Justin J. Ochoa, Gomanth Bere, Indrasena R. Aenugu, Taesic Kim · 5 authors
Blockchain-as-a-Service is an emerging blockchain-based platform service that can potentially contribute to the advancement of contemporary power and energy systems in cyber-physical environment, such as battery energy storage systems (BESSs). This paper explores how the blockchain technology that can be applied toward a next-generation BESS by managing critical activities and tasks including security, supply chain, health monitoring, data sharing, and energy transactions. Specifically, it is expected that the blockchain technology can lead to the advancement of BESSs by offering security enhancements as compared to applications that rely on a traditional-based approach without blockchain technology.
Ikechukwu Dimobi, Manisa Pipattanasomporn, Saifur Rahman
The changing nature of the energy grid has prompted innovative solutions to incoming challenges. In a distribution system with microgrids, residents with distributed energy resources (DERs) and interactive devices can interact with one another and the grid to exchange energy. Blockchain-based transactive energy could dynamically align active grid elements to incentivize demand-side energy resource investment and energy efficient behavior. This work models a blockchain-in-the-loop framework and simulates it using a Hyperledger Fabric blockchain network and the transactive energy simulation platform (TESP). Blockchain smart contracts are used to coordinate a microgrid market. Three market coordination schemes are compared, namely two auction-less schemes and one simple auction scheme, in a 30 home microgrid with different DER penetration levels. Results show that the auction-less scheme is more beneficial to community residents if the energy mix within the microgrid is diverse.
With the integration of highly permeable renewable energy to the grid at different levels (transmission, distribution and grid-connected), the volatility on both sides (source side and load side) leading to bidirectional power flow in the power grid complicates the control mechanism. In order to ensure the real-time power balance, energy exchange, higher energy utilization efficiency and stability maintenance in the electric power system, this paper proposes an integrated application of blockchain technology on energy routers at transmission and distribution networks with increased renewable energy penetration. This paper focuses on the safe and stable operation of a highly penetrated renewable energy grid-connected power system and its operation. It also demonstrates a blockchain-based negotiation model with weakly centralized scenarios for “source-network-load” collaborative scheduling operations; secondly, the QoS (quality of service) index of energy flow control and energy router node doubly-fed stability control model were designed. Further, it also introduces the MOPSO (multi-objective particle swarm optimization) algorithm for power output optimization of multienergy power generation; Thirdly, based on the blockchain underlying architecture and load prediction value constraints, this paper puts forward the optimization mechanism and control flow of autonomous energy coordination of b2u (bottom-up) between router nodes of transmission and distribution network based on blockchain.
Being a decentralized system makes Blockchain a suitable technology solution in many cases. The Smart Energy domain has the potential to benefit from the use of Blockchain, by improving data and transaction management, through applications such as peer-to-peer energy trading, grid enhancement, and electric vehicle support. Many researchers have proposed models and prototypes of blockchain-based applications, which are expected to improve the performance of smart energy systems. In this report, a qualitative literature review was performed to look into a sample of these application proposals and to try to identify the impacts of blockchain technology in Smart Energy. This resulted in the discovery of both positive and negative factors. The beneficial factors include increased security, improved data privacy, data transparency and immutability, removal of third-party control and trust, ubiquitous solution, and greater data accessibility. The list of challenges includes limited scalability and speed, off-chain support requirement, high establishment and maintenance cost, and requiring further practical tests. One of the interesting findings is that the impact of Blockchain technology as to whether it may increase or decrease transaction costs is still unclear. Finally, the paper recommends that a future study may focus on economic feasibility and transaction costs, and ascertain which Smart Energy cases and application designs are more appropriate for Blockchain technology.
Bogdan-Constantin Neagu, Ovidiu Ivanov, Gheorghe Grigoraş, Mihai Gavrilaș
A growing number of households benefit from the government subsidies to install renewable generation facilities such as PV panels, used to gain independence from the grid and provide cheap energy. In the Romanian electricity market, these prosumers can sell their generation surplus only at regulated prices, back to the grid. A way to increase the number of prosumers is to allow them to make higher profit by selling this surplus back into the local network. This would also be an advantage for the consumers, who could pay less for electricity exempt from network tariffs and benefitting from lower prices resulting from the competition between prosumers. One way of enabling this type of trade is to use peer-to-peer contracts traded in local markets, run at microgrid (μG) level. This paper presents a new trading platform based on smart peer-to-peer (P2P) contracts for prosumers energy surplus trading in a real local microgrid. Several trading scenarios are proposed, which give the possibility to perform trading based on participants’ locations, instantaneous active power demand, maximum daily energy demand and the principle of first come first served implemented in an anonymous blockchain trading ledger. The developed scheme is tested on a low-voltage (LV) microgrid model to check its feasibility of deployment in a real network. A comparative analysis between the proposed scenarios, regarding traded quatities and financial benefits is performed.
