On the Design of Communication and Transaction Anonymity in Blockchain-Based Transactive Microgrids

TL;DR

This paper addresses privacy challenges in blockchain-based transactive microgrids by proposing solutions for communication and transaction anonymity, ensuring data privacy without compromising grid stability and operational requirements.

Contribution

It extends the PETra trading workflow to enhance privacy through communication and transaction anonymity in transactive microgrids.

Findings

Proposed a novel anonymity-preserving framework for microgrid transactions.

Ensured grid stability while maintaining transaction privacy.

Demonstrated effectiveness of the approach through simulations.

Abstract

Transactive microgrids are emerging as a transformative solution for the problems faced by distribution system operators due to an increase in the use of distributed energy resources and a rapid acceleration in renewable energy generation, such as wind and solar power. Distributed ledgers have recently found widespread interest in this domain due to their ability to provide transactional integrity across decentralized computing nodes. However, the existing state of the art has not focused on the privacy preservation requirement of these energy systems -- the transaction level data can provide much greater insights into a prosumer's behavior compared to smart meter data. There are specific safety requirements in transactive microgrids to ensure the stability of the grid and to control the load. To fulfil these requirements, the distribution system operator needs transaction information from the grid, which poses a further challenge to the privacy-goals. This problem is made worse by requirement for off-blockchain communication in these networks. In this paper, we extend a recently developed trading workflow called PETra and describe our solution for communication and transactional anonymity.