Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Energy blockchain'

This research paper represents an investigation of blockchain applicability in the Swedish energy market. The paper also attempts to explore the numerous claims and benefits surrounding this technology. Overall, the blockchain platform presents an innovative opportunity for energy to be bought and sold on the market in a new way that is providing consumers with greater efficiency and control over their energy sources. The platform is also set to integrate different types of data such as energy prices, usage, marginal costs, legal compliances etc., with the purpose of providing a better service than the platforms that exist today. To investigate these claims, firstly, the blockchain technology, its purpose, and function is explained. Secondly, the paper explores relationship and application in the energy market. Existing literature has been examined in order to provide a foundation when it comes to technological application. Lastly, the Swedish energy market has been considered and if the technology would make a difference. The interviews with experts have been conducted to get an inside look into the actual reality of this technology. Overall, the experts did not have a strong word to give about the possible application of the technology in the Swedish energy market. The technology does have potential but it is simply in too early stages of development and the obstacles are more significant than the previously promised benefits.

Blockchain is a Distributed Ledger Technology that was popularized after the release of Bitcoin in 2009 as it was the first popular blockchain application. It is a technology for maintaining a digital and public ledger that is decentralized, which means that no single authority controls nor owns the public ledger. The ledger is formed by a chain of data structures, called blocks, that contain information. This ledger is shared publicly in a computer network where each node is called a peer. The problem that arises is how to make sure that every peer has the same ledger. This is solved with consensus mechanisms which are a set of rules that every peer must follow. Consensus mechanisms secure the ledger by ensuring that the majority of peers can reach agreement on the same ledger and that the malicious minority of peers cannot influence the majority agreement. There are many different consensus mechanisms. A problem with consensus mechanisms is that they have to make a trade-off between low energy consumption and high security. The purpose of this report is to explore and investigate the relationship between energy consumption and security in consensus mechanisms. The goal is to perform a comparative study of consensus mechanisms from an energy consumption and security perspective. The consensus mechanisms that are compared are Proof of Work, Proof of Stake and Delegated Proof of Stake. The methodology used is literature study and comparative study by using existing work and data from applications based on those consensus mechanisms. The results conclude that Proof of Work balances the trade-off by having high energy-consumption and high security, meanwhile Proof of Stake and Delegated Proof of Stake balance it by having low energy consumption but lower security level. In the analysis, a new factor arose, decentralization. The new insight in consensus mechanisms is that decentralization and security is threatened by an inevitable centralization where the ledger is controlled by few peers.
Blockchain är en så kallad distribuerad huvudbok teknologi som fick ett stort genombrott med den populära blockchain applikationen Bitcoin i 2009. Teknologin möjliggör upprätthållandet av en digital och offentlig huvudbok som är decentraliserad, vilket betyder att ingen ensam person eller organisation äger och kontrollerar den offentliga huvudboken. Huvudboken i blockchain är uppbyggt som en kedja av block, dessa block är datastrukturer som innehåller information. Huvudboken distribueras i ett nätverk av datorer som kallas för noder, dessa noder ägs av en eller flera personer. Problemet är att alla noderna i nätverket måste ha identiska huvudbok. Detta problem löses med en uppsättning av regler som noderna måste följa, denna uppsättning kallas för konsensus mekanism. Konsensus mekanismer säkrar huvudboken genom att möjliggöra en överenskommelse bland majoriteten av noderna om huvudbokens innehåll, och ser till att oärliga noder inte kan påverka majoritetens överenskommelse. Det finns flera olika konsensus mekanismer. Ett problem med konsensus mekanismer är att de är tvungna att göra en avvägning mellan låg energianvändning och hög säkerhet. Syftet med denna rapport är att undersöka och utreda relationen mellan energianvändning och säkerhet i konsensus mekanismer. Målet är att utföra en komparativ analys av konsensus mekanismer utifrån energianvändning och säkerhet. Konsensus mekanismerna som jämförs är Proof of Work, Proof of Stake och Delegated Proof of Stake. Metodologin som används är litteraturstudier och komparativ analys med hjälp av existerande metoder och data från applikationer som använder konsensus mekanismerna. Resultatet visar att Proof of Work väljer hög säkerhet på bekostnad av hög energianvändning, medan Proof of Stake och Delegated Proof of Stake väljer låg energianvändning men på bekostnad av lägre säkerhet. Analysen ger en ny inblick som visar att centralisering är en oundviklig faktor som hotar säkerheten.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica} Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology enabling digital transactions without the need for central governance. Once transactions are added to the blockchain, they cannot be altered. One of the main challenges of blockchain implementation is how to create a scalable network meaning verifying many transactions per second. The goal of this thesis is to survey different approaches for scaling blockchain technologies. Scalability is one of the main drivers in blockchain development, and an important factor when understanding the future progress of blockchain. The energy sector is in need of further digitalisation and blockchain is therefore of interest to enhance the digital development of smart grids and Internet of Things. The focus of this work is put on a case study in the energy sector regarding a payment system for electrified roads. To research those questions a qualitative method based on interviews with blockchain experts and actors in electrified roads projects was applied. The interviews were processed and summarised, and thereafter related to map current developments and needs in the blockchain technology. This thesis points to the importance of considering the trilemma, stating that blockchain can be two of three things; scalable, decentralised, secure. Further, Greenspan’s criteria are applied in order to recognise the value of blockchain. These criteria together with the trilemma and understanding blockchain’s placement in the hype cycle, are of value when implementing blockchain. The study shows that blockchain technology is at an early stage and questions remain regarding future business use. Scalability solutions are both technical and case specific and it is found that future solutions for scaling blockchain are emerging.

