Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading in a Microgrid Leveraged by Smart Contracts

TL;DR

This paper proposes blockchain-based peer-to-peer energy trading frameworks within microgrids, utilizing smart contracts and auction mechanisms, validated through real-world data comparisons, to enhance decentralized energy management.

Contribution

It introduces two novel blockchain-enabled auction frameworks for P2P energy trading in microgrids, demonstrating their effectiveness through empirical testing.

Findings

Blockchain-based P2P trading is promising for microgrid management

Smart contracts enable autonomous and efficient energy transactions

Cost analyses show potential economic benefits

Abstract

The current electricity networks were not initially designed for the high integration of variable generation technologies. They suffer significant losses due to the combustion of fossil fuels, the long-distance transmission, and distribution of the power to the network. Recently, \emph{prosumers}, both consumers and producers, emerge with the increasing affordability to invest in domestic solar systems. Prosumers may trade within their communities to better manage their demand and supply as well as providing social and economic benefits. In this paper, we explore the use of Blockchain technologies and auction mechanisms to facilitate autonomous peer-to-peer energy trading within microgrids. We design two frameworks that utilize the smart contract functionality in Ethereum and employ the continuous double auction and uniform-price double-sided auction mechanisms, respectively. We validate our design by conducting A/B tests to compare the performance of different frameworks on a real-world dataset. The key characteristics of the two frameworks and several cost analyses are presented for comparison. Our results demonstrate that a P2P trading platform that integrates the blockchain technologies and agent-based systems is promising to complement the current centralized energy grid. We also identify a number of limitations, alternative solutions, and directions for future work.