V. Kamuni, U. Asfia, Sarang Sutavani, A. Sheikh · 5 authors
In the recent trend of smart grids, most of the systems are interconnected with cyber systems which lead to various security and adversary issues. To protect the systems from serious threats of cyber-attacks, one of the solutions is to exclude a central authority by making the system decentralized. This issue of the system security can be addressed using blockchain which is a distributed ledger storing data securely via cryptography. In the proposed framework, i.e. the inclusion of smart contract in blockchain for energy trading between Electric Vehicles (EV) and Charging Stations (CS) eliminates the need of an intermediary which minimizes the misleading of information between both the parties and enhances the security and privacy of the system. The cost of charging is calculated and validated by smart contracts via consensus of the CSs. If the EVs have multiple options to choose a particular CS, then the one proposing minimum charging cost is chosen. Furthermore, cost and other details are stored in blockchain in the form of blocks via consensus, which are connected cryptographically to the previous blocks, thus data is immutable and secured.
Eric Zanghi, Milton Brown Do Coutto Filho, Julio Cesar Stacchini de Souza
The smart grid environment requires the enhancement of various computational tools, especially for routine tasks of data acquisition and system monitoring. This paper presents the building blocks of a conceptual framework to be used as the basis for the construction of novel distributed remote mete ring systems with utilization of the cutting edge Blockchain technology. The proposed methodology is suitable for processing a large volume of data aimed at monitoring modern electric power distribution grids. As a proof of concept, a collaborative metering system is conceived based on the Blockchain technology, being primarily capable of: dealing with the entirety of the collected data (conveniently stored and filtered); assuring data integrity by means of cryptography; optimizing implementation/operation costs of the telecommunication services involved. Simulation results concerning the reliability and performance of the designed distributed remote metering system are presented.
In this manuscript, we investigate the adoption of blockchain for over-the-counter (OTC) electricity wholesale trading under the EU regulatory framework. Our analysis of the core legislation reveals six potential issues: (1) data immutability-related error correction, (2) personal data protection and immutability, (3) access to different data layers, (4) obligation and capacity to report, (5) identification of counterparties and (6) conflict of interest. These six issues were used as basis for a survey with experts in this field from industry and academia. The majority of our respondents indicated four major points: (i) reduction of transaction costs is the main expected benefit, (ii) the application of blockchain can be compliant with the current regulatory framework, (iii) a sandbox is the most welcome regulatory approach to reduce legal uncertainty, and (iv) the first use case to be commercially implemented is expected to be a P2P platform, ahead of a use case focused on post-trade processes. We believe that the results presented in this manuscript might serve as guidance for market participants aiming to enable the development of blockchain.
With the rapid growth of renewable energy resources, energy trading has been shifting from the centralized manner to distributed manner. Blockchain, as a distributed public ledger technology, has been widely adopted in the design of new energy trading schemes. However, there are many challenging issues in blockchain-based energy trading, e.g., low efficiency, high transaction cost, and security and privacy issues. To tackle these challenges, many solutions have been proposed. In this survey, the blockchain-based energy trading in the electrical power system is thoroughly investigated. Firstly, the challenges in blockchain-based energy trading are identified and summarized. Then, the existing energy trading schemes are studied and classified into three categories based on their main focuses: energy transaction, consensus mechanism, and system optimization. Blockchain-based energy trading has been a popular research topic, new blockchain architectures, models and products are continually emerging to overcome the limitations of existing solutions, forming a virtuous circle. The internal combination of different blockchain types and the combination of blockchain with other technologies improve the blockchain-based energy trading system to better satisfy the practical requirements of modern power systems. However, there are still some problems to be solved, for example, the lack of regulatory system, environmental challenges and so on. In the future, we will strive for a better optimized structure and establish a comprehensive security assessment model for blockchain-based energy trading system.
