The power system is undergoing a fundamental transformation to become low-carbon and sustainable, and to reduce its adverse impact on the climate. To meet this challenge, power generation is shifting towards intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, leading to an increasing demand for additional flexibility on the side of end consumers who are becoming active participants in electricity markets. These goals imply that traditional electricity suppliers will have to upgrade their services and models or be replaced by a new type of supplier - aggregator. An aggregator will allow end consumers to be active and adaptive through a variety of price signals, such as dynamic pricing, consumption adjustment, reward fees, etc. In this paper, we present an architecture for a platform envisioned as a decentralized market for flexibility service providers in the power system, based on Internet of Things (IoT) and distributed ledger technologies. The platform will enable controllable and verifiable interaction of aggregators with end consumer devices in a trustless environment, as well as functionalities such as secure data exchange, search, history analysis, flexibility, and reputation management. The technical feasibility of implementing such a platform is demonstrated using the IOTA network.
Ayusee Swain, K. P. Swain, S. R. Samal, Snigdha Pattnaik · 8 authors
With growing energy demand and advancement in technologies, it is essential to ensure security to the energy usage data and transparency in the transactions while optimizing costs and improving the efficiency of the processes. For this purpose, we have presented one of the emerging technologies called Blockchain technology, which is a highly immutable and cryptographically secured distributed ledger system, using which important transaction data, energy records and contracts are digitally maintained in real-time across a peer-to-peer network. In the current work, a blockchain-based prototype is proposed by integrating AMI and Ethereum smart contract to come up with a peer-to-peer monitoring system that will ensure transparency in energy usage and automation of the billing process. By this work, we aim to provide solutions to the major issues associated with the existing infrastructure of energy monitoring and billing systems like the manual intervention of billing process, overdue bill payment, illegal tapping of power lines and unethical selling of units by the electricity board.
Household intelligent power service (HIPS) is an interaction service between power grid companies and household users. Power grid companies release interactive electricity demand and response subsidy price through HIPS platform to attract users to participate in orderly electricity consumption, so as to reduce the peak debt ratio of power consumption in stations or improve the consumption rate of new energy. This paper proposes an architecture of HIPS platform based on the Consortium blockchain, and then designs smart contracts for three types of participants: power grid companies, load aggregators and users. Finally, the proposed smart contract is implemented.
Matthew Gough, Sérgio F. Santos, Artur Almeida, Mohamed Lotfi · 9 authors
Emerging technologies are helping to accelerate the ongoing energy transition. At the forefront of these new technologies is blockchain, which has the potential to disrupt energy trading markets. This article explores this potential by presenting an innovative multilevel transactive energy (TE) optimization model for the scheduling of distributed energy resources (DERs) within connected virtual power plants (VPPs). The model allows for energy transactions within a given VPP as well as between connected VPPs. A blockchain-based smart contract layer is applied on top of the TE optimization model to automate and record energy transactions. The model is formulated to adhere to the new regulations for the self-generation and self-consumption of energy in Portugal. This new set of regulations can ease barriers to entry for consumers and increase their active participation in energy markets. Results show a decrease in energy costs for consumers and increased generation of locally produced electricity. This model shows that blockchain-based smart contracts can be successfully integrated into a hierarchical energy trading model, which respects the novel energy regulation. This combination of technologies can be used to increase consumer participation, lower energy bills, and increase the penetration of locally generated electricity from renewable energy sources.
Dong Wang, Jiaxing Xuan, Zhiyu Chen, Da Li · 5 authors
With the continuous advancement of the green certificate trading mechanism, information verification needs to span multiple departments, which causes the application process cumbersome and human errors. In order to solve problems of cumbersome issuance process of the renewable energy certificate (REC) and the inflexible pricing mechanism, in this paper, a hybrid REC trading system was proposed based on an permissioned blockchain technology (BT), which combined advantages of the BT and the continuous double auction (CDA). The operation process of the system was introduced in detail, and the view change protocol in the Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance algorithm was revised according to the characteristics of the system to improve the system stability. The continuous double auction rule was also introduced in the system. And corresponding bidding strategies were designed to maximize the revenue of users (buyer and seller) and transaction probability. The simulation experiment proves that the bidding mechanism can flexibly adjust the REC price according to the supply and demand relationship. At the same time, the effectiveness and feasibility of trading rule and bidding strategy were also verified.
