With a spectacular boom in blockchain technologies at various verticals and with the increase in renewable energy penetration, these could solve one of the major issues in Power Systems - Energy Demand Management by the utilities. Blockchain being a distributed architecture, it could fit into the deregulated energy market to enable energy trading in a self sustainable energy community and manage the power demands among the community members. As proof of concept, the blockchain technology is introduced in a smart community where consumers take part in energy trading among themselves as well as with the utility. In this paper, three use cases for P2P energy trading in a private blockchain network is discussed. The blockchain architecture is developed using the Hyperledger framework and the smart contracts are defined in the chaincode. The performance of the blockchain network on resource constrained IoT system based on Raspberry Pi is also evaluated.
Nikhil Ravi, Shammya Shananda Saha, Anna Scaglione, Nathan G. Johnson
In recent years, many Blockchain based frameworks for transacting commodities on a congestible network have been proposed. In particular, as the number of controllable grid connected assets increases, there is a need for a decentralized, coupled economic and control mechanism to dynamically balance the entire electric grid. Blockchain based Transactive Energy (TE) systems have gained significant momentum as an approach to sustain the reliability and security of the power grid in order to support the flexibility of electricity demand. What is lacking in these designs, however, is a mechanism that physically verifies all the energy transactions, to keep the various inherently selfish players honest. In this paper, we introduce a secure peer-to-peer network mechanism for the physical validation of economic transactions cleared over a distributed ledger. The framework is $\textit{secure}$ in the sense that selfish and malicious agents that are trying to inject false data into the network are prevented from adversely affecting the optimal functionality of the verification process by detecting and isolating them from the communication network. Preliminary simulations focusing on TE show the workings of this framework.
The microgrid trading market can effectively solve the problem of in-situ consumption of distributed energy and reduce the impact of distributed generation (DG) on the grid. However, the traditional microgrid trading model has some shortcomings, such as high operation cost and poor security. Therefore, in this paper, a microgrid market trading model was developed using consortium blockchain technology and Nash game equilibrium theory. Firstly, blockchain container is used to authenticate the users who want to participate in the transaction. Then, the pricing system collects and integrates transaction requests submitted by users, then formulates transaction pricing strategy of microgrid using Nash equilibrium theory. Finally, the price, trading volume, and user information are submitted to the blockchain container for transaction matching to achieve the transaction. After the transaction is completed, its related information is recorded in the hyperledger and the dispatch system is called. The scene simulation was implemented on Fabric 1.1 platform and the results analyzed. Results show that the trading model proposed in this paper greatly reduces the cost of electricity purchase and improves the benefits of electricity sales. Besides, the model is far more capable of handling transactions than the models based on Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Peer to peer energy trading (P2P ET) is expected to be one of the key elements of the next generation power systems. Existing centralized grid systems face several challenges to support P2P ET such as single point of failure, communication overhead, security and privacy problems. Blockchain based P2P ET has been suggested by many researchers as a possible solution to the aforementioned problems. In this paper, we propose P2P ET architecture that allows performing secure energy trading without compromising system efficiency. The proposed architecture consists of three layers: Blockchain layer, Off-Blockchain communication layer and Physical layer. We describe the components of each layer along with interactions that exist between them to achieve the overall objectives. Moreover, we explain how the proposed architecture can achieve a better performance.
Modernization of distribution power systems is accompanied with 1) higher integration of wind turbine distributed generation (WTDG) and photovoltaic DG (PVDG) units as rooftop DGs or small power plants operated by private owners in de-regulated markets, 2) massive utilization of electric vehicles (EVs) in smart cities, and 3) extensive demand response (DR) services offered by smart homes. This paper proposes a systematic framework for modern distribution networks operation where DG aggregators (DGAGs), EV aggregators (EVAGs), and demand response aggregators (DRAGs) are motivated to contribute to real-time congestion prevention via greater local generation, flexible platform for charging schedule, and non-firm load curtailment, respectively. Moreover, a realistic mechanism is developed for microgrid operators (MGOs) to 1) relieve the system operator (SO) from the pressure of centralized congestion management and 2) optimally utilize the assets of each microgrid to prevent congestions in a decentralized manner. The performance of the proposed scheme is validated on an unbalanced distribution system containing 4 microgrids, 250 EVs, 31 WTDGs, 54 PVDGs, and 140 smart homes with DR contract.