World energy systems are going through a continuous change. The focus has been shifted from large thermal or hydal power generation to small distributed generation, mainly based upon renewable energy systems. This transition is also backed by some governments. There have also been significant improvements in grid technology, and modern-day smart grid can provide real time bi-directional flow of data i.e. “real time energy deficit and surplus, and also real time prices to both producers and consumers. Smart grid can also accommodate intermittent small suppliers of electricity. This shift in energy generation policy and improvement in grid technology has opened ways for small scale energy producers and consumers to share energy with each other. It has also opened ways to purchase or sale energy to unknown peers over a smart grid. Need has been felt to store these transactions among peers in a secure, non-alterable yet quickly accessible way. Blockchain technology offers to provide this secure, unalterable yet quickly accessible ledger. In this study this transition process and role of blockchain technology for future energy systems has been historically reviewed. It has been found out that on top of keeping record of Peer to Peer transactions, blockchain technology can fill many other purposes. However, technology is still not matured for large scale projects, Research projects are underway to decrease the large time and energy consumption for block building computational processes yet keeping them safe and reliable.

The popularity of blockchain technologies increases with a significant rise in the price of cryptocurrency in 2017, which drew much attention in the academia and industry to research and implement new application or new blockchain technology. Many new blockchains have emerged over the last year in a broad spectrum of sectors and use cases including IOT, Energy, Finance, Real estate, Entertainment, etc.Despite many exciting research and applications have been done, there are still many areas worth investigating, and implementation of the blockchain based distributed application are still facing much uncertainty and challenging since blockchain is still an emerging technology. Meanwhile, the energy sector is under a transition to be digitalized and more distributed. A global technology revolution has disrupted the conventional centralized power system with distributed resources and technologies, like photovoltaic units (PV), batteries, electric mobilities, etc. The citizens then have control of their generation and consumption profiles.The purpose of this master thesis is to explore existing blockchain technology, and smart contracts such as IOTA, NEO, Ethereum Tobalaba, which can be adapted in the energy sector. Within this thesis, blockchain and the smart contract is proposed as a way of building distributed applications for a p2p transaction use case in the energy asset management platform. A design science research methodology is applied for the artifact development and evaluation for the research result. The design was implemented on Ethereum and tested on Tobalaba public network with ether and GAS. The evaluation shows the artifact for the p2p transaction in energy asset management platform fulfill the completeness, and correctness of the design requirement. The result of the performance test on Tobalaba networks shows a correlation between GAS consumption and transaction time.

The changing nature of the energy grid in recent years has prompted key stakeholders to think of ways to address incoming challenges. Transactive energy is an approach that promises to dynamically align active grid elements coming up in the previously inactive consumers' side to achieve a reliable and smarter grid. This work models the distribution grid structure as a combination of microgrids. A blockchain-in-the loop simulation framework is modelled and simulated for a residential microgrid using power system simulators and transactive agents. Blockchain smart contracts are used to coordinate peer-to-peer energy transactions in the microgrid. The model is used to test three market coordination schemes: a simple auction-less scheme, an auction-less scheme with a normalized sorting metric and an hour ahead single auction scheme with penalties for unfulfilled bids. Case studies are presented of a microgrid with 30 homes, at different levels of solar and energy storage penetration within the microgrid, all equipped with responsive and unresponsive appliances and transactive agents for the HVAC systems. The auction-less scheme with a normalized sorting metric is observed to provide a fairer advantage to smaller solar installations in comparison to the simple auction-less method. It is then concluded that the auction-less schemes are most beneficial to users, as they would not need sophisticated forecasting technology to reduce penalties from bid quantity inaccuracies, as long as the energy mix within the microgrid is diverse enough.
Master of Science