Mark Stefan, Paul Zehetbauer, Stephan Cejka, Franz Zeilinger · 5 authors
Energy communities will be an essential element of the future energy system. Especially renewable energy communities are gaining high attention in many European countries and their implementation, characteristics and use cases are elaborated in many research and development activities all around the world. Within the Austrian research project Blockchain Grid, a blockchain-based renewable energy community is implemented and field-tested in Heimschuh, Styria. It supports different technical applications like self-consumption optimisation and peer-to-peer energy trading for customers and a novel approach for grid capacity management supporting distribution system operators. These use cases have been implemented and validated in simulative studies showing promising potential for total energy costs for energy community members.
Miguel Gayo-Abeleira, Carlos Santos, Francisco J. Rodríguez, Pedro Martı́n · 6 authors
Since the advent of the microgrid (MG) concept, almost two decades ago, the energy sector has evolved from a centralized operational approach to a distributed generation paradigm challenged by the increasing number of distributed energy resources (DERs) mainly based on renewable energy. This has encouraged new business models and management strategies looking for a balance between energy generation and consumption, and promoting an efficient utilization of energy resources within MGs and minimizing costs for the market participants. In this context, this paper introduces an efficient management strategy, which is aimed at obtaining a fair division of costs billed by the utilities, without relying on a centralized utility or MG aggregator, through the design of a local event-based energy market within the MG. This event-driven MG energy market operates with blockchain (BC) technology based on smart contracts for electricity transactions to both guarantee veracity and immutability of the data and automate the transactions. The event-based energy market approach focuses on two of the design limitations of BC, namely the amount of information to be stored and the computational burden, which are significantly reduced while maintaining a high level of performance. Furthermore, the prosumer data is obtained by using IEC 61850 standard-based commands within the BC framework. By doing so, the system is compatible with any device irrespective of the manufacturer implementing the IEC 61850 standard. The advantages of this management approach are considerable for: MG participants, in terms of financial benefits; the MG itself, as it can operate more independently from the main grid; and the grid since the MG becomes less unpredictable due to the internal energy exchanges. The proposed strategy is validated on an experimental setup employing low-cost devices.
Our energy scenario is nowadays shaped by progressive electrification of energy final use. In this context, electricity networks are seeing a growing multitude of distributed assets entering from the edges of the grid and acquiring new ICT capabilities that were limited before to a restricted number of major players. Particularly, assets like Photovoltaic Inverter (PvI), Electric Vehicle (EV) chargers, wind turbines controllers, programmable loads, storage systems, and other Distributed Energy Resources (DER) are now able to communicate through different technologies and make conscious choices under human-decisions or even independently. This is leading to a decentralization of the system's view by increasing single actor independence. Notwithstanding, a problem arises when current centrally-managed electricity networks struggle to coordinate massive amounts of new figures and adapt to this new decentralized paradigm. Therefore, a decentralized coordination-and-control framework will ensure better integration of s and new figures as prosumers, while allowing higher exploitation of their potential compared to centrally managed systems. This article seeks in Blockchains the enabling technology for designing and supporting such a grid infrastructure. It develops a first framework to address this need by envisioning a grid-system based on the direct participation of nowadays-used embedded-energy-devices within a decentralized platform hosting specific coordination procedures. The platform was developed in an experimental research campaign performed at ABB Laboratories basing on embedded-devices currently designed as control-connectivity boards for smart-inverters. Therefore this article introduces the background theory and reasons behind this proposed system. The intent here is not to give all the specific details of the implementation, but introduce the supporting reason, high-level design, and required characteristic of the Blockchain-based platform for coordinating grid operations. Blockchain technology is seen here as the appropriate technology to enable the realization of a multi-actor energy-management system and enable distributed coordination in power grids.
In efforts to meet the targets of carbon emissions reduction in power systems, policy makers formulate measures for facilitating the integration of renewable energy sources and demand side carbon mitigation. Smart grid provides an opportunity for bidirectional communication among policy makers, generators and consumers. With the help of smart meters, increasing number of consumers is able to produce, store, and consume energy, giving them the new role of prosumers. This thesis aims to address how smart grid enables prosumers to be appropriately integrated into energy markets for decarbonising power systems. \n \nThis thesis firstly proposes a Stackelberg game-theoretic model for dynamic negotiation of policy measures and determining optimal power profiles of generators and consumers in day-ahead market. Simulation results show that the proposed model is capable of saving electricity bills, reducing carbon emissions, and increasing the penetration of renewable energy sources. Secondly, a data-driven prosumer-centric energy scheduling tool is developed by using learning approaches to reduce computational complexity from model-based optimisation. This scheduling tool exploits convolutional neural networks to extract prosumption patterns, and uses scenarios to analyse possible variations of uncertainties caused by the intermittency of renewable energy sources and flexible demand. Case studies confirm that the proposed scheduling tool can accurately predict optimal scheduling decisions under various system scales and uncertain scenarios. Thirdly, a blockchain-based peer-to-peer trading framework is designed to trade energy and carbon allowance. The bidding/selling prices of individual prosumers can directly incentivise the reshaping of prosumption behaviours. Case studies demonstrate the execution of smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain and testify that the proposed trading framework outperforms the centralised trading and aggregator-based trading in terms of regional energy balance and reducing carbon emissions caused by long-distance transmissions.
