (CFD), usually available to renewable generators in certain electricity markets to enable them to hedge their price risk. Embracing CFD presents new risks such as counterparty credit, margining, third-party, legal, and process risks. Derivative instruments existing on blockchains have recently demonstrated potential as suitable hedging tools for minimizing the risks of renewable generators. This article applies this concept for the first time to hedge the price risk of renewable generators by implementing a novel decentralized finance instrument, an Ethereum blockchain marketplace governed by a smart contract to mediate between stakeholders mutually enrolled in bilateral CFD arrangements. The employed structure mitigates the underlying risks of traditional arrangements, underpinned by a suite of autonomous mechanisms.
Yaçine Merrad, Mohamed Hadi Habaebi, Siti Fauziah Toha, Md. Rafiqul Islam · 6 authors
Recent advances in control, communication, and management systems, as well as the widespread use of renewable energy sources in homes, have led to the evolution of traditional power grids into smart grids, where passive consumers have become so-called prosumers that feed energy into the grid. On the other hand, the integration of blockchain into the smart grid has enabled the emergence of decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading, where prosumers trade their energy as tokenized assets. Even though this new paradigm benefits both distribution grid operators and end users in many ways. Nevertheless, there is a conflict of interest between the two parties, as on the one hand, prosumers want to maximize their profit, while on the other hand, distribution system operators (DSOs) seek an optimal power flow (OPF) operating point. Due to the complexity of formulating and solving OPF problems in the presence of renewable energy sources, researchers have focused on mathematical modeling and effective solution algorithms for such optimization problems. However, the control of power generation according to a defined OPF solution is still based on centralized control and management units owned by the DSO. In this paper, we propose a novel, fully decentralized architecture for an OPF-based demand response management system that uses smart contracts to force generators to comply without the need for a central authority or hardware.
Lower renewable energy generator prices are leading people to install solar panels to reduce their electricity bills or, in some cases, even sell the surplus generated energy to the grid and earn credits from the grid operator. Generally, they are limited to trading the energy they generate with the grid company, which has a dominant role in price determination. Decentralized energy markets might increase both market competitiveness and incentive to further people's adoption of renewable energy, reducing security vulnerabilities and improving resiliency. Blockchain is a widely studied technology to provide decentralization for energy markets in this context. Scalability, privacy, market design, and user security are some of the open research topics. This work analyzes the literature related to blockchain and energy markets, proposes a model, implements it, performs experiments, and analyzes network scalability and data generation. The model, implemented with Hyperledger Fabric, enables validated clean energy trading with anonymized buyers to prevent consumption pattern exposure. The maximum transaction throughput was achieved with 5000 sensors, 5000 buyers, and 5000 sellers. The data generation rate by network and the baseline deployment costs were also analyzed to judge the network viability. Furthermore, this work provides empirical results on a topic that the literature lacks.