Blockchain, a distributed ledger technology, became publicly known when the cryptocurrency Bitcoin was introduced in 2009. As the financial value of cryptocurrencies increased, the interest for blockchain grew, leading other sectors to explore if blockchain could be used in other areas as well. One of these areas was the energy sector where the technology was predicted to transform the market by cutting out intermediaries with the use of peer-to-peer electricity trading. Today there are few successful commercial blockchain projects and the blockchain-hype is seemingly decreasing. It is, however, unclear if this is a natural part of the innovation process that follows the Gartner hype cycle or if the energy sector will reject the technology. This thesis aims to investigate the value characteristics of blockchain in the electricity system, and if these can add value to the future electricity system in Sweden. Firstly, to answer this question, a literature review is conducted to explore how blockchain has been applied in the electricity sector in earlier studies and what value the technology offered. Secondly, an interview study with 28 participants was conducted with the purpose to understand future predictions of how the electricity system in Sweden will be configured, and the energy sector’s understanding of blockchain technology. The literature concluded that blockchain could particularly offer these five value characteristics: 1) transparency 2) decentralisation 3) immutability 4) traceability and 5) P2P interaction. Furthermore, did the interview study result in a multi-level perspective analysis and proposed that the electricity system in Sweden is facing a reconfiguration pathway driven by the landscape pressures, consisting of electrification, digitalisation, decarbonisation and a potential nuclear phaseout. Moreover, this study has found that the electricity system in Sweden is fronting a regime transition from a centralised system with stable generation and consumptionbased production, to a decentralised system with more intermittent generation and productionbased consumption. In this regime shift, new challenges will occur, and the common denominator for these solutions is a more flexible electricity system, i.e. that the demand-side needs to become more flexible in consumption. The thesis has found that blockchain can provide the most value for the electricity system by functioning as a layer of governance on a potential local flexibility market. The flexibility will be decentralised and offered by both consumers and industries. The actors will, consequently, need an authentication process to confirm if flexibility providers can provide flexibility at a given moment. The five value characteristics do consequently have potential to provide a solution to this specific challenge. The thesis does, however, conclude that both the flexibility market, emerging business models and blockchain technology are not mature enough today. Accordingly, it is too early to decide if blockchain is the best-suited technology to serve this purpose, even if the value characteristics indicate potential.
Blockchain är en distribuerad databasteknologi som blev känd för den stora allmänheten när kryptovalutan bitcoin lanserades 2009. När intresset och värdet på kryptovalutor i allmänhet, och bitcoin i synnerhet, ökade blev även andra sektorer intresserade av blockchain-teknologin. En av dessa sektorer var energibranschen där visionen var att teknologin skulle eliminera mellanhänder genom att erbjuda el-transaktioner direkt mellan två personer med hjälp av exempelvis solpaneler. Idag är det däremot få, eller inget projekt, som blivit kommersiellt gångbart och den en gång stora tilltron på att blockchain skulle revolutionera energibranschen börjar lägga sig. Det är däremot oklart om det är en normal reaktion i en innovationsprocess likt Gartners hype-cykeln, eller om intresset för blockchain slocknat för gott. Den här uppsatsen har undersökt vilka värdeskapande egenskaper blockchain-teknologin besitter och om dessa egenskaper kan skapa värde i Sveriges framtida elsystem. För att kunna besvara denna fråga inleddes uppsatsen med en litteraturstudie för att förstå hur blockchain har tillämpats på tidigare projekt i energibranschen och vilka värdeskapande egenskaper tidigare studier har framhållit hos teknologin. Vidare har en intervjustudie med 28 deltagare genomförts med målet att förstå hur framtidens elsystem kommer se ut i Sverige och vilken åsikt som deltagarna hade gentemot blockchain. Litteraturstudien kunde konstatera att blockchain framför allt erbjuder dessa värdeskapande egenskaper; 1) transparent 2) decentraliserat 3) beständigt 4) spårbart och 5) individinteraktion. Vidare resulterade intervjustudien i en analys ur ett flernivå-perspektiv där det föreslås att Sveriges elsystem är i en konfigureringsfas som är drivet av ett nytt samhällstänk bestående av elektrifiering, digitalisering, utfasning av fossila bränslen och kärnkraftens framtid. Vidare framhåller denna studie att det svenska elsystemet står inför ett regimskifte från ett centraliserat system med stabil generation och konsumtionsbaserad produktion, till ett decentraliserat system med en ökad intermittent generation och en produktionsbaserad konsumtion. Detta regimskifte innebär däremot nya utmaningar där den gemensamma lösningen för dessa utmaningar är flexibilitet. Den här uppsatsen har funnit att om blockchain kommer vara värdeskapande för det framtida svenska elsystemet, är det som ett övergripande autentiseringslager på en potentiell flexibilitets marknad. Flexibiliteten kommer troligtvis vara decentraliserad och tillgodoses av många konsumenter och industrier. Marknaden kommer följaktligen behöva en autentiseringsprocess för att verifiera att leverantörer kan tillgodose en viss mängd flexibilitet vid ett specifikt tillfälle. Blockchains fem värdeskapande egenskaper kommer därför väl till pass då denna process behöver vara transparent, decentraliserad, spårbart och beständigt. Den här studien har däremot dragit slutsatsen att varken flexibilitets marknaden, affärsmodeller eller blockchain-teknologin är tillräckligt välutvecklade idag. Följaktligen är det för tidigt att uttala sig om blockchain är den bäst lämpade teknologin att använda sig av för autentisering, även om teknologins egenskaper indikerar en potential.