Liang Wang, Jing Zhang, Zheng Yuan Jia, An Hu · 6 authors
As a distributed system with decentralization, trust maintenance, and security assurance, blockchain has successfully served a variety of scenarios involving information exchange and ledger recording. In the blockchain system, the characteristics of peer and autonomy of each node, coupled with the traceability of the blockchain system, the nature of information disclosure and the nature of distributed information storage, make it ubiquitous in the modern Internet of Power Energy It has unique advantages such as safety and efficiency in application scenarios such as the Internet of Power and Energy. First introduced the core application principles of blockchain technology and analyzed the application feasibility of blockchain technology based on the Ethereum network in the virtual power plant (Virtual Power Plant VPP) energy transaction; then on the basis of the Ethereum blockchain platform In the above, a power energy transaction scheme under the virtual power plant architecture is proposed; then the test is carried out in the standard Ethereum test network and virtual environment to verify the feasibility, safety and scalability of the method; finally, the block Analyze and prospect the opportunities and challenges of chain technology in the field of combining virtual power plants and “Internet +”.
Dipanjan Bose, Chandan Kumar Chanda, A. Chakrabarti
Abstract The resilience of the power grid is taking a vital role in the energy supply and distribution process. But due to the rapid growth of integration of renewable distributed energy sources to the traditional power grid, the nature of the trading system is shifted from the centralized to decentralized or distributed manner. Blockchain is one of the most emerging security technologies that change the dimension of the financial and energy sector with openness and complete freedom. Blockchain implemented distributed energy trading promotes decentralized electricity markets. The physical system consists of the planning of the routing of energy from one place to another. A user can not send power to another customer in any severe outage or natural disaster in a traditional system. The user cannot participate in the trade globally. So in this proposed methodology, the connections of each customer to the central grid through several microgrids have been shown. In this work, an innovative approach in trading and finding a solution to a payment method is proposed. Ethereum blockchain-based smart contracts completed the entire trading system in automation mode in our proposed system. Any power outage at one place can be compensated by routing a new path of energy inflow from another active source, which enhances the system’s resiliency to a certain degree. While trading, no third parties will be engaged so that the transaction is efficient and fast.
To further implement decentralized renewable energy resources, blockchain based peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading is gaining attention and its architecture has been proposed with virtual demonstrations. In this paper, to further socially implement this concept, a blockchain based peer to peer energy trading system which could coordinate with energy control hardware was constructed, and a demonstration experiment was conducted. Previous work focused on virtually matching energy supply and demand via blockchain P2P energy markets, and our work pushes this forward by demonstrating the possibility of actual energy flow control. In this demonstration, Plug-in Hybrid Electrical Vehicles(PHEVs) and Home Energy Management Systems(HEMS) actually used in daily life were controlled in coordination with the blockchain system. In construction, the need of a multi-tagged continuous market was found and proposed. In the demonstration experiment, the proposed blockchain market and hardware control interface was proven capable of securing and stably transmitting energy within the P2P energy system. Also, by the implementation of multi-tagged energy markets, the number of transactions required to secure the required amount of electricity was reduced.
