Blockchain for energy sharing and trading in distributed prosumer communities

Petri, Ioan; Barati, Masoud; Rezgui, Yacine; Rana, Omer F.

Abstract

The decentralisation of energy supply and demand can contribute decisively to protecting the environment and climate of the planet by consuming electricity in the proximity of the generation source and avoiding losses in transmission and distribution. Supporting energy transactions with emerging intelligent technologies can advance the development of energy communities and accelerate the integration of renewable sources. Distributed energy solutions play an essential role as they are explicitly designed to produce, store and deliver green energy. Profiting with these benefits is essential, especially in the context of the current debate on stopping climate change. Several technologies such as waste heat recovery with intelligent algorithms can improve the energy distribution and provide significant resource savings. On the other hand, the usage of Blockchain technology in energy markets promises to incentivise the use of renewables and provide a reliable framework to monitor real-time information of energy production and consumption. Blockchain can also enable trading between independent agents and lead to the formation of more secured energy communities.

In this paper, we demonstrate how Blockchain can be utilised to support the formation and use of energy communities. We propose a Blockchain-based energy framework as a mean to support energy exchanges in a community of prosumers. We demonstrate how smart contracts can manage energy transactions and enable a more secured trading environment between consumers and producers. We utilise data and models from a real fish processing industrial site in Milford Haven Port, South Wales, based on which we validate our research hypothesis.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 8, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Aug 16, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020-12
• Deposit Date: May 4, 2021
• Journal: Computers in Industry
• Print ISSN: 0166-3615
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 123
• Article Number: 103282
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compind.2020.103282
• Keywords: Energy communities, Blockchain, Fish industries, Smart contracts, Cost
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2767141