This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2019
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 91-94).
In the current era of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, household solar panels, and increasingly aordable local energy storage, energy grid systems are facing a new set of challenges that they were not originally designed to support. Energy systems of the near future must be capable of supporting these new technologies, but new technology can also be leveraged to improve reliability and eciency overall. A major source of potential improvements comes from the increase of connected devices that are capable of dynamically adjusting their behavior, and offer new data that can be used for optimization and prediction. Energy predictions are used today at the bulk power system level to ensure demand is met through appropriate resource allocation. As energy systems become more responsive, prediction will be important at more granular system levels and timescales.
Enabled by the rise in available data, existing research has shown some machine learning models to be superior to traditional statistical models in predicting long-term aggregate usage. However, these models tend to be computationally expensive; if machine learning prediction models are to be used at short timescales and performed close to the end nodes, there is a need for more ecient models. Additionally, most machine learning models today do not take advantage of the known and studied properties of the underlying energy data. This thesis explores the circumstances under which machine learning can be used to make predictions more accurately than existing methods, and how machine learning and statistical methods can serve to complement each other (specically for short timescales at the household level).
We nd that basic machine learning models outperform other baseline and statistical models by using energy usage trends observed from statistical methods to better engineer the input features. For the increasingly distributed energy systems that these predictive models aim to support, the distributed nature of blockchain technology has been proposed as a good match for managing such systems. As an example of one possible distributed management implementation, this thesis presents a novel blockchain-enabled architecture that provides privacy for users, information security through improved household-level prediction, and takes into consideration the security vulnerabilities and computational constraints of the participants.
by Michelle Lauer.
M. Eng.
M.Eng. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

The emergence of blockchain technology and increasing penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs) have created a new opportunity for peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading. However, challenges arise in such transactive markets to ensure individual rationality, incentive compatibility, budget balance, and economic efficiency during the trading process. This thesis creates an hour-ahead P2P energy trading network based on the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain and explores a comparative analysis of different auction mechanisms that form the basis of smart contracts. Considered auction mechanisms are discriminatory and uniform k-Double Auction with different k values. This thesis also investigates effects of four consumer and prosumer bidding strategies: random, preference factor, price-only game-theoretic approach, and supply-demand game-theoretic approach. A custom simulation framework that models the behavior of the transactive market is developed. Case studies of a 100-home microgrid at various photovoltaic (PV) penetration levels are presented using typical residential load and PV generation profiles in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area. Results indicate that regardless of PV penetration levels and employed bidding strategies, discriminatory k-DA can outperform uniform k-DA. Despite so, discriminatory k-DA is more sensitive to market conditions than uniform k-DA. Additionally, results show that the price-only game-theoretic bidding strategy leads to near-ideal economic efficiencies regardless of auction mechanisms and PV penetration levels.
MS

Les besoins, toujours plus grands, en énergie et la pollution de la planète, due à l'utilisation d'énergies polluantes non-renouvelables, obligent à concevoir de nouveaux modèles énergétiques durables et fiables. Ces nouveaux modèles se fondent, aujourd'hui, sur une intégration massive des énergies renouvelables dans le réseau électrique. Le problème des énergies renouvelables est leur caractère intermittent, dépendant des conditions météorologiques, la plupart du temps. L'arrivée des nouvelles technologies de l'information et de la communication permet l’intégration d’une couche informationnelle au réseau énergétique lui permettant d'être intelligent et d'entrevoir la possibilité d'une gestion distribuée des énergies renouvelables. Ces énergies étant principalement décentralisées, contrairement aux imposantes centrales nucléaires, au charbon, au gaz et au fioul, sont produites directement chez le consommateur. Le consommateur devient alors un prosumer capable de répondre à ses besoins énergétiques, voire même d'agir comme un producteur s'il produit plus d'énergie qu'il n'en consomme. Mais l'arrivée d'une pléthore de petits acteurs capables d'acheter et de vendre de l'énergie, en temps réel, dans un marché comprenant les puissants acteurs traditionnels du marché peut être une source de volatilité pour les prix de l'énergie. Des variations importantes des prix peuvent conduire à des situations néfastes en déstabilisant le réseau. Pour faire face à ce problème, nous avons développé un premier mécanisme de négociation automatique, sur trois échelles de temps, qui impose des contraintes sur la demande ainsi que sur les prix pour garantir leur stabilité. Ce mécanisme s'appuie sur des entités représentatives (producteurs, prosumers et agrégateurs) pour gérer l'offre et la demande sans toutefois prendre en compte l'impact sur le réseau des contrats négociés entre ces entités. Le second mécanisme, fondé sur la technologie Blockchain, permet des négociations bilatérales décentralisées et prend en compte les impacts physiques de chaque échange d'énergie entre prosumers, garantissant ainsi l'intégrité du réseau. Le mécanisme ainsi proposé se soustrait à une gestion de la stabilité du réseau par des tiers
Increasing needs in energy, and earth pollution, coming from the use of polluting and non-renewable energy, make it indispensable the design of new energetic models, sustainable and reliable. Today, these new models are based on a massive integration of renewable generators in the grid. The renewable integration issues come from their stochastic features, depending on the weather conditions, most of the time. The coming of new information and communication technologies allows the integration of an information layer to the energy grid allowing it to be smarter and allow to have a glimpse of the possibility of a decentralised management of renewable energy. These energy being mainly decentralised, unlike imposing nuclear, coal and gas power plants, are produced directly at the customer's location. Consumers become, then, a prosumer able to answer to its own energetic needs,and maybe to act as a producer if it produces more energy than it consumes. But, the coming of a plethora of small actors, able to buy and sell energy, in real time, in a market containing the more powerful actors, traditional in the market, can be a source of volatility for energy prices. Considerable variations of the price can lead to detrimental situations by disturbing the grid. To face this problem, we developed a first mechanism for automatic negotiations, on three time scales, which decrees constraints on demand and on prices in order to guarantee their stability. This mechanism rely on representative entities (producers, prosumers and aggregators) to manage demand and supply without taking into account the impact on the grid of the negotiated contracts between these entities. The second mechanism, based on blockchain technology, allows bilateral decentralised negotiations and take into account the physical impacts on the grid of each energy exchange between prosumers, guaranteing then, the grid integrity. The proposed mechanism exempt itself from a management of the grid stability from a centralised third part

