Various Smart Grid Applications

 Blockchain Technology Integration for Various Smart Grid Applications: Architecture, Prospects, and Challenges

Electricity has been delivered from generating to user end via a one-directional conventional grid system for over a century. However, as human civilization advances, more fossil fuel-powered power plants are employed, resulting in increased greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, the power grid has evolved into a very complex system. Cascade failures are also more common in this new environment. In the recent decade, there have been several big blackouts throughout the world. A smart grid is an electrical network that supports renewable energy sources, smart distribution, and dynamic load shedding. These traits also aid in the prevention of cascade failures. A large amount of information on the grid's markets, service providers, and operations must be managed.

Figure 1 depicts the smart grid infrastructure from generation to consumption.

In other words, a smart grid, as seen in Figure 1, is a highly decentralized and organized communication network used to convey and analyze data. Wireline and wireless communication technologies, as previously described, are utilized in combination in a smart grid to simplify power transfer and control. A SCADA system's goal is to monitor the state of a power grid at both the transmission and distribution levels. Instead, data is routed across the network via a series of utility gateways.

The electrical grid is rapidly evolving as alternative energy sources, quicker signal processors, better sensors, and other technologies gain prominence. A two-way flow of data and energy between power providers and consumers is currently required. As a result, the traditional power grid is being replaced by a smart grid (SG), a system that can dynamically monitor and regulate electricity flow while providing customers with steady power. To accomplish these major informatization-related benefits, smart grid incorporates computer, communication, and sensor technology into current power grid networks. Some of the most famous examples of SG applications include energy management systems (EMS), electric vehicles (EVs), microgrids (MGs), smart cities (SCs), home automation (HA), and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI).

SG enhances power supply dependability and enables the realization of a wide range of complicated and challenging applications. In this sophisticated network, several entities in the grid perform transactions at the same time. Verifying the legitimacy of the business transactions between the parties to a given SG application is a significant challenge. Blockchain technology provides a secure and promising solution to this problem. The blockchain technology invented by Satoshi Nakamoto promotes consensus on the validity of a transaction and keeps everyone involved honest [4,5].

Figure 2 depicts the number of publications published each year about blockchain research. Furthermore, the data shows the corresponding quantity of blockchain articles created for SG. Scopus was used to tally the number of published publications. 

According to the statistics, blockchain technology is not yet being employed in SG contexts. Only a small fraction of blockchain articles (3.5%) are actually regarding SG applications. The purpose of this study is to assess the available literature on blockchain for SG, categorize it based on its intended application, present blockchain design architecture for various SG uses, identify related difficulties, and provide feasible solutions. Table 1 summarizes a study of some review publications on smart grid applications.

Figure 2: The number of articles about blockchain and smart grids.

Table 1 shows a summary of some review articles on smart grid applications.

In contrast to the previous research papers, this article takes a more comprehensive approach to the specific use of blockchain technology to the SG sector. Furthermore, the current study describes the foundation for SG applications that employ blockchain technology. SG might be beneficial in a variety of applications, including electric cars, enhanced metering infrastructure, microgrids, and home automation. Various challenges to smart grid privacy and security are also highlighted, as are countermeasures.

The paper is divided into the following sections. Section 2 covers the principles of a blockchain, including numerous terminologies and concepts linked with blockchain technology. 

Section 3 discusses applications in the SG domain that leverage blockchain technology, as well as the designs of numerous apps and their difficulties and solutions. Section 4 discusses cybersecurity and cyberattacks in smart grids, as well as countermeasures, while Section 5 discusses the significance of blockchain in smart grids and Section 6 concludes our investigation.

2. Blockchain Overview

Blockchain technology has grown in popularity in recent years. When it was initially designed for digital money use, blockchain was classified as a cryptocurrency. Blockchain was formerly assumed to be Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency. However, blockchain is what drives these digital currencies. It is a decentralized transaction ledger that may be used by several parties. Researchers were originally skeptical about this technology, but Bitcoin's success eventually changed them. Following 2016, there was a significant growth in the number of blockchain applications and usage in many technical domains. Financial services, medical care, manufacturing, and other industries have made extensive use of blockchain.

