The future of energy systems is currently driven by three key trends: electrification, decarbonization, and digitalization. A growing share of renewable generation is without doubt part of the solution to accommodate the increasing electricity demand with a low-carbon emission constraint. The question addressed in this review paper is to what extent digitalization will enable the decentralization of renewable energy generation close to the point of consumption. Digital technologies, namely, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, IoT, and Distributed Ledgers, will have a positive impact on renewable Distributed Energy Resources adoption by contributing to achieve a better balance between supply and demand at the edge of the grid and by improving the hosting capacity of distribution networks. However, decentralized energy production is still limited by structural factors (e.g., low power density of renewable resources, economies of scale in renewable generation and storage), regulatory factors (e.g., access to the grid, pricing policy), and digital technology constraints (e.g., limited number of transaction per second). As a result, the likely scenario of development is a reasonable mix between decentralized and (also digital enabled) centralized renewable-based energy generation interconnected together with an engaged customer and highly developed and smarter distribution and transmission networks.
A smart grid (SG) system offers many services to the end-users, such as load management, load forecasting, and energy trading (ET). As data among different devices in SG environment flows through an open channel, i.e., Internet, so, security and privacy always remains a challenging issue. Though many solutions exist for this problem in literature but these solutions are not adequate to handle security, privacy, latency, real-time settlement of ET. Moreover, most of the solutions reported in the literature are based upon the centralized architecture having single point of failure. Motivated from these facts, this paper proposes a scheme ET-DeaL, which is a Smart Contract-based Secure Energy Trading scheme for SG system for peer-to-peer (P2P) ET. ET-DeaL uses Ethereum smart contract (ESC) and Inter Planetary File System (IPFS) for the P2P ET management. Moreover, it manages the energy load of residential houses, industries, and electric vehicles (EVs). In ET-DeaL, security and privacy issues have been resolved using ESC, while storage cost issues are handled with IPFS protocol. We implemented a real time ESC and deploy it in Truffle suite. The security bugs of the ET-DeaL are tested on MyThril open-source tool. Finally, ET-DeaL performance evaluation demonstrates its effectiveness as compared to the traditional systems where it outperforms the existing schemes with respect to various performance evaluation metrics.
Carlos Barreto, Taha Eghtesad, Scott Eisele, Áron Lászka · 6 authors
Power grids are undergoing major changes due to the rapid adoption of intermittent renewable energy resources and the increased availability of energy storage devices. These trends drive smart-grid operators to envision a future where peer-to-peer energy trading occurs within microgrids, leading to the development of Transactive Energy Systems. Blockchains have garnered significant interest from both academia and industry for their potential application in decentralized TES, in large part due to their high level of resilience. In this paper, we introduce a novel class of attacks against blockchain based TES, which target the gateways that connect market participants to the system. We introduce a general model of blockchain based TES and study multiple threat models and attack strategies. We also demonstrate the impact of these attacks using a testbed based on GridLAB-D and a private Ethereum network. Finally, we study how to mitigate these attack.
George Cristian Lăzăroiu, Mariacristina Roscia, Soheil Saadatmandi
Electric vehicles (EVs) are spreading more and more in Europe, thanks to CO2 standards, which require car manufacturers to reach an average sales share of 5% EV in 2020 and up to 10% in 2021 and close to 20% in 2025. To allow these new diffusion scenarios of electric vehicles, adjustments to the electricity grid are needed, including an increase in charging points and financing mechanisms. The spread of electric vehicles will contribute to urban sustainability, thanks to the delocalization of air pollution, the reduction of noise pollution, the implementation of the use of renewable sources in widespread generation. However, uncontrolled recharging could increase the peak load in the smart grid, which therefore requires distribution-level controls and correct planning for the recharging stations is needed in order to power the EVs avoiding network congestion. In fact, if electric vehicles are charged at the same time in an uncontrolled way, this would lead to an increase in energy demand, with the possible peak increase on the network, contributing to the overload and the need for updates at the distribution level, if not the need to adapt the generation capacity, with modified cost profiles. This opens new models for charging, business and regulatory systems, for managing the fleet of electric vehicles. This paper aims to analyze the new scenarios for Smart Cities that will be outlined from the point of view of tariff and regulatory systems.