Marco Galici, Mario Mureddu, Emilio Ghiani, Fabrizio Pilo
The progressive development of local energy communities as well as the growing interesting in Machine Learning approaches for the energy sector are leading to deep changes in to Power Systems sector. In this evolution scenario, the concept of local energy markets would lead to new operations and management approaches. It is well-established that markets based on distributed ledgers are suitable to the system requirements rather than centralized approaches. This study aims at introducing an agent-based model for simulating participants' offering mechanism. In this way the market users' behaviours are simulated in a realistic manner. This paper improves and enhances the results obtained from previous authors study, where a decentralized version of the common genetic algorithm was presented. The proposed agent-based framework has been implemented on a Real Time Digital Simulator, capable of inspect the grid dynamics. Finally, in order to reproduce participants behaviour, IoT smart devices was implemented.
Leonardo Weber Stringini, Héricles Eduardo Oliveira Farias, Camilo Alberto Sepúlveda Rangel, Luciane Neves Canha · 6 authors
This paper presents a methodology for optimal energy management of battery energy storage systems for aggregators use in distribution systems considering photovoltaic generation, demand contracts, and lifetime degradation. The methodology sets the optimum operation of the battery, define a trade-off between profit/lifetime of the battery dispatch and reduce the aggregator tariff bill. The dispatch optimization is carried out on a 48h forecasting model, where the best strategy is the one that guarantees a good operation for the day n+1 and day n+2. A nonlinear optimization approach sets battery dispatch, under operational constraints given by the Distribution System Operator contract and the battery state of charge constraint. Three types of battery chemistry are used, the lead acid, lithium ion and vanadium redox. Also, for each battery type the best methodology strategy is defined. Regarding the methodology, a neural network is used for forecasting of demand values, PV generation and tariff prices. Battery degradation cost is controlled in daily operation based on cycles and cost. Moreover, for total lifetime estimation, the Rainflow Counting technique is used through the depth of discharge. The results define an operation for the battery that allows economic profit, without compromising the lifetime.
This paper proposes a distributed control method based on a consensus algorithm for distributed energy resources (DERs) using blockchain as a secure communication medium for cyber resilience. Each DER communicates with a local blockchain server that is maintained by the distributed ledger technology to allow for securely sharing local measurements among neighbouring assets to achieve the global control objectives, i.e., voltage and frequency regulation as well as accurate power sharing among the DERs, including collective grid-forming capability. To prove that the distributed control can retain system stability under a blockchain-induced variable communication delay, Lyapunov function-based stability analysis is carried out. This paper demonstrates the concept on an 11-bus test case developed in MATLAB Simulink, which has been modified from the IEEE 9-bus test case, to study dynamic operations of the five inverter-based DERs working with a blockchain-induced variable delay. The results validate the superior performance of the proposed control method, compared to heavily compromised operations of the other test cases without the security measure, affected by heavy communication delays and communication interruptions.
Blockchain technology provides a comprehensive solution to user access and energy trading for distributed energy Internet. Achieving market-based pricing, increasing the earnings of energy suppliers, attracting foreign capital and facilitating the upgrade of solar and wind energy are pressing issues. Drawing on the practices of centralised exchanges and blockchain cryptocurrency, the author designed the Cryptocurrency Energy Trading Platform (CETP), dividing the permissioned blockchain into the Energy Blockchain Platform (EBP) and the Energy Cryptocurrency Exchange (ECE). The frequently used real-time bidding scenario and the seldom-used power-using scenario are separated from each other. A market welfare model for real-time bidding is established and verified. With Energy Blockchain Cryptocurrency (EBC) as the trading medium, the platform allows external bidders to get involved in the bidding and transactions, which not only attracts the social capital to be used in the development of energy Internet but also helps stabilise the energy market prices, thus, advancing the energy Internet.