Dinar Orazgaliyev, Yerbolat Lukpanov, Ikechi Augustine Ukaegbu, H. S. V. S. Kumar Nunna
The concept of smart grid infrastructure is already being implemented and progressing rapidly. The number of countries are transforming the traditional power grid so that it will be able to maintain the smart grid requirements. Smart grid is known as an evolutionary power grid which is proposed to make intelligent decisions on its own based on a current state of electrical power system. Microgrid (MG) is a "building block" of smart grid which supposed to provide wider control capability into the system, thus allowing to operate without connection to the grid. However, the remote and autonomous control of the smart grid may result in problems related to security. The main purpose of this paper is to consider various application scenarios of the Blockchain technology in smart grid. The utmost example is smart contract feature. It allows to reduce cost and increase security of trading operations without including third parties. In other words, direct communication between seller and consumer is implemented. Particularly, paper explain how the security and resilience of the system can be improved by the application of Blockchain technology. Furthermore, decentralized machine-to-machine interaction scheme is proposed. First of all, auction based electricity trading platform is established in Jade platform, and further on electricity trading history is stored in blockchain. The proposed case study shows implementation possibility of smart contracts in smart grid environment.
The protection of smart meters (SMs) from cyberattacks is of utmost importance because SMs in advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) are physically unprotected and produce a large amount of sensitive data. Due to scalability, the SMs are small-sized and low-cost devices having low computational capabilities. The algorithms that are designed to complete the security requirements of SMs should be lightweight. To address this issue, this paper proposes a lightweight security solution to address the man-in-the-middle attack, data tempering, and blockchain-based data provenance. Received signal strength indicator (RSSI) is used to generate link fingerprints, which are used along with pseudo-random nonce to secure AMI. The proposed algorithm detects the involvement of adversarial node or meter tempering by computing other values along with 0 and 1 as the average of consecutive RSSI and difference between the RSSI of connected static SMs. Pearson correlation coefficient (ρ) of 0.9102 is achieved when no adversarial node is present in between the connected SMs having mobility in one or both SMs. Negative or approximately equal to zero values of ρ are computed when the adversary is present in the AMI or any of the SM in the AMI is forged. For blockchain-based data provenance, all the hash values of the packet header are 100% matched with the hash functions present at the data concentrator unit (DCU), which shows no adversary's involvement in AMI. For cases when the adversary is in the AMI, hash functions show no match with the hash values present at the DCU.
Open access
Electricity Theft Detection Techniques
Smart Grid Security and Resilience
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
The robustness of modern power systems depends on the level of cyber security against cyber-attacks. Since energy transactions could significantly affect the power system operation, these transactions should be evaluated through a secure system to enhance the power system reliability. In this paper, a blockchain-based energy transaction framework is introduced and the level of security for different energy transaction frameworks are evaluated by calculating the overall probability of successful attacks (PSA)to each one. PSA is defined as a successful attack to the system which can lead to the system collapse. The numerical results will demonstrate that the blockchain based energy transaction framework is the most reliable system against cyber-attacks comparing with traditional centralized and modified decentralized energy transaction frameworks.
Keaton A. Wheeler, Anthony W. Bowers, Charlie H. Wong, Jonathan Y. Palmer · 5 authors
This paper conducts a load and power quality analysis on a 3-feeder distribution system with a cryptocurrency mining system connected. The study includes power factor and harmonic distortion analysis of actual measured 15-minute data over three days in conjunction with measurements of startup and steady state waveforms to determine the load profile of a cryptocurrency mine when connecting to the electrical grid. In addition, comments are made on the effect of the substation transformer. In the context of this paper, multiple load levels are investigated through a thorough analysis of a sample test system. The effects of the cyptocurrency mine are then quantified through comparison to standards indicated in IEEE Std. 519.
Aug 1, 2018·2018 17th IEEE International Conference On Trust, Security And Privacy In Computing And Communications/ 12th IEEE International Conference On Big Data Science And Engineering (TrustCom/BigDataSE)
While blockchain services hold great promise to improve many different industries, there are significant cybersecurity concerns which must be addressed. In this paper, we investigate security considerations for an Ethereum blockchain hosting a distributed energy management application. We have simulated a microgrid with ten buildings in the northeast U.S., and results of the transaction distribution and electricity utilization are presented. We also present the effects on energy distribution when one or two smart meters have their identities corrupted. We then propose a new approach to digital identity management that would require smart meters to authenticate with the blockchain ledger and mitigate identity-spoofing attacks. Applications of this approach to defense against port scans and DDoS, attacks are also discussed.
