Research Area:  Blockchain Technology

Abstract:

In order to establish an effective fusion of green technology along with renewable energy technologies, the idea of smart grid is represented as a modern view of the traditional power system. It serves as a solution to the problems of energy supply in the future by means of the combination of Internet of Things technology and Wireless Sensor Networks. In this path, to make sure that energy should be made available anywhere at any instance, Energy Internet is rising as an innovative solution. These innovations ultimately aim to create a sustainable society. Yet, the integration and syncing of relatively large amount of increasing interconnection may become a challenge related to the conventional centralised grid structure. Similarly, protection and confidentiality problems in the utilization and trade of electricity statistics pose significant challenges to implementation of the smart grid. Therefore, from its centralised form, the smart grid undergoes a transition from its centralised form to the decentralised topology. Blockchain Technology has some outstanding features for applicability in the promising smart grid idea. Here, we present a detailed study on blockchain based smart grid application. We studied a range of recent blockchain centred research works accessible in various literature dealing with safety concerns associated in smart grid idea in order to be solved by blockchain. It also summarises a range of similar realistic designs, trials and solutions that have recently emerged. Use case in each area is studied to identify effective blockchain architecture, type of block structure and associated technologies. The energy trading process can be enhanced by using credit-based payment system. Effective record aggregation systems using blockchain technology needs to be considered to solve the confidentiality and safety problems of the grid. Energy allocation systems can distantly manage the power stream in a specific region by tracking the usage data for that sector by blockchain. Finally, the key research concerns and future directions for blockchain application to smart grid security problems are addressed.

Keywords:  

Author(s) Name:  Harshal Patil , Shilpa Sharma , Linesh Raja

Publisher name:  ScienceDirect

DOI:  10.1016/j.matpr.2020.11.013

Volume Information:  Volume 44, (2021)

Paper Link:   https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214785320385874