Distributed Renewable Energy Management: A Gap Analysis and Proposed Blockchain-Based Architecture
Figure: Hybrid Approach to Energy Distribution (Figure 1) and Decentralized Communication in a VC-Centric System (Figure 2).
Summary
The heterogeneous and decentralized nature of renewable energy sources is too much to handle for traditional and centralized IT grid infrastructure. Blockchain technology can address many of the associated challenges. This paper provides an overview of the state-of-the-art technology layers of grid system infrastructure, a proposed future state using blockchain technology, and gap analysis. The paper also contributes a set of architectural requirements for a blockchain-enabled future state and a proposed hybrid architecture using blockchain technology, verifiable credentials, and smart contracts. This architecture can uniquely support the technology layers critical to renewable energies, including system architecture, registries, grid management, billing, privacy, and interoperability.
Keywords
blockchain, renewable energy, P2P, smart grid, microgrid, IT architecture, grid management, IT infrastructure, verifiable credentials (VC), decentralized IDs (DID)
2021 Journal Impact Factor: N/A
Publication date: May 2022
Links
References
| APA | Henninger, A., & Mashatan, A. (2022). Distributed Renewable Energy Management: A Gap Analysis and Proposed Blockchain-Based Architecture. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 15(5), 191. |
|---|---|
| BibTeX | @article{henninger2022distributed, title={Distributed Renewable Energy Management: A Gap Analysis and Proposed Blockchain-Based Architecture}, author={Henninger, Annegret and Mashatan, Atefeh}, journal={Journal of Risk and Financial Management}, volume={15}, number={5}, pages={191}, year={2022}, doi={10.3390/jrfm15050191} } |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm15050191 |
| IEEE | A. Henninger, and A. Mashatan. "Distributed Renewable Energy Management: A Gap Analysis and Proposed Blockchain-Based Architecture," Journal of Risk and Financial Management, vol. 15, no. 5, p. 191. May 2022. |
| ISSN | 1911-8074 |
Funding
This research was supported, in part, by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) (external link, opens in new window) and Mavennet (external link, opens in new window) .