- Citations
- Ali, F. S., Aloqaily, M., Alfandi, O., & Ozkasap, O. (2020). Cyberphysical blockchain-enabled peer-to-peer energy trading. Computer, 53(9), 56-65.
The increasing penetration rates of residential rooftop photovoltaics (PV) panels as well as other distributed energy resources (DERs), such as electric vehicles (EVs), battery energy storage systems (BESS), and heat pumps (HP), have led to an increase in the number of prosumers, enhanced end-users flexibility, and opened up new market opportunities for different stakeholders in the energy system [1]. Different selfconsumption policies have been adopted in different countries to enable prosumers selling their energy back to the grid, such as Feed-in-Tariffs (FiT) and net-metering.
Novel market designs, enabled by recent advancements in information and communication technologies (ICT), are emerging as alternative solutions for coordinating prosumers locally, where prosumers can directly trade energy with each other. These new market designs are called local energy markets (LEMs), which are typically end-users centered to enhance individuals’ choices. Different categories of LEM structures can be distinguished in literature depending on their degree of decentralization. The two main categories are fully peer-to-peer (P2P) and community-based markets.
Blockchain is a system of recording information in a way that makes it difficult or impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system. A blockchain is essentially a digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across the entire network of computer systems on the blockchain.
P2P electricity trading is also known as the “Uber” or “Airbnb” of energy, as it is a platform that allows local distributed energy generators to sell their electricity at the desired price to consumers willing to pay that price.