Demystifying Distributed Ledger Technologies: Limits, Challenges, and Potentials in the Energy Sector

The success of the sustainable transformation of the energy sector, both in terms of planning and operation, relies on new entities, business models, and technologies. The shift from a relatively small number of centralized bulk producers and single direction energy flow to a decentralized multi-actor renewable system with a two-way flow of energy and multi-way flow of information needs to be accompanied by new technological solutions. Blockchain and other Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) represent a new technology for the energy sector, creating both opportunities and challenges for different aspects of energy systems, such as energy production, peer-to-peer (P2P) energy markets, green certificate registries, etc. Due to its decentralized nature and no need for intermediaries, DLT can facilitate energy democratization processes and decentralized energy production. In this paper, we present a systematic review of DLT principles, its theoretical background, and the most notable implementations, as well as an in-depth analysis of representative research projects and companies researching DLT use cases in the energy sector, taking into consideration technical aspects of DLT. We provide an insight into the benefits and limitations of DLT and identify technical challenges that need to be solved to enable widespread usage of DLT in energy systems. Additionally, we provide suggestions and guidelines for implementing DLT in different categories of use cases in the energy sector.