The energy trading system is an essential part of critical infrastructure systems. If adversaries were to exploit the vulnerabilities of energy trading systems that can disrupt electricity generation and supply nationally, resulting in a devastating chain reaction. This study designs an architecture to safeguard the trading system for Australia’s wholesale energy market. The outcome of this study is a roadmap of a viable and sustainable system architecture for the future development of energy trading systems. It includes a design of three achievable security control subsystems to record and protect energy trading and trading communications in a wholesale energy market context.

The diploma thesis introduces distributed generation in context of future state of electricity markets. The subject of the thesis is to introduce new trends in electricity markets, such as flexibility, prosumers, aggregator and energy communities. Moreover, the thesis describes blockchain technology and its utilization in future state of electricity markets.

Ao longo dos últimos anos o mercado energético tem sofrido grandes mudanças devido ao contínuo aumento da procura, à introdução de tecnologias de comunicação ao nível da rede e dos consumidores e à introdução de fontes distribuídas de geração, incluindo em aplicações domésticas tornando os consumidores em prosumers. Desta forma, os sistemas de energia têm se tornado cada vez mais descentralizados através do desenvolvimento digital da Intenet of Things (IoT) com vista à criação das smart grids. Juntamente com esta transformação, assiste-se também a uma mudança do panorama dos consumidores, passando estes a estar no centro do sistema elétrico. A introdução de todas estas tecnologias permite que o prosumer passe a ter um papel de relevo nos sistemas de energia, especialmente na perspetiva da descentralização, onde cada utilizador fará parte da solução de equilíbrio da operação do sistema. Nesta perspetiva, uma tecnologia que tem se tem destacado é a blockchain que tem revelado possuir um enorme potencial em outros setores, como por exemplo o económico. A investigação do uso de blockchain no sector elétrico tem vindo a crescer de uma forma contínua sobretudo devido às suas características. Nomeadamente, devido à sua natureza distribuída e imutável que pode potenciar o aceleramento da transição do sistema elétrico, para um sistema cada vez mais digitalizado e descentralizado. Neste trabalho de dissertação são exploradas as capacidades da blockchain, adaptadas para o desenvolvimento de um esquema de transações de energia para prosumers. O método utilizado consiste na criação de um mercado virtual baseado em smart contracts, utilizando a linguagem Solidity em ambiente remix, ao qual serão adicionados consumidores e produtores de energia que irão comunicar entre si, trocando tokens por eletricidade de modo a satisfazer as necessidades de toda a comunidade envolvente. A utilização de blockchain irá assim possibilitar a criação de processos autónomos, permitindo aos seus utilizadores a venda de energia, de forma segura e fiável, sem a necessidade de um terceiro elemento.
Throughout the last few years, the electric market has undergone countless changes due to the continuous demand growth, the introduction of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on the network level, and the introduction of distributed generation sources, including household appliances that turned some consumers into a new category, prosumers. This way, the energy systems have become more decentralized through the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) which can allow for the creation of smart grids. Along with this transformation, there is also a change underway concerning consumer panorama as they become more central to the operations of the electric system. The introduction of all these technologies grants the prosumer the ability to participate more actively in the electric market, especially on the decentralization viewpoint, where each user contribute to the stability of the system operation. From this aspect, an interesting technology is the blockchain, which has revealed itself to have a huge potential in other areas, such as the financial sector. The research for the use of blockchain in the electric system has been due to its several promising characteristics. Namely, on account of its distributed and immutable nature which provides the potential to accelerate the transition of the electric market to a more digital and decentralized system. In this thesis, the blockchain capacities will be researched and adapted to develop of a scheme of energy transactions on the prosumer level. This will be done through the creation of a virtual market based on smart contracts, using the Solidity language in a remix environment, which will also allow consumers and energy producers to communicate between each other, exchanging tokens for electricity to satisfy the needs of all the evolved community. The use of blockchain will then make it possible for the creation of autonomous processes, allowing the system users to exchange energy, in a reliable and secure way, without the need of a third party.