Managing the energy demand and supply during peak hours is a challenging prospect, especially in areas where the energy demand grows rapidly. To alleviate the shortage in energy supply, an increasing number of renewable energy sources (RES) are being integrated into the main grid. However, the unpredictability and intermittency of energy generation in power systems may lead to unforeseen demand peaks. To address this issue, we propose two blockchain-based Local energy market (LEM) mechanisms that assist prosumers (i.e., users with RESs that can either produce or absorb energy) and consumers to trade energy securely, balance demand and supply in a decentralized approach, and sell surplus energy to the main grid. Specifically, this paper presents the concept of Proof of Energy Generation (PoEG) to increase energy production by rewarding a prosumer as a validator to add a block in the blockchain. Also, we propose the concept of Proof of Energy Consumption (PoEC) to incentivize a user to reduce energy consumption at peak hours. To validate the proposed mechanisms, we implement a blockchain-based transaction system that consists of five nodes, a wallet, and real price and consumption data from Ontario Electric Board. The results of our experiments show that prosumers could increase their probability to win as a validator with increased energy productions and decreased consumption. We simulate two case studies, and the results show that an increase of 20% generation increases wallet balance by 10% followed by PoEG algorithm while a reduction of 20% consumption increments the balance by 9% employing PoEC algorithm.
Yeray Mezquita, Amin Shokri Gazafroudi, Juan M. Corchado, Miadreza Shafie‐khah · 6 authors
The security of smart grids is put at risk due to their automation and remote access features. Blockchain technology can be used as a distributed ledger where data is stored and all the data transactions between the different entities of a smart grid are signed to protect them from such attacks. This paper proposes a multi-agent system (MAS) that combines smart contracts and blockchain to enable Peer-to-Peer electricity trading in a MicroGrid (MG) scenario, without the need for human intervention. The use of blockchain technology helps reduce transaction costs and allows to make micro transactions in the proposed market. Blockchain also improves the security of the platform because all the involved actors can be certain about the authorship of the information produced in the system. Finally, the use of a MAS and the possibility of negotiating between the agents helps obtain an optimal state in the system in which the costs of energy are minimal and the local production of energy is profitable.
Muhammad Fahad Zia, Elhoussin Elbouchikhi, Mohamed Benbouzid, Josep M. Guerrero
Prosumers concept has evolved with the technology advancements in renewable energy sources and intelligent responsive load devices. Digitalization paves the way for prosumers participation in energy market with the help of big data and distributed ledger technologies. Hence, power system is becoming more decentralized at distributed level, which consists of prosumers, consumers, and distributed energy resources-based microgrid systems. These microgrid participants require a transactive energy system for energy price signals-based smooth energy transactions among themselves. In this regard, this paper proposes a microgrid transactive energy system design and its functional layers. Blockchain-based transactive energy systems are also discussed. Finally, the peer-to-peer and community-based energy markets are presented.
To overcome the high cost, high risk and poor efficiency of traditional centralized electric energy trading method, this paper proposes an efficient trading mechanism for energy power supply and demand network (EPSDN) based on blockchain smart contract, considering the opening of the sales side market in China. Specifically, the encourage-real-quotation (ERQ) rule was adopted to determine the clearing queue and price, thus smoothing the supply and demand interaction between the EPSDN node. Meanwhile, the blockchain smart contract was introduced into the transaction to form a sealed quotation function, which eliminates the centralization and high cost and solves the poor transparency and trust in traditional transaction. In addition, the transaction efficiency was improved through the construction of an efficient power trading system and a secure trading environment. A case study is given in the end of the paper. Case study shows that the blockchain-based smart contract trading system for the EPSDN can achieve desirable security and effectiveness, and effectively solve the problems of the traditional centralized trading method. The research findings lay solid theoretical and decision-making bases for small-scale transactions in the electric energy market.
Michael J. Fell, Alexandra Schneiders, David Shipworth
Peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading could help address grid management challenges in a decentralizing electricity system, as well as providing other social and environmental benefits. Many existing and proposed trading schemes are enabled by blockchain, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) relying on cryptographic proof of ownership rather than human intermediaries to establish energy transactions. This study used an online survey experiment (n=2064) to investigate how consumer demand for blockchain-enabled peer-to-peer energy trading schemes in the United Kingdom varies depending on how the consumer proposition is designed and communicated. The analysis provides some evidence of a preference for schemes offering to meet a higher proportion of participants’ energy needs, and for those operating at the city/region (as compared to national or neighbourhood) level. People were more likely to say they would participate when the scheme was framed as being run by their local council, followed by an energy supplier, community energy organization, and social media company. Anonymity was the most valued DLT characteristic and mentioning blockchain’s association with Bitcoin led to a substantial decrease in intended uptake. We highlight a range of important questions and implications suggested by these findings for the introduction and operation of P2P trading schemes.