Energy storage provides an effective way of shifting temporal energy demands and supplies, which enables significant cost reduction under time-of-use energy pricing plans. Despite its promising benefits, the cost of present energy storage remains expensive, presenting a major obstacle to practical deployment. A more viable solution to improve the cost-effectiveness is by sharing energy storage, such as community sharing, cloud energy storage and peer-to-peer sharing. However, revealing private energy demand data to an external energy storage operator may compromise user privacy, and is susceptible to data misuses and breaches. In this paper, we explore a novel approach to support energy storage sharing with privacy protection, based on privacy-preserving blockchain and secure multi-party computation. We present an integrated solution to enable privacy-preserving energy storage sharing, such that energy storage service scheduling and cost-sharing can be attained without the knowledge of individual users' demands. It also supports auditing and verification by the grid operator via blockchain. Furthermore, our privacy-preserving solution can safeguard against a majority of dishonest users, who may collude in cheating, without requiring a trusted third-party. We implemented our solution as a smart contract on real-world Ethereum blockchain platform, and provided empirical evaluation in this paper 1 .
The frequent electricity transactions of multienergy complementary Energy Internet Cluster result in higher operating costs and increased risks of information security by traditional transaction mode. Therefore, based on the blockchain technology, this paper proposes an electricity trading architecture suitable for Community Energy Internet Cluster. Firstly, the article elaborates the basic structure of Energy Internet and blockchain, and analyzes the adaptability of blockchain applied to Energy Internet Cluster electricity transaction. Secondly, the process of establishing electricity trading platform and deploying smart contract based on Ethereum network is described in detail. Thirdly, the power transaction framework of Community Energy Internet Cluster is constructed, and the double auction mechanism is applied to complete matchmaking tradeoff, and the smart contract is designed. Finally, a practical energy trading platform is built through the Ganache client of Ethereum network. Case studies demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the trading operation framework.
Stefan P. M. Chantrel, Arne Surmann, Thomas Erge, Jessica Thomsen
Distributed solar photovoltaic generation is less expensive than the retail price of electricity from the grid in most parts of Europe. Growing shares of variable generation place a focus on Renewable Energy Communities (REC) to increase the economic benefits of local energy systems. Civil society could play an influential and necessary role in the development of such communities, the expansion of renewable energy capacity and the provision of flexibility. However, current RECs models still confine tenants to their role as non-participating consumers. This article provides a concept to enable participative RECs within the German regulatory framework through collective self-consumption by including consumers for a fair allocation of renewable electricity using the blockchain technology.
Mishaal Ahmed, Muhammad Shoaib Farooq, Muhammad Ibrar–ul–Haque, Manzar Ahmed · 6 authors
The massive increase in environmental pollution due to industrial growth in recent years has made researchers study the concept of clean energy and find cheap and green alternative energy resources. Green Energy means renewable and zeroes hazardous gas emissions that pollute the atmosphere to produce energy such as CO2. The main sources of Green Energy are Wind, Hydro and Solar. The integration of these clean energy resources with the emerging Microgrid technology made researchers expect that it will reduce the main grid's burden and help reduce carbon emissions. However, their integration makes the energy control system more complex. To provide clean and pollution-free energy to end users/buyers, it must be free and saved from cyber theft. Therefore, this paper proposed a Blockchain Technique to resolve above discussed issues. The green energy model used for analysis in our system fulfills the green energy rules.
Mikhak Samadi, Henry Schriemer, Sushmita Ruj, Melike Erol‐Kantarci
The high impact of demand reduction on the energy grid management and the importance of reducing loss of distributed energy resources (DERs), in addition to the necessity of a secure distributed data storing system motivate us to propose an energy blockchain solution. This paper presents a demand response (DR) solution utilizing energy blockchain to reduce demand, save the extra DERs, and efficiently incorporate customers block mining ability. In this work, a real dataset of customer demand profiles and PV generation in the Ottawa region is used to deploy a DR Stackelberg game between a control agent (CA) and local customers to negotiate demand reduction by integrating the block mining method as DERs saving. This article presents a novel and well-suited consensus algorithm, Proof of Energy Saving (PoES), that is used to incentivize the customers to reduce their demand, discharge their electric vehicle (EV) and maximize their chance for block mining to earn monetary rewards and DER savings. This results in lower peak demand, customer bill reduction, and transforms energy savings into monetary resources. Furthermore, the results show that our proposed consensus algorithm is robust and secure against malicious actions of users.
