A Blockchain Based Secure Decentralized Transaction System for Energy Trading in Microgrids

Energy markets are being transformed rapidly all over the world due to an increased integration of renewable energy sources. Blockchain technology is emerging as a prime contender, as it can provide a secure and efficient transactional platform for such markets. In a typical microgrid energy market, the consumers and prosumers belonging to the microgrid have the ability to trade energy in a peer-to-peer fashion. However, the existing energy markets suffer from multiple issues security and privacy issues. To handle the aforementioned issues, this research work proposes a blockchain based secure Decentralized Transaction System (DTS) for energy trading in microgrids. The proposed system comprises of a secure market model that facilitates energy trade between energy users. A simplistic energy exchange mechanism has been formulated that ensures data integrity and privacy of the participating energy users. A prosumer centric consensus mechanism has been employed to incentivize the prosumers and ensure the availability of energy in the microgrid at all times. An efficient and dynamic pricing mechanism has been used to reduce the supply and demand disparity. A comprehensive trust model based on commitments has been adopted for ensuring the reliability of the participating energy user. Additionally, a hardware based access control mechanism has been utilized to make the proposed DTS a physical and cyber secure system. Other than this, a framework of smart contracts has been deployed to provide a comprehensive solution that ensures privacy, security, anonymity, auditability and confidentiality of the generated energy information. To demonstrate its practicality, the system has been implemented on Ethereum platform. The proposed DTS is validated using realistic data with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) environment of Goerli Test Network.