Jun 1, 2020·2020 IEEE International Conference on Environment and Electrical Engineering and 2020 IEEE Industrial and Commercial Power Systems Europe (EEEIC / I&CPS Europe)
Electricity systems around the world are currently undergoing fundamental changes on two fronts, decarbonization and digitalization. The transition towards a low carbon economy means increased penetration and utilization of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and the electrification of transport and other sectors. The expansion of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), electricity grid storage, Electric Vehicles (EV's), the associated charging infrastructure, smart buildings and the upgraded ICT infrastructure, also provides opportunities for end-customers to play a more active role in the electricity markets. Blockchain technology can help avail these opportunities through innovative business models which are not just centered around the end-users but also in improving the overall market operation. Blockchain is a forward-looking technology that can significantly disrupt the way in which the electricity markets and its participants operate. The consensus based decision making, decentralized and distributed characteristics of blockchain technology render it well suited for a future energy system which is increasingly decentralized, distributed and with more active end-customers participating in the market. In this paper, we discuss in brief the blockchain technology outlook and its suitability for the future energy grid and market operation. We will also discuss how blockchain can help disrupt the energy sector and the associated challenges. Finally, we also provide our recommendation on what applications of blockchain in the energy sector we predict the biggest potential.
Abstract What is the impact of blockchain technology on electronic markets in the energy sector? In this interview with Electronic Markets, Dr. Tobias Paulun, chief strategy officer of the European Energy Exchange (EEX), explains where the leading European energy exchange recognizes potentials of blockchain technology compared to existing electronic platforms and which blockchain projects EEX is working on. In his view, the impact of blockchain technology depends on the respective market segment and on the availability of solutions for safeguarding guarantees of origin. He expects that established exchange systems and blockchain-based systems will coexist in this strongly regulated and specialized industry.
There are rural areas across India and many other countries who receive unreliable and inadequate electricity supply, or no electricity at all. Electricity is essential for the overall development of an individual, and the society in turn benefits from it. Lack of access to grid electricity forces the rural inhabitants to utilize conventional sources of energy, causing not just inconvenience but also deterioration of the environment. In this paper, the reasons preventing reliable power supply to rural places in India have been discussed. Applicability of Blockchain technology to address these challenges and promote rural electrification is being researched. This paper focuses specifically on problems faced by rural communities due to which they avoid electricity connections, and how these problems can be solved by Blockchain technology. Blockchain has the potential to eliminate expensive third-party service costs, generate additional revenue through peer-to-peer trade, planning the power consumption as per budget through smart metering and maintain transparency and accuracy of energy transactions. However, the road to implementation consists of many challenges to overcome which have been discussed in this paper.
Teng Zhang, Ren Yucheng, Cao Xiaodong, Kang Xie · 5 authors
Abstract In order to promote the synergistic interaction between source network and storage, and enhance the load control capability, the adjustable load measurement technology based on blockchain has become the focus of research at home and abroad. This paper reviews the current research status of block chain technology and its application in declaration and issuance, market supervision, market settlement, load measurement, enhancing mutual trust of market transactions and information security. Distributed ledger from block chain under containerized edge service engine, improved directed and acyclic chart distributed ledger structure and adjustable load execution score three based on distributed ledger data. In this respect, the key and difficult points of technology are summarized. Combined with the current situation of power development demand, power market, electricity price mode, demand response, the possible problems and development trend of adjustable load measurement technology based on block chain are discussed in detail.