Younes Zahraoui, Ibrahim Alhamrouni, Saad Mekhilef, M. Reyasudin Basir Khan
Recently the interest in renewable energy has been increased worldwide. Therefore, the microgrid is considered more efficient and flexibility to improve the economic and environmental conditions by integrating the traditional distributed energy resources using technology devices and information technology (IT). Blockchain is one of these technologies, which has attracted in microgrid applications to build a sustainable society. The blockchain concept can provides immutability of the transactions in the microgrid such as record the amount of power generation and verify the transaction between the generators and end-users. blockchain based smart contract can be used for audit or solving a transaction dispute between the producers and the users by strip the necessity to link with third parties. In this paper, we present a number of recent research works related with blockchain application in microgrid and the application of the blockchain to improve the transactive resilience in the microgrid using smart contract.
A large number of grid-connected distributed photovoltaic and wind power generation projects bring challenges to traditional electricity market trading. A distributed power trading model based on blockchain technology is designed in this paper, and the transaction process is introduced in detail. The transaction is established in an annual cycle and settled monthly. The trading model adopts the average price of the sellers' and buyers' quotation price by matching, and the matching transaction takes into account the influence of the differences in transmission prices between different buyers and sellers. The matching transaction mechanism and the monthly transaction settlement mechanism are elaborated. A distributed power trading system based on blockchain technology is developed on the Ethereum platform. Combined with a distributed power trading example, the feasibility of the trading system for distributed power trading is verified.
Energy as a service (EaaS) is an emerging business model that enables the otherwise passive energy consumers to play an active role and participate in the energy utility services. This platform is formed through smart contracts registering peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions of energy through price and quantity. Many industries, including finance, have already leveraged smart contracts to introduce digital currencies. At this time, the utility industry is faced with the challenge of how to structure smart contract formation in a local energy market. Specifically, they are faced with the challenge of maintaining a balance between energy generation and demand while enabling traceability, security, and unbiased peer-to-peer energy transactions, especially within a virtual power plant. This article aims at addressing the aforementioned challenges. In particular, this article investigates how to structure the microgrids in a local energy market, and how to ensure balance and resiliency with incomplete information. Taking various generation asset dimensions and demand profiles into account, simulations are performed. A novel evolutionary computing strategy to structure the simulation is proposed. A comparison is made among random order, random selection, profit-based ranking, and evolutionary strategy for coordinating the contract formation. The discussions draw attention to each method's advantages and disadvantages in terms of their value as a strategy for forming smart contracts in a local energy market.
Recent years have seen a surge of interest in distributed residential batteries for households with renewable generation. Yet, assuring battery assets are profitable for their owners requires a complex optimisation of the battery asset and additional revenue sources, such as novel ways to access wholesale energy markets. In this paper, we propose a framework in which wholesale market bids are placed on forward energy markets by an aggregator of distributed residential batteries that are controlled in real time by a novel Home Energy Management System (HEMS) control algorithm to meet the market commitments, while maximising local self-consumption. The proposed framework consists of three stages. In the first stage, an optimal day-ahead or intra-day scheduling of the aggregated storage assets is computed centrally. For the second stage, a bidding strategy is developed for wholesale energy markets. Finally, in the third stage, a novel HEMS real-time control algorithm based on a smart contract allows coordination of residential batteries to meet the market commitments and maximise self-consumption of local production. Using a case study provided by a large U.K.-based energy demonstrator, we apply the framework to an aggregator with 70 residential batteries. Experimental analysis is done using real per minute data for demand and production. Results indicate that the proposed approach increases the aggregator's revenues by 35% compared to a case without residential flexibility, and increases the self-consumption rate of the households by a factor of two. The robustness of the results to uncertainty, forecast errors and to communication latency is also demonstrated.