Erica Svetec, Lucija Nađ, Robert Pašičko, Boris Pavlin
Citizens and stakeholders are increasingly associating in so-called renewable energy communities and are participating in the energy transition by investing in, producing, selling and distributing renewable energy. Such communities usually use photovoltaic systems on the rooftops of public and private buildings that are connected to a microgrid. Those energy system models represent an electrical network that is decentralized in which energy consumers also become producers (prosumers) and management of the grid is done by users. Optimization and trading of surplus energy produced in microgrids could be done via blockchain technology. On one hand, those innovations could offer a solution for adaptation and mitigation of climate change, and on the other hand include economic development, creation of new jobs, cheaper energy, and energy security. The present paper gives an overview of existing technology and its usage on cases in the world but is focusing on implementation in the EU and Croatian markets.
Anselma Wörner, Arne Meeuw, Liliane Ableitner, Felix Wortmann · 6 authors
Abstract Due to environmental and resiliency benefits, distributed energy resources (DER) are a potential solution for meeting future electricity demand, but their integration into centralized power markets on the large scale is challenging. Many practitioners argue that blockchain technology can create new market structures for DER like local peer-to-peer energy markets which foster renewable generation. To get an understanding of the status quo of the research on blockchain-based energy exchange, we conducted a systematic literature review on the existing academic articles and industry projects. This article describes the design and technical specifications of the first real blockchain-based electricity market in Switzerland derived from this literature review and outlines the implementation of this market in the real world. The findings provide valuable guidelines for the integration of DER into future sustainable energy markets.
The rapid development of distributed energy resources (DER) in the distribution grid calls for novel control and coordination solutions. Optimal management of DER will enable end-users to decrease their electricity costs and provide crucial services to grid operators. In this paper, a decentralized Optimal Power Flow (OPF) model is used to locally coordinate DER in distribution networks, while considering the network constraints, in a distributed, transparent and secure fashion. To achieve that, a consensus-based distributed optimization algorithm is developed using the general form Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM). To enable transparent and verifiable management of the network, the paper provides a comprehensive procedure for the implementation of the decentralized OPF on a private blockchain-smart contracts platform. The performance of the proposed framework is tested using real data from a case study in a residential neighborhood in Amsterdam with different varieties of DER. The implementation procedure on a blockchain-smart contracts platform may be adopted in other problems that require a smart contract to act as a virtual aggregator.
Smart Grid provides the manufacturer and consumer with real-time energy information, enabling them to make "smart" choices. Smart homes, on the other hand, realize the interaction between the end-user and the smart grid. With this infrastructure, new possibilities arise for the consumer: different prices for different types of energy, instant metering and costs, predictions about bill evolution, etc. In this paper, we focus on another important aspect, namely the quality of the electric energy received by a smart home from the smart grid. For this, we developed a power quality analyzer that besides the usually metering functions also records the period of time when the quality of the energy is lower than the threshold specified in the contract between the consumer and the provider. This information is accessible for both entities to improve the quality of the system and repay the consumer for poor quality energy.
Climate change enforces the integration of distributed renewable energy sources and development of carbon price scheme. Whilst the energy is traded among distributed prosumers, the carbon responsibilities and corresponding allowances trading need to be transferred from large-scale energy suppliers to prosumers. During this transformation, the issues of energy imbalance, carbon reduction imbalance, and residential privacy leakage in centralised trading market present serious challenges. In this paper, we propose a fully decentralised blockchain-based peer-to-peer trading scheme coupling energy and carbon markets. We implement pay-to-public-key-hash with multiple signatures as a transaction standard to realise a more secure transaction and reduced storage burden of senders. A script is hashed during the wallet address generation for each new transaction to protect residential privacy. A novel carbon accounting method and corresponding incentive mechanism for carbon reduction are designed to evaluate emission behaviours of distributed prosumers. Case studies demonstrate that the proposed scheme leads a reduced costs and carbon emissions compared to centralised trading systems and existing blockchain-based trading schemes.