Ao longo dos últimos anos o mercado energético tem sofrido grandes mudanças devido ao contínuo aumento da procura, à introdução de tecnologias de comunicação ao nível da rede e dos consumidores e à introdução de fontes distribuídas de geração, incluindo em aplicações domésticas tornando os consumidores em prosumers. Desta forma, os sistemas de energia têm se tornado cada vez mais descentralizados através do desenvolvimento digital da Intenet of Things (IoT) com vista à criação das smart grids. Juntamente com esta transformação, assiste-se também a uma mudança do panorama dos consumidores, passando estes a estar no centro do sistema elétrico. A introdução de todas estas tecnologias permite que o prosumer passe a ter um papel de relevo nos sistemas de energia, especialmente na perspetiva da descentralização, onde cada utilizador fará parte da solução de equilíbrio da operação do sistema. Nesta perspetiva, uma tecnologia que tem se tem destacado é a blockchain que tem revelado possuir um enorme potencial em outros setores, como por exemplo o económico. A investigação do uso de blockchain no sector elétrico tem vindo a crescer de uma forma contínua sobretudo devido às suas características. Nomeadamente, devido à sua natureza distribuída e imutável que pode potenciar o aceleramento da transição do sistema elétrico, para um sistema cada vez mais digitalizado e descentralizado. Neste trabalho de dissertação são exploradas as capacidades da blockchain, adaptadas para o desenvolvimento de um esquema de transações de energia para prosumers. O método utilizado consiste na criação de um mercado virtual baseado em smart contracts, utilizando a linguagem Solidity em ambiente remix, ao qual serão adicionados consumidores e produtores de energia que irão comunicar entre si, trocando tokens por eletricidade de modo a satisfazer as necessidades de toda a comunidade envolvente. A utilização de blockchain irá assim possibilitar a criação de processos autónomos, permitindo aos seus utilizadores a venda de energia, de forma segura e fiável, sem a necessidade de um terceiro elemento.
Throughout the last few years, the electric market has undergone countless changes due to the continuous demand growth, the introduction of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on the network level, and the introduction of distributed generation sources, including household appliances that turned some consumers into a new category, prosumers. This way, the energy systems have become more decentralized through the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) which can allow for the creation of smart grids. Along with this transformation, there is also a change underway concerning consumer panorama as they become more central to the operations of the electric system. The introduction of all these technologies grants the prosumer the ability to participate more actively in the electric market, especially on the decentralization viewpoint, where each user contribute to the stability of the system operation. From this aspect, an interesting technology is the blockchain, which has revealed itself to have a huge potential in other areas, such as the financial sector. The research for the use of blockchain in the electric system has been due to its several promising characteristics. Namely, on account of its distributed and immutable nature which provides the potential to accelerate the transition of the electric market to a more digital and decentralized system. In this thesis, the blockchain capacities will be researched and adapted to develop of a scheme of energy transactions on the prosumer level. This will be done through the creation of a virtual market based on smart contracts, using the Solidity language in a remix environment, which will also allow consumers and energy producers to communicate between each other, exchanging tokens for electricity to satisfy the needs of all the evolved community. The use of blockchain will then make it possible for the creation of autonomous processes, allowing the system users to exchange energy, in a reliable and secure way, without the need of a third party.

abstract: Blockchain technology enables peer-to-peer transactions through the elimination of the need for a centralized entity governing consensus. Rather than having a centralized database, the data is distributed across multiple computers which enables crash fault tolerance as well as makes the system difficult to tamper with due to a distributed consensus algorithm. In this research, the potential of blockchain technology to manage energy transactions is examined. The energy production landscape is being reshaped by distributed energy resources (DERs): photo-voltaic panels, electric vehicles, smart appliances, and battery storage. Distributed energy sources such as microgrids, household solar installations, community solar installations, and plug-in hybrid vehicles enable energy consumers to act as providers of energy themselves, hence acting as 'prosumers' of energy. Blockchain Technology facilitates managing the transactions between involved prosumers using 'Smart Contracts' by tokenizing energy into assets. Better utilization of grid assets lowers costs and also presents the opportunity to buy energy at a reasonable price while staying connected with the utility company. This technology acts as a backbone for 2 models applicable to transactional energy marketplace viz. 'Real-Time Energy Marketplace' and 'Energy Futures'. In the first model, the prosumers are given a choice to bid for a price for energy within a stipulated period of time, while the Utility Company acts as an operating entity. In the second model, the marketplace is more liberal, where the utility company is not involved as an operator. The Utility company facilitates infrastructure and manages accounts for all users, but does not endorse or govern transactions related to energy bidding. These smart contracts are not time bounded and can be suspended by the utility during periods of network instability.
Dissertation/Thesis
Masters Thesis Computer Science 2019