Blockchain is a sequence of blocks of transactions in which multiple administrators supervise the operation of traditional client/server systems. Blockchain is a peer-to-peer network in which all users have equal say over the network's direction and functioning. This network is made up of several computers, or nodes, and the blocks in the chain cannot be changed without the network's permission. Each node in the network stores a copy of the centralized database . The type of blockchain utilized will be determined by the characteristics of a given use case. The three basic types of blockchain are public blockchains, private blockchains, and consortium blockchains. There are three sorts of blockchains: public, private, and consortium. No one has authority on a public or permission less blockchain. Users are not prohibited from reading or writing to the network. Private or permissioned ledgers, on the other hand, are unavailable to anybody who is not logged in to the network as an authorized user.

The blocks are illegible because they are encrypted with a key. The public and private blockchain models are both represented in consortium blockchains. of contrast to centralized systems, the nodes of a blockchain network decentralized verify transactions among themselves. Once a transaction has been validated by the nodes and published to the blockchain, it cannot be reversed since the network nodes' identity remains unanimous. As a result, the data saved on the blockchain cannot be changed.

While blockchain technology has showed promise in terms of constructing a stronger Internet infrastructure for the future, there are still a number of concerns that must be addressed.

Because blockchain development is still in its early stages, having access to educated personnel is critical. Businesses are naturally cautious about the high upfront infrastructure costs involved with BCT adoption, despite the technology's numerous promising applications. The growth of blockchain technology is also influenced by privacy and security concerns. Legal issues and the difficulties of scaling it up are also important problems.

Blockchain Terminologies and Components

The terminology used to characterize the key components of a blockchain are defined below:

Block: Blocks in a blockchain are represented using pointers and linked lists. A linked list is used to align blocks and organize them into a logical structure. A block is a collection of data generated by a secure hash algorithm that contains transaction information like as timestamps and references to previous blocks. Pointers indicate the location of the following block. Every block has two parts: the block header and the block body. The following are the fields that comprise the block header:

i. Block version: it specifies the validation requirements for blocks.

ii. Merkle tree root hash: this hashing technique computes the overall hash value of all transactions in the frame.

iii. Timestamp: it is in seconds in universal time, as of January 1, 1970.

iv. n-Bits: the maximum size of a block hash.

v. Nonce: a 4-byte field that starts at 0 and rises by one with each hash computation.

vi. Parent block hash: The preceding block's 256-bit hash value is commonly referred to as the parent block hash.

Public and private keys: Blockchain is an ever-expanding system of interconnected, cryptographically protected blocks. To validate transactional authentication, blockchain employs an asymmetric key method. A private key is used to encrypt the transactions in a block. These transactions are available to all network nodes. These nodes can decrypt the data when employing a public key that is accessible to all nodes in the network.

Every block contains a cryptographic hash that is linked to the previous block. Hashing creates a fixed-length string to specify a piece of data. The length of the string is independent of the amount of the data.

Consensus procedure: To validate new blocks, a set of standards and agreement from all network users are utilized. Consensus is essential to determine whether or not a block is legitimate. A variety of solutions are available for the consensus mechanism, including realistic byzantine fault tolerance, proof of labor, and proof of stake.

Smart contracts are computer programs that operate automatically on a blockchain network and manage transactions between scattered nodes.

3. Blockchain Operations for Smart Grid Applications

Blockchain technology has the ability to dramatically change existing applications by increasing trust and enabling more decentralization. Despite its growing popularity, the benefits it provides are not completely utilized by SG applications. The overall number of blockchain papers produced from the perspective of various SG applications is 41% for energy management systems, 19% for microgrids, 24% for electric cars, 14% for home automation, and 2% for AMI. These figures were compiled using Scopus, and only journal publications were analyzed. Blockchain is widely utilized in SGs for energy management purposes. Blockchain technology is also being used in electric cars, enhanced metering infrastructure, microgrids, home automation, and smart cities.

3.1. Home Automation Using Blockchain

Conduction losses are described by a current's resistance and RMS value. The end result is a smart house, which is an IoT-enabled domicile that improves the quality of life in a variety of ways, including safety, healthcare, enjoyment, and convenience. Home technology has increased people's independence and enhanced their quality of life. Smart homes are appealing to both consumers and IT corporations because to its useful features such as behavior tracking and safety checks. Smart homes provide numerous benefits for homeowners and others, but they are also vulnerable to malevolent intrusions that endanger consumers. Although solutions for preventing these dangers exist, they are extremely centralized and prone to mass attack. 