Nowadays, many home appliances use electricity to operate. However, prediction of the electricity usage is not easy and accurate. A prepayment scheme provides the better way to forecast domestic electricity usage. Traditionally, the prepayment scheme is based on the centralized server or the standalone embedded machine, but the centralized service is highly vulnerable to security threats and potential attacks. The purpose of this paper is to describe our design of a peer-to-peer token bill system for the domestic electricity distribution. It also describes the trusted information transaction among the Internet-of-Things devices. In addition, we provide a conceptual overview of the blockchain-based Wattcoin payment system. In this system, a wallet is created by using the cryptography technique that generates private key, public key and the wallet address. Then, the transaction is done when the digital signature is used to authenticate every transaction floating in the network. Moreover, this paper illustrates blockchain message protocol for message exchange among devices.
Gaoqi Liang, Steven R. Weller, Fengji Luo, Junhua Zhao · 5 authors
The cyber security of modern power systems has drawn increasing attention in both academia and industry. Many detection and defense methods for cyber-attacks have therefore been proposed to enhance robustness of modern power systems. In this paper, we propose a new, distributed blockchain-based protection framework to enhance the self-defensive capability of modern power systems against cyber-attacks. We present a comprehensive discussion on how blockchain technology can be used to enhance the robustness and security of the power grid, by using meters as nodes in a distributed network which encapsulates meter measurements as blocks. Effectiveness of the proposed protection framework is demonstrated via simulation experiments on the IEEE-118 benchmark system.
Eventhough Ethiopia is investing a lot in electricity generation and infrastructure, the electricity access rate in the country is one of the lowest in Africa mainly due to inadequate expansion of electricity connection in rural areas. The purpose of this study was to assess the key challenges and the prospect of electricity access in the country and to recommend the way forward to address the electricity access gap. This study mainly used secondary data collected from extensively reviewed documents and also interviews with purposely selected experts and officials to substantiate the findings. According to the findings of this research, the electricity access programs of the country were not effective to meet the electricity access gap. The institutional instability of the sector, less attention to decentralized or off-grid electricity access programs ,lack of financing and private sector engagement have been some of the challenges hindering the enhancement of electricity access in the country. Therefore, establishing a long term and stable institutional structure in the electricity sector, strengthening and expanding decentralized (off-grid) electrification programs, setting a cost reflective electricity tariff (both for local and export) for the sector's sustainability and enhancing the private sector engagement are some of the recommendations of this study to reach the universal electricity access targets of the country
This paper considers the design, the developed and the experimental evaluation, a blockchain based smart contract specifying the operating rules of a real time, uniform-price double auction energy market. Producers and consumers interact with this contract sending their offers and bids accordingly and the contract clears the market based on a double auction model. We propose four different approaches for implementing, through the Ethereum platform, both the P2P network as well as the smart contract. We systematically compare the above approaches on the basis of their decentralization nature, operating costs, computational costs, effectiveness, security, privacy and beyond. This comparison is achieved through large scale, real time simulations based on the GridLAB-D platform.
Saide Zhu, Wei Li, Hong Li, Chunqiang Hu · 5 authors
The past three years have seen the rapid increase of Bitcoin difficulty, which has led to a substantial variance in solo mining. As a result, miners tend to join a large open pool to get a more stable reward. Nowadays, mining pools take up over 98% of Bitcoins total computation power. In a sense, this is a manifestation of Bitcoin that tends to be centralized. Thus, researchers have shown an increased interest in pool mining payoff and security. The purpose of this paper is to review and summarize recent research in Bitcoin pool mining system. We first introduce several common reward distribution schemes, and analyze their advantages and disadvantages with some improvement mechanisms; In the second section, to address pool security problems, we examined the practical utility of some existing and potential attack strategies. To study those malicious attack in details, several defense methods are collected. Finally, we make an outlook on Bitcoin future.
