Blockchain Technologies for Smart Energy Systems: Fundamentals, Challenges and Solutions

TL;DR

This paper reviews blockchain integration in smart energy systems, analyzing current platforms and projects, and identifies suitable solutions considering resource constraints to guide future development of flexible blockchain platforms.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of blockchain solutions for smart energy, highlighting challenges and proposing tailored solutions for resource-efficient applications.

Findings

Most blockchain platforms are resource-intensive and not ideal for smart energy.

Suitable blockchain solutions require balancing security with resource constraints.

The analysis guides development of flexible blockchain platforms for energy systems.

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the integration of blockchain in smart energy systems. We present various blockchain technology solutions, review important blockchain platforms, and several blockchain based smart energy projects in different smart energy domains. The majority of blockchain platforms with embedded combination of blockchain technology solutions are computing- and resource- intensive, and hence not entirely suitable for smart energy applications. We consider the requirements of smart energy systems and accordingly identify appropriate blockchain technology solutions for smart energy applications. Our analysis can help in the development of flexible blockchain platforms for smart energy systems.