Increased penetration of Renewable Energy Sources(RES) and ever expanding global energy demands push forward the need of efficient utilization of RES by incorporating the prosumers (who are able to inject produced renewable energy) into the energy infrastructure.Moreover, there is emerging demand of the prosumers to participate in the electricity market and monetise their contributions.In order to facilitate these demands, the traditional centralised architectures are no longer viable therefore a decentralised transactive energy system enabling peer to peer energy trading, should be adopted.In this context, Blockchain based decentralised ledger technology emerges as the most viable solution which offers peer to peer energy trading platform providing a unique distributed local energy market model(LEM) for beneficial energy exchanges among participants which represents evolution for future smart grids.This thesis provides comprehensive review of the fundamental characteristics of the blockchain technology and its promising solutions for the energy industry.P2P energy trading, one of the use case of blockchain in energy sector has been focused and explored by thoroughly reviewing various initiatives, research and pilot projects that are currently working in that area.Moreover potential challenges pertaining to this blockchain based application are also evaluated.Based on the extensive research and literature review, a simple model of blockchain based peer to peer energy trade using IoT devices has been developed.Hence, this thesis provides all the necessary technical details and steps required to build the simple model of blockchain application for energy transactions.
Blockchain technology is ready to disrupt nearly every industry and business model, and the energy sector is no exception. Energy businesses across the world have already started exploring the use of blockchain technology in large-scale energy trading systems, peer-to-peer energy trading, project financing, supply chain tracking, and asset management among other applications. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) recently started revolutionizing the energy landscape, and now blockchain technology is providing an additional opportunity to make the energy system more intelligent, efficient, transparent, and secure in the longer term. The idea of this paper is to examine more closely the use of blockchain technology for its possible application in the energy efficiency industry and to determine how it could make energy efficiency markets more secure and transparent in the longer term. This paper examines in detail the key benefits and implications of using blockchain in the energy efficiency sector through the presentation and discussion of two case studies as possible blockchain applications—(i) the UK Energy Company Obligation scheme and (ii) the Italian White Certificate Scheme. We have presented how the key issues around trading energy efficiency savings—correctly estimating the savings, data transparency among stakeholders, and inefficient administrative processes—can be solved through the application of a blockchain-based smart contract system. Finally, this paper presents an implementation of a smart contract for trading of energy-saving certificates achieved via execution of smart contract transactions on the Ethereum blockchain.
Matteo Troncia, Marco Galici, Mario Mureddu, Emilio Ghiani · 5 authors
The newest Distributed Ledger Technology platforms, which delegate the execution of complex tasks in the form of Smart Contracts, make it possible to devise novel local electricity market frameworks, which are performed in a fully automated fashion. This paper proposes a novel fully automated platform for energy and ancillary service markets in distribution networks, able to run in a decentralized fashion, bypassing the need for a physical central authority. The proposed platform, able to perform the role of Virtual Decentralized Market Authority, shows excellent potential applications in the management of local ancillary service markets in local energy communities of various sizes. The proposed Virtual Decentralized Market Authority showed reasonable running costs and comparable technical management capabilities with respect to a physical, centralized managing authority.
The application of blockchain technology to the energy sector promises to derive new operating models focused on local generation and sustainable practices, which are driven by peer-to-peer collaboration and community engagement. However, real-world energy blockchains differ from typical blockchain networks insofar as they must interoperate with grid infrastructure, adhere to energy regulations, and embody engineering principles. Naturally, these additional dimensions make real-world energy blockchains highly dependent on the participation of grid operators, engineers, and energy providers. Although much theoretical and proof-of-concept research has been published on energy blockchains, this research aims to establish a lens on real-world projects and implementations that may inform the alignment of academic and industry research agendas. This research classifies 131 real-world energy blockchain initiatives to develop an understanding of how blockchains are being applied to the energy domain, what type of failure rates can be observed from recently reported initiatives, and what level of technical and theoretical details are reported for real-world deployments. The results presented from the systematic analysis highlight that real-world energy blockchains are (a) growing exponentially year-on-year, (b) producing relatively low failure/drop-off rates (~7% since 2015), and (c) demonstrating information sharing protocols that produce content with insufficient technical and theoretical depth.
Abstract Based on the blockchain technology, important datas such as transactions, scheduling, finance, and energy contracts are distributedly recorded, various resources such as distributed energy generation, energy transmission, energy consumption, and energy storage are aggregated for collaborative optimization control and market trading. In this paper, we build blockchain-based new generation energy Internet with extensive interconnection, intelligent decision making, real-time interaction, and open sharing. The application of blockchain technology in energy Internet includes photovoltaic energy microgrid, blockchain-based energy Internet entities, blockchain-based power trading, and energy asset securitization. Technical frameworks for energy Internet market trading system based on blockchain technology are proposed. Distributed energy ledger and energy trading smart contract are utilized. Distributed trading rules, algorithms and processes of energy system and microgrid are established. Energy Internet transactions and payment settlement system are constructed. Energy producers and consumers trade peer-to-peer on the platform to improve system efficiency and security.