Electricity is the commonest commodity for most businesses in our world today. The use of electricity has been a breakthrough for the discovery of new technologies and has become the main driving force behind several innovations. With the introduction of smart grid systems, there have been improvements in how utility companies interact with their customers with regards to electricity use. However, since the readings are done via the Internet, there is the tendency for the data to be compromised when it gets into the hands of the wrong people. Moreover, customers mostly do not know why they pay huge amounts and which appliances use more electricity, since they are not privy to the readings. The sovereign blockchain technology, which provides transparency and provenance, is utilized in this paper to mitigate these above mentioned problems. A smart contract, which executes laid down procedures to provide a trust-based system between participants on the network is also implemented. Our system proves very efficient as the user can monitor how the electricity is used, and it also provides a platform where there is no manipulation from either party.
Smart grid enables two-way communications between operation centers and smart meters to collect power consumption and achieve demand response to improve flexibility, reliability, and efficiency of electricity system. However, power consumption data may contain users' privacy, e.g., activities, references, and habits. Many smart metering schemes have been proposed utilizing homomorphic encryption for users' privacy preservation. Unfortunately, some abnormality of smart meter reading, e.g., caused by electricity theft, cannot be discovered since data is encrypted. Meanwhile, operation centers could become curious in reality. To address the above issues, we propose a new privacy-preserving smart metering scheme for smart grid, which supports data aggregation, differential privacy, fault tolerance, and range-based filtering simultaneously. Specifically, we extend lifted ElGamal encryption to aggregate users' consumption reports at the gateway to reduce communication overhead, while supporting fault tolerance of malfunctioning smart meters effectively. We also leverage zero-knowledge range proof to filter abnormal measurements caused by electricity theft or false data injection attacks without exposing individual measurements. In addition, our scheme can resist differential attacks, by which the curious operation center can violate users' privacy through comparing two aggregations of the similar data set. Finally, we discuss the properties of the proposed scheme and evaluate its performance in terms of security and efficiency.
Sérgio Ramos, João Duarte, João Soares, Zita Vale · 5 authors
The present research paper presents five different clustering methods to identify typical load profiles of medium voltage (MV) electricity consumers. These methods are intended to be used in a smart grid environment to extract useful knowledge about customer's behaviour. The obtained knowledge can be used to support a decision tool, not only for utilities but also for consumers. Load profiles can be used by the utilities to identify the aspects that cause system load peaks and enable the development of specific contracts with their customers. The framework presented throughout the paper consists in several steps, namely the pre-processing data phase, clustering algorithms application and the evaluation of the quality of the partition, which is supported by cluster validity indices. The process ends with the analysis of the discovered knowledge. To validate the proposed framework, a case study with a real database of 208 MV consumers is used.
Andrés Molina–Markham, George Danezis, Kevin Fu, Prashant Shenoy · 5 authors
Abstract. Smart meters that track fine-grained electricity usage and implement sophisticated usage-based billing policies, e.g., based on timeof-use, are a key component of recent smart grid initiatives that aim to increase the electric grid’s efficiency. A key impediment to widespread smart meter deployment is that fine-grained usage data indirectly reveals detailed information about consumer behavior, such as when occupants are home, when they have guests or their eating and sleeping patterns. Recent research proposes cryptographic solutions that enable sophisticated billing policies without leaking information. However, prior research does not measure the performance constraints of real-world smart meters, which use cheap ultra-low-power microcontrollers to lower deployment costs. In this paper, we explore the feasibility of designing privacy-preserving smart meters using low-cost microcontrollers and provide a general methodology for estimating design costs. We show that it is feasible to produce certified meter readings for use in billing protocols relying on Zero-Knowledge Proofs with microcontrollers such as those inside currently deployed smart meters. Our prototype meter is capable of producing these readings every 10 seconds using a $3.30USD MSP430 microcontroller, while less powerful microcontrollers deployed in today’s smart meters are capable of producing readings every 28 seconds. In addition to our results, our goal is to provide smart meter designers with a general methodology for selecting an appropriate balance between platform performance, power consumption, and monetary cost that accommodates privacy-preserving billing protocols. 1