Globally, the national electricity systems are in the midst of aggressive transitions. A shift from large-scale conventional fossil-fuel based power generation systems to large number of small-scale distributed renewable energy systems is the preferred choice. Planning and managing an electricity system with such a large number of small producers as well as consumers (prosumers) where the transactions are expected to be dynamic and real-time would be complex and challenging. The technological revolutions in power and energy, information and communication, and payment systems have made it possible to have real-time bidirectional flow of electricity, information and money between prosumers. The concept of Energy Internet has evolved from this thought process, where consumers and generators with varying power consumption and generation levels can participate actively in the power transaction mechanism. The overall objective of this research is to study the technological, operational and integration feasibilities of Energy Internet in the context of transitioning electricity system. In the first phase, technological feasibility of Energy Internet is analysed through introduction of new concepts, conceptualization of various entities, working principles and operational rules. Second phase presents a model-based approach to validate the operational feasibility of Energy Internet. Two types of energy market clearance algorithms, namely, day-ahead energy market and real-time peer-to-peer balancing energy market are formulated in this study to validate the operational feasibility through three stage optimization problem. First stage, a day-ahead market clearance algorithm is formulated using non-cooperative n-player game which is iteratively solved using Nikaido-Isoda function and Relaxation Algorithm (NIRA). Second stage, the real-time balancing energy market problem is formulated using bilateral trade. Third stage finds the best peer-to-peer trade combination to fit the energy trade into a blockchain based energy market framework. Proposed model facilitates peer-to-peer energy trade by discharging the battery of the electric vehicles (EVs) connected to Energy Internet through the Vehicle2Grid program. The results show the significance of storage in the Energy Internet, and how electric vehicles can manage the storage demand without other fixed storage devices. In the final phase, the model has been tested and validated with a test microgrid and a real-world microgrid. Finally, the integration feasibility of Energy Internet is analysed, and a roadmap is proposed as way forward for its integration into the Indian national electricity system.

碩士
輔仁大學
國際創業與經營管理學程碩士在職專班
106
This thesis aims to develop research into the current energy framework that exists with developing nations and rural areas. An evaluation of smart grids as a solution to existing problems with the specified framework. Research will be conducted into the technological advancements of smart grids and their future potential in solving energy issues. An analysis of the existing and developing blockchain technology protocols, will unveil its applications outside of financial transactions. Research will aim to evaluate a synergistic link between blockchains and smart grid to create a financial independent energy transacting system. Finally, research will be conducted to determine optimal financing of the stated energy project.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
Combining rooftop solar with energy storage for off-grid residential operation is restrictively expensive. Historically, operating off-grid requires an 'isolated self-consumption' operating strategy where any excess generation is wasted and to ensure reliability you must install costly, polluting generators or a large amount of energy storage. With the advent of Blockchain technology residents can come together and establish transactive microgrids which have two possible operating strategies: Centralized Energy Sharing (CES) and Interconnected Energy Sharing (IES). The CES strategy proposes that all systems combine their photovoltaic (PV) generation and energy storage systems (ESS) to meet their loads. IES strategy establishes an energy trading system between stand-alone systems which allows buying energy when battery capacity is empty and selling energy when battery capacity is full. Transactive microgrids have been investigated analytically by several sources, none of which consider year-round off-grid operation. A simulation tool was developed through MATLAB for comparing the three operating strategies: isolated self-consumption, CES, and IES. This simulation tool could easily be incorporated into existing software such as HOMER. The effect of several variables on total cost was tested including interconnection type, initial charge, load variability, starting month, number of stand-alone systems, geographic location, and required reliability. It was found that the CES strategy improves initial cost by 7\% to 10\% compared to the baseline (isolated self-consumption) and IES cases in every simulation. The IES case consistently saved money compared to the baseline, just by a very small amount (less than 1\%). Initial charge was investigated for March, July, and November and was only found to have an effect in November. More research should be done to show the effect of initial charge for every month of the year. Load variability had inconsistent results between the two geographic locations studied, Indianapolis and San Antonio. This result would be improved with an improved load simulation which includes peak shifting. The number of systems did not have a demonstrable effect, giving the same cost whether there were 2 systems or 50 involved in the trading strategies. It may be that only one other system is necessary to receive the benefits from a transactive microgrid. Geographic locations studied (Indianapolis, Indiana; Phoenix, Arizona; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Erie, Pennsylvania) showed a large effect on the total cost with Phoenix being considerably cheaper than any other location and Erie having the highest cost. This result was expected due to each geographic location's load and solar radiation profiles. Required reliability showed a consistent and predictable effect with cost going down as the requirement relaxed and more hours of outage were allowed. In order to accomplish off-grid operation with favorable economics it is likely that a system will need to reduce its reliability requirement, adopt energy saving consumption habits, choose a favorable geographic location, and either establish a transactive microgrid or include secondary energy generation and/or storage.

