Blockchain-based solar electricity exchange: conceptual architecture and laboratory setup

Authors: Manisa Pipattanasomporn Virginia Tech – Advanced Research Institute, Arlington, VA, USA ; Saifur Rahman ; Murat Kuzlu
Publisher: 2019 IEEE Power & Energy Society Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference (ISGT)
Published on: 08/08/2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ISGT.2019.8791663
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Abstract:

Over the past decade, high penetration of rooftop solar photovoltaics (PV) has been observed in many countries. The availability of rooftop solar PV at customer premises has transformed a house into an energy prosumer that can both consume and export electricity. With proper regulations in place, homeowners can become a market participant who can buy and sell excess solar electricity in a peer-to-peer (P2P) trading environment. With the emerging blockchain technology, it will be possible to securely keep track of such solar electricity exchange without a third party oversight. The objective of this paper is to discuss the conceptual architecture of the blockchain-based platform for exchange of solar electricity in a neighborhood. Several open-source blockchain platforms are reviewed, including Hyperledger, Ethereum and Corda. Experiments developed on one of the well-known open-source blockchain platforms are discussed that describe how a P2P exchange of solar electricity can be set up in a laboratory environment


Keywords:
blockchain , solar electricity , Hyperledger framework , peer-to-peer trading