As a result, the cutting-edge sector of automated smart home apps and facilities lacks the necessary flexibility and scalability for productive usage. Several innovative technologies have been developed to make people's daily lives easier. These apps may generate large volumes of data. There are security problems involved with archiving dynamic material. Blockchain has shown to be a dependable and effective solution for remote connection and data transfer in cybersecurity. As a result, it is employed in home automation.

The utilization of multiple electronic gadgets (smart TVs, lights, etc.) that function independently or in concert with one another to monitor the different settings of smart homes is referred to as blockchain-based HA infrastructure. These intelligent gadgets must be able to communicate with one another in order to fulfill the full potential of HA. When several smart devices need to connect with one another, an IoT gateway addresses the problem. To avoid a security breach, such as users in one house accessing electronic equipment in another, the service provider is responsible for giving control suggestions to the users' smart devices based on clever intelligent algorithms. Machine learning algorithms may be used by service providers to deliver more accurate suggestions and projections.

The use of a blockchain network to connect customers and service providers increases HA security. The blockchain may be built using Ethereum or Hyperledger. Figure 3 depicts the overall concept of a blockchain for HA.

Figure 3 depicts the overall blockchain concept for HA.

Residents can only engage with the features of their own smart home equipment and not with the smart gadgets in the smart homes around them. The gateway allows all household devices to connect directly to the blockchain system. The blockchain's hashing process can be used to connect blocks containing device data. The service provider can give data analysis and user-friendly recommendations, but it cannot access the real smart home equipment. All of the devices in a house may interact with the blockchain network via the gateway.

Challenges and Solutions: Many distinct blockchain technologies are now being used in HA-related applications. The data in each system is stored in a different format, making integration challenging. Furthermore, these networks make use of a variety of consensus approaches. Interoperability across blockchain systems will be achievable only if they are standardized. Performing real-time analytics on streaming data is another challenge when utilizing blockchain for HA applications. They must be analyzed and assessed in real time. In an intrusion detection system, for example, real-time facial detection is critical. Processing blockchains may be problematic for real-time applications. Using a simple framework might be the solution to this problem.

(3.2) Blockchain for Advanced Metering Infrastructure 

Every consumer's energy use data is gathered, monitored, and transmitted via a smart meter; this meter serves as the AMI system's brain. These meter data are used for a variety of purposes by various entities. The utility grid may use this information for demand forecasting and scheduling, while the distributor may use it to develop pricing structures and invoicing. Users, on the other hand, may utilize this information for energy management. Despite the many advantages of AMI, reliably exchanging data among devices is tough. The blockchain-based AMI is a critical component in achieving this aim. Figure 4 depicts a broad strategy for incorporating blockchain technology into AMI.

Figure 4 depicts a general strategy to incorporating blockchain into AMI.

The gateway allows smart meters to connect directly to the blockchain network. Meter readings shall comprise meter identification and other data relevant to the supply of utility services in line with the IEC 62056 process. The AMI sends data to the meters, which are linked to the servers or nodes in the blockchain network. Following that, all other nodes in the blockchain-enabled network are granted access to these blocks. This network must be a private blockchain network that only nodes linked with the utility hub may access. Smart contracts and validations on a private blockchain may expose inefficiencies in energy usage without losing privacy or security.

Despite the apparent benefits, blockchain technology has not been widely employed for this SG use case. Scientists have used it to increase the security of AMI software. a lightweight blockchain-based architecture for increasing AMI security was demonstrated. This architecture used little energy and was resistant to hacking efforts. The reference explains how blockchain may safeguard the private data of AMI users. The AMI blockchain suffers from the same lack of interoperability and real-time delay as HA apps.

3.3. Electric Vehicle Blockchain

As a result of the rapid growth of smart grid and the rising sophistication of electric vehicles (EVs) (V2G), new communication structures—vehicle-to-grid interfaces—have evolved. Logistics companies, for example, currently provide permanent charging stations (CSs) for their fleet of automobiles, and this trend is projected to continue as technologies such as the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) and the Internet of Things (IoT) gain traction. Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology was created in response to the demand for real-world interoperability between automobiles and other technological systems. V2X systems are made up of integrated vehicle sensor platforms that centralize several functions on a single EV server. 