Ever since the invention of Bitcoin by the pseudonymous Satashi Nakamoto, cryptocurrency has provoked debate in banking and finance sectors, and is sometimes considered a potential successor to fiat currency. Blockchain, the new technology underpinning decentralised and immutable databases, has seen much discussion as a potentially game-changing development. Although many industries are exploring its value, the technology has thus far made only minor impacts. A rapidly expanding base of research has emerged on blockchain's role as a potential disruptor in the electrical energy industry. However, it may be difficult to distinguish hype from more imminently plausible impacts. This paper attempts to serve as a guide for engineering management wishing to make sense of blockchain's potential in electricity. This is accomplished by formulating a novel blockchain industry disruption framework, which exists across three tiers. These tiers extend from ideas with the least effect on an industry to total revolutionary concepts that could completely transform an industry. This taxonomy is constructed by examining existing research into disruption hierarchies and blockchain classification methods. Through the lens of this taxonomy, a literature review is performed on blockchain's role in energy to draw out themes and ideas characterising each tier. The potential likelihood of real-world application of various ideas are discussed, giving consideration to how established industries may be affected or disrupted. The authors provide some conjecture here. Finally, courses of action are suggested for those whose sector may be affected by blockchain.
In an integrated energy distribution system (IEDS), an energy hub has been introduced and deemed to be a suitable tool for managing and integrating multi-party energy forms. Due to different energies having diverse characteristics and being coupled with each other, it is difficult for an energy hub to implement the optimal scheduling of multiple energy sources. Therefore, an energy optimization management model is proposed based on the Stackelberg game, which considers the exergy conversion of multi-party energy sources in different operation modes. The problem is solved by the two-layer distributed optimization algorithm, in which the energy hub acts as the leader and is followed by the users. Furthermore, in order to alleviate the deception, malicious tampering, subpeption, and other secure risks in energy trading, blockchain is introduced into the energy hub and the concept of exergy coin (EC) is proposed. A credit-based blockchain framework and concurrent block building consensus process is explored to reduce the calculation cost and promote the exergy trading efficiency. Finally, the case study shows how the proposed method can effectively optimize energy scheduling and configure a more reasonable energy solution.
With the development and expansion of smart grid systems, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) has become a new type of energy interaction based on Internet of Electric Vehicles (IoEVs). By leveraging the charging/discharging capabilities of EVs, V2G can be implemented in smart grid to enable intelligent energy transactions and reduce the unbalance of supply and demand. However, the implementation of interaction between the existing V2G technology and IoEVs faces the problems of high-complexity energy transaction management, insufficient computing capability, poor scalability, and lack of incentive mechanisms. The three-tier bi-directional energy transaction management strategies based on game and contract theory have been proposed. Firstly, the optimal pricing and EV discharging strategy is obtained based on the non-cooperative Stackelberg game and the energy-price equilibrium. Secondly, in order to optimize the utility of EAG, the information asymmetry incentive mechanism based on contract theory is proposed. This mechanism can effectively stimulate EVs to contribute to V2G energy transaction and further improve social benefits considering the energy transmission loss and battery life cycle degradation. To reduce the communication as well as processing latency and improve the efficiency of energy transaction management, edge computing has been incorporated. Simulation results show that the performance of the proposed scheme significantly outperforms other existing schemes under various scenarios.
Eduardo Francisco, Luís Tiago Ferreira, Carlos Silva, Joaquim Braga
The electric vehicle (EV) market is evolving fast with an expected high penetration of EV in the coming years. These EVs are dependent on charging infrastructure and since most charging will happen at home this will bring challenges to the low-voltage distribution network. The main challenge addressed in this study is the available grid capacity and what could be done to prevent the massive request of residential buildings grid connection reinforcements, which represents significant costs to consumers, large waiting times, which are not compatible with the rising necessities for charging EV and a general oversizing of the distribution network, which will drive the already low utilisation factors even lower. The presented solution for this challenge is to introduce a flexible power grid connection, which takes advantage of smart charging technology and the applications of flexible power contracts to allow the charging of 5–7 times more EV in the common garages of residential buildings without any building grid connection reinforcement and for a fraction of the cost. The distribution system operator (DSO) will represent a key role in the implementation of this solution, not only regarding the technical aspects but also regarding the onboarding of the consumers.
Martin Onyeka Okoye, Junyou Yang, Jia Cui, Zhenjiang Lei · 9 authors
In the power sector, microgrids play a supportive role in bridging the adequacy gap in the conventional electricity supply. Trading of the generated energy has recently been improved by blockchain technology which offers a new cheap, secure, and decentralized transaction approach. Its operation is however associated with an undesired inherent delay during energy transactions initiated by the prosumers, thus, failure to timely attend to incidences of urgent demand could end up in catastrophe at the consumer's side. This article thus proposes a cyber-enhanced transactive microgrid model using blockchain technology with optimized participants' permission protocol to ameliorate this challenge. It is demonstrated that the optimized blockchain participants' permission model leads to improved transaction speed and greater convenience. The transaction speed simulation is thereafter performed and it was also demonstrated that the node population has a greater effect than the transaction block size on the transaction speed improvement.