The increasing role of renewables, together with the escalation of digital technologies and the pressure for a more active role of consumers and prosumers, are the natural basis for the development of Local Electricity Markets (LEM). The goal of this paper is to contribute to the current debate on LEM, drafting several proposals about key issues to be considered in outlining the LEM business model and market design. We take advantage of the ongoing project "NEMoGrid", which aims at defining and validating a prototype of LEM by integrating local PVs generation into the grid and with a peer-to-peer trading scheme. Transactions are settled on the Ethereum blockchain and the LEM is validated through onsite tests in Switzerland. Such tests are still running, therefore we use preliminary findings to make our suggestions, also highlighting several caveats and policy complexities. Keywords: local energy markets, peer-to-peer, renewable energy sources, electricity market design, electricity business models.
In small distribution systems, the "smart microgrid (μG)" concept is materialized for growing power savings and the allocation of energy distributed sources, and helping distribution system operators (DSOs) to choose the best investment strategies, to achieve a better grid operation, to increase the system efficiency, and to reduce adverse environmental impacts. In this context, the new specialized platforms for an advanced analysis and management of the energy market must be extended to the μG level, by reconsider of the actual grid infrastructures with "smart" μG clusters (μGC). The paper proposes a prosumers fair load sharing and surplus trading approach based on transactive energy concept in μG using an anonymous blockchain trading ledger-based clustering algorithm. In this way the trading process consider a new vision based on μGC for selection the trading peers' priority solved with Ward hierarchical algorithm. The developed method is tested on a real μG model to check its accuracy. Finally, an analysis regarding traded quantities and pecuniary peers' benefits is performed.
Rabiya Khalid, Nadeem Javaid, Sakeena Javaid, Muhammad Ali Imran · 5 authors
Local energy generation and peer to peer (P2P) energy trading in the local market can reduce energy consumption cost, emission of harmful gases (as renewable energy sources (RESs) are used to generate energy at user's premises) and increase smart grid resilience. In this paper, to implement a hybrid P2P energy trading market, a blockchain-based solution is proposed. A blockchain-based system is fully decentralized and it allows the market members to interact with each other and trade energy without involving any third party. Smart contracts play a very important role in the blockchain-based energy trading market. They contain all the necessary rules for energy trading. We have proposed three smart contracts to implement the hybrid electricity trading market. The market members interact with main smart contract which requests P2P smart contract and prosumer to grid (P2G) smart contract for further processing. The main objectives of this paper are to propose a model to implement an efficient hybrid energy trading market while reducing cost and peak to average ratio (PAR) of electricity.
Future Smart Grids will need to integrate thousands of independently operated intelligent energy devices into one organizational unit. Distributed ledger technologies can provide the means for a business-driven consensus between supply and demand of electrical power. This approach is limited by the computing power of the participating devices. We describe a way to increase the scalability of this approach by a) aggregating power consumption and generation, thus reducing the computational load on the blockchain and by b) applying the concept of edge computing to increase reliability and reaction time. We propose a hierarchical clustering approach for smart grid power balancing, which aims to advance our understanding of architectures for future real-world smart grids.
Smart grids are being continually adopted as a replacement of the traditional power grid systems to ensure safe, efficient, and cost-effective power distribution. The smart grid is a heterogeneous communication network made up of various devices such as smart meters, automation, and emerging technologies interacting with each other. As a result, the smart grid inherits most of the security vulnerabilities of cyber systems, putting the smart grid at risk of cyber-attacks. To secure the communication between smart grid entities, namely the smart meters and the utility, we propose in this paper a communication infrastructure built on top of a blockchain network, specifically Ethereum. All two-way communication between the smart meters and the utility is assumed to be transactions governed by smart contracts. Smart contracts are designed in such a way to ensure that each smart meter is authentic and each smart meter reading is reported securely and privately. We present a simulation of a sample smart grid and report all the costs incurred from building such a grid. The simulations illustrate the feasibility and security of the proposed architecture. They also point to weaknesses that must be addressed, such as scalability and cost.