This dissertation aimed to assess the impact of innovative smart market solutions and Blockchain technology on achieving efficient localized energy markets. Trends suggest the future of renewable energy generation will involve a move away from centralized power plants, and towards a large number of smaller generation units, such as PV cells. There are clear synergies between the market dynamics of photovoltaic systems and Blockchain-enabled smart markets, which can be harnessed towards integrating new consumption patterns and energy sources, as well as connecting consumers. Successful business strategy to integrate these technologies can lead to market leadership in this new industry. Captivating consumers is a key determinant of success, and offering lower electricity prices a necessary condition. For such offering to be feasible, markets need to be more efficient, as smart microgrids are proving to be. Consequently, there came the interest to see how new local electricity markets could be set up, while taking advantage of decentralization. A peer-to-peer, auction-based, local energy market was idealized and various simulations of were ran with differing levels of participants and structure, to understand the impact on the price of electricity achieved by the market. Market size and structure were both shown to affect price at different magnitudes, suggesting an ideal setup of 25-40 participants with generation capabilities over 60% of demand. Further analysis was undertaken to understand the impact of smart meters and Blockchain integration in such a market. Afterwards, conclusions were compiled and recommendations provided for how to approach new practical implementations.
Esta dissertação teve como objetivo avaliar o impacto de inovadoras soluções de mercados inteligentes e tecnologia Blockchain em mercados locais de energia. Tendencias apontam para que o futuro das energias renovaveis passe por uma maior prevalencia de paineis fotovoltaicos domesticos. As sinergias entre as atuais dinamicas em mercados eletricos e o uso da Blockchain em mercados inteligentes parecem claras, podendo ser aproveitaveis para integrar novos perfis de consumo e conectar consumidores. Sendo um novo segmento, estratégias de mercado bem conseguidas serão essencias para ganhar posição, e a capacidade de angariar consumidores será um indicador crucial de sucesso. Para tal, os mercados têm que ser mais eficientes, algo que se tem revelado factual em casos de micro sistemas. Assim, criou-se o interesse de perceber como desenhar e implementar mercados localizados de energia que beneficiem desta tendencia de desintermediação. Para tal, um mercado interativo à base de leilões de eletricidade entre consumidores foi idealizado. Posteriormente, este foi simulado repetidamente, com diferentes dimensões e estruturas, a fim de perceber o seu impacto nos preços médios alcançados. Foi mostrado que tamanho e composição afetam os preços em magnitudes diferentes, sugerindo uma dimensão ideal de 25-40 participantes, com capacidades de autogeração superiores a 60%. Análises posteriors foram desenvolvidas de modo substantive, para avaliar o impacto de contadores eletricos inteligentes e integração da Blockchain neste tipo de mercado. Finalmente, conclusões foram reunidas e transformadas em recomendações para futuras implementações práticas.

In current work, we apply the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm to handle the electric vehicle (EV) charging process in small shared spaces, such as condominiums without requiring the intervention of an external supervision entity, being that role performed by the condominium management. A Mobile App handles the user interaction with the system, authenticating the request to initiate the EV charging process, a microcontroller connected to set of sensors and an actuator is used for measuring energy consumption and for enabling the charging process and, a Management Unit controls the process end to end, providing the required services to the Mobile App and the microcontroller unit while manages the energy sharing between the EV charging stations accordingly the condominium limitations and processes the energy measures to consolidate the EV charging energy transaction. A minimal user interface allows the users to visualise transactions, manage users' preferences, and configure the platform. Additionally, the conceptual model for a scaled solution is presented, supported on blockchain technologies to handle the financial transitions, allowing current approach to be replicated on broader EV charging scenarios, such as public charging systems in a city. The developed system was tested in a shared space with three EVs using a charging infrastructure for 3.5 months.
No presente trabalho, é aplicado um paradigma de Internet Of Things (IOT) para agilizar e controlar o processo de carregamento de Veículos Elétricos (VE) em espaços partilhados de menores dimensões, como por exemplo condomínios residenciais, sem que seja necessária a intervenção (a título de prestação de serviços) de uma entidade externa, sendo todo o processo controlado pela gestão de condomínio. Uma aplicação móvel permite ao utilizador interagir com o sistema, permitindo a este autenticar-se no mesmo é condição necessária para que seja despoletado o processo de carregamento do VE. O sistema implementado com recurso a um microcontrolador encontrase ligado a um conjunto de sensores e um atuador permitindo medir a energia que esta ser consumida para carregamento do VE e simultaneamente, ligar e desligar o dispositivo de carregamento do veículo (através do controlo de um interruptor que entrega a energia entregue a este). O processo é controlado por uma unidade de gestão centralizada, que gera a distribuição de energia pelas estações de carregamento de VEs de acordo com as limitações do condomínio através do ligar e desligar destas e em simultâneo regista e processas as medições da energia consumida para consolidar as informações que constituem a transação de carregamento de VE e respetiva contraparte financeira associada à mesma. Adicionalmente, a unidade de gestão centralizada e a aplicação móvel, disponibilizam interfaces de utilizador mínimas para permitir funções como a consulta de transações, gestão e configuração da plataforma. Complementarmente, é apresentado um modelo conceptual permitindo escalar a solução proposta para espaços partilhados de maior dimensão, com recurso à utilização de tecnologias blockchain para gestão e registo das transações financeiras associadas à operação. Propondo uma abordagem, que poderá ser replicável em cenários mais amplos de utilização como por exemplo, a infraestrutura publica de carregamento de VE de uma cidade. O protótipo desenvolvido foi testado num espaço partilhado com três VE, usando uma infraestrutura de carregamento durante 3,5 meses.