Energy systems around the globe nowadays are undergoing a rapid transformation in their conventional structures that are vital from an environmental, economic, and social perspective. The driving forces behind the shift to the new era of the energy, also known as Energy 4.0, are the so-called 3 D’s: Decarbonization, Digitalization, and Decentralization. \n \nThe blockchain technology, which comes as a result of digitalization, is considered by many experts a transformative force for the energy sector. More specifically, it is believed that it can be a direct driver for the decentralization of energy systems as well as an indirect one for their decarbonization and further digitalization. This is due to the technology’s most prominent technical capacities, namely, transparency, security, and decentralization. All these combined have provided practical use cases, with the most widely-known being peer-to-peer power trading. On this occasion, consumers are enabled to trade the surplus amount of the energy they produce (e.g. with photovoltaics) with other consumers in decentralized energy networks. Such a solution can contribute to the decentralization of energy systems and make them more democratic and inclusive. \n \nMost of the blockchain applications in the energy sector today have been directed towards the electric power industry, with more than half of blockchain use cases focusing on decentralized energy trading and energy projects financing. In contrast, the application of blockchain in the petroleum industry is still in its infancy. In the oil and gas sector, new technologies have to pass through several phases before mass adoption occurs, due to high costs and increased probability of component failures. Another deterrent is the particular nature of operations in the industry. For instance, oil is traded as a commodity on a global level and is impacted by external factors such as geopolitics, while electricity is specific to a regional level. Despite the sluggish adaptability of the industry, more recently, a number of blockchain initiatives from oil and gas majors have been launched. \n \nRegardless of those advances and the fact that there is a growing number of startup companies developing similar solutions, blockchain is still in an exploratory phase of development. That is the main reason for it not being widely adopted by large industry players or in large-scale applications, which could otherwise help it grow faster and be established as a standard technology for particular applications. It will only become apparent in the next five to ten years, at a time when blockchain is expected to reach maturity from a technical standpoint, whether it will be a revolutionary technology that will bring about a revolution in the structure and processes of the energy industry. \n \nThis thesis aims at reviewing the main characteristics of blockchain technology, and based on its technical advantages, analyze the role it has played up to this day in the transformation of the energy industry and, more specifically, in the electric power and oil & gas sectors. In addition, a case study is presented that aims at showing how blockchain can provide solutions for the Greek energy ecosystem.
Xi Chen, Tianyang Zhang, Wenxing Ye, Zhiwei Wang · 5 authors
The rising proportion of renewable energy (RE) penetration with high variability introduces immense pressure on the stability of power grids. At the same time, a rapid increase in electric vehicle (EV) penetration level leads to uncoordinated charging loads, which poses significant challenges to operators. By properly guiding and scheduling the charging behaviors, EV may no longer be a burden, but a valuable asset to mitigate the RE integration problem. In this brief, we first propose a prioritization ranking algorithm of EV drivers based on their driving and charging behaviors, and then we propose a blockchain-based EV incentive system to maximize the utilization of RE. The proposed system is secure, anonymous, and decentralized. By incorporating the utilities, EV drivers, EV charging service providers, and RE providers into the proposed incentive system, this brief provides a plan to guide the EV users to charge at the desired time frames with higher RE generation. The market mechanism of the incentive system is discussed. The effectiveness of the system is verified by simulation.
With the development of smart cities, not only are all corners of the city connected to each other, but also connected from city to city. They form a large distributed network together, which can facilitate the integration of distributed energy station (DES) and corresponding smart aggregators. Nevertheless, because of potential security and privacy protection arisen from trustless energies trading, how to make such energies trading goes smoothly is a tricky challenge. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-based multiple energies trading (B-MET) system for secure and efficient energies trading by executing a smart contract we design. Because energies trading requires the blockchain in B-MET system to have high throughput and low latency, we design a new byzantine-based consensus mechanism (BCM) based on node's credit to improve efficiency for the consortium blockchain under the B-MET system. Then, we take combined heat and power (CHP) system as a typical example that provides distributed energies. We quantify their utilities, and model the interactions between aggregators and DESs in a smart city by a novel multi-leader multi-follower Stackelberg game. It is analyzed and solved by reaching Nash equilibrium between aggregators, which reflects the competition between aggregators to purchase energies from DESs. In the end, we conduct plenty of numerical simulations to evaluate and verify our proposed model and algorithms, which demonstrate their correctness and efficiency completely.
USDOE Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE), Mariola Rodríguez, Peter L. Fuhr, Gary Hahn · 6 authors
This paper provides descriptions of the key components of different distributed ledger technology platforms.Distributed ledger technology (DLT) allows for distribution of databases among different organizations and devices.The platforms use cryptographically linked "blocks" to store and verify transactional information between these organizations.DLT increases data security, data integrity, trust among its participants.Different organizations are looking to deploy this distributed and decentralized approach to avoid the single-point-of-failure vulnerabilities associated with centralized data repositories.In this study we examine twelve different DLT platforms.There is agreement within the community that of all the platforms considered here, Hyperledger and Ethereum are the most mature when it comes to privacy and permissions.These DLT platforms are being used for applications such as transactive energy, health care, and the food and goods supply chain.However, further development is required to realize the full promise of DLT.Our assessment includes a general description of each DLT and its key characteristics.Such characteristics include consensus protocol and cryptography used, public vs. private, and permissioned or permissionless.The selection and implementation of a DLT architecture depends heavily on the use case and performance requirements.During this research we found key parameters to measure performance and existing tools for assessment.Four different parameters were identified 1) consensus, 2) throughput, 3) latency, and 4) scalability.The architectures of Hyperledger Caliper and Blockbench are described as different performance assessment frameworks.From this preliminary study it is evident that there are dissimilarities on the performance assessments methods developers and users are characterizing DLT architectures.The purpose of this paper is to identify key parameters to test performance, tools that are being used and provide information on results from previous studies.
Ifiok Anthony Umoren, Syeda Sanober Ali Jaffary, Muhammad Zeeshan Shakir, Konstantinos Katzis · 5 authors
This article presents a blockchain-based scheme for energy trading between electric vehicles (prosumers) and critical load (consumer) in a logical network. Unlike traditional wholesale energy markets where retailers sell energy to consumers, our proposed model directly connects prosumers with consumers to meet temporary energy demands. We exploit blockchain technology to establish a trusted energy trading ecosystem and develop an application to remotely monitor energy trading activities between trading entities. Experimental results illustrate that the energy trading system is effective in finding, associating, and routing prosumers to consumers, while protecting privacy of entities. Numerical results show a favorable performance of our optimization model in comparison to traditional frameworks.
Distributed renewable energy offers an exciting opportunity for sustainable transition and climate change mitigation. However, it is overlooked in most of the conventional tradable green certificates programs. Blockchain shows an advantage of incorporating a galaxy of distributed prosumers in a transparent and low-cost manner. This paper proposes I-Green, a blockchain-based individual green certificates system for promoting voluntary adoption of distributed renewable energy. Combing the features of blockchain technology and the theories of social norm and peer effects, the novel green ratio incentive scheme and proof of generation consensus protocol are designed for I-Green. A blockchain simulator is constructed to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of I-Green system. The simulation results present its potential for facilitating widespread adoption of distributed generation, and confirm the feasibility of blockchain as the information communication technology (ICT).
Contract-for-Difference financial instruments are available to renewable electricity generators in day-ahead electricity markets to allow them to hedge against revenue risk. Traditional CfDs while designed to hedge revenue risk, introduce other new risks such as counterparty credit, margining and third-party risks. We therefore propose a novel financial instrument - an Ethereum blockchain-based dual escrow smart contract, to serve as the mediator in a CfD agreement between a renewable electricity generator and supplier. This financial instrument addresses hedging related risks that result from traditional CfD agreements in day-ahead electricity markets. In this paper, we design the logic of the financial instrument, translate this logic to smart contract codes and demonstrate its expected performance. Overall, the proposed financial instrument has the benefits of reducing hedging related risks inherent in traditional CfDs. Likewise, it enables secure, efficient, cost-effective, consistent, reliable, transparent and frictionless transactions between contracting parties in a CfD agreement.