V2X performance measurements are created from a data collection that includes information about shared multi-networked data and the technological proficiency of an electric vehicle. Because of its security, speed of data transfer between linked automobiles, and worldwide coverage of telecommunication systems, 5G networks have formed and expanded fast over the world. Multi-networked communication systems provided by 5G technology have the processing power to execute higher-level applications. A 5G network powers a V2X protocol, which supports the development and integration of blockchain applications. Incorporating blockchain technology into the vehicle-to-everything protocol has the potential to transform intelligent transportation systems, enhancing transportation efficacy and efficiency as well as road safety.

The overall blockchain architecture of EV apps is depicted in Figure 5. The blockchain-based infrastructure for electric cars requires regular nodes to record the behavior of moving vehicles. These nodes serve as the blockchain's backbone, verifying blocks and carrying out smart contracts. The data from mobile EVs is relayed to these stationary blockchain nodes or access points. Wi-Fi connects the numerous nodes and mobile electric cars, each with its own unique ID number. An access point transmits data from an EV to its charging station, such as battery life, vehicle status, charging fees, and so on. The nodes add this data to the distributed ledger in the form of blocks, and various blockchain nodes validate the transaction. 

The blockchain network might be used by transportation authorities to track the state of EVs and send personalized recommendations and warnings to each vehicle's owner. However, the transportation agency is unable to change the settings on an EV.

Figure 5: EV application blockchain architecture.

Electric vehicles' potential as part of a sustainable transportation system has garnered extensive attention in recent years. EVs may now interact with their environment because to rapid technical advancements that enable smart network connectivity. The cost of producing power is steadily decreasing due to the usage of renewable energy and smart networks. As a result, the key challenge of peer-to-peer technology, E-trading and D-trading, and integration for electric vehicles is the development of a secure communication architecture that maintains data confidentiality and information anonymity. The basic goal of a blockchain is to conceal economic transactions behind a veil of anonymity while maintaining data security. Many scholarly evaluations have been written about the usage of blockchain technology in the Emerging Smart Grid.

Despite the technology's great reputation for utility, security must be assessed consistently in order to increase the SG's reliability. In response, describes in detail the construction of blockchain-based EV charging infrastructure. This study is based on the Ethereum blockchain technology, which is frequently utilized for creating decentralized applications. Its advantage is the safe crediting of energy transfers between electric vehicle owners and businesses that run charging stations. The only impediments that may be removed in the future are the blockchain's intrinsic limits, such as high transaction fees due to network congestion, power dissipation, and transactions that do not change in the event of errors.

A test case in demonstrated the significance of technoeconomic evaluation of residential energy trading systems. One component of this system that might benefit from blockchain technology is an electric vehicle (EV). Electric vehicles that employ blockchain technology not only improve home participation in power markets, but also dramatically reduce their negative grid consequences.

Problems and Solutions: The scalability of blockchain data, the security of downloaded data, and the privacy of blockchain transactions are all issues that have yet to be resolved. P2P services have substantial challenges in processing energy transfers and ensuring user privacy. The high resource requirements and transaction cost in terms of energy consumption impede the use of blockchain technology for EV applications with WSN infrastructure. If these impediments could be overcome, blockchain technology would become the most important component in the development of electric vehicles. One possible option is to develop compact blockchain algorithms for real-time consensus.

3.4. Blockchain Technology for Renewable Microgrids

Every day, more evidence emerges of the continuous change and progress toward a renewable grid based on a diverse range of decentralized energy sources such as solar panels, fuel cells, microturbines, batteries, and so on. Blockchain technology is critical to the successful implementation of these developments. The general blockchain architecture of the MG application is depicted in Figure 6. The electrical grid of a zone sometimes covers a large area, necessitating the consideration of several MGs. These several MGs are connected together via the blockchain technology. The blockchain network seeks to promote safety and secrecy in the MG operation without compromising data quality or transparency.

The generated energy, power to be transmitted to other microgrids, and so on are all contained in the data block. A consensus technique is used to confirm the correctness of each newly formed block of MG data. The block is uploaded to the blockchain and the network once it has been validated. To agree on the nature of the energy being transferred, the value of the power being sold, and so on, blockchain nodes require proper algorithms.

Figure 6 depicts the blockchain architecture for MG.

Blockchain is seen as a possible option for effective operation of renewable microgrids, such as sophisticated point-to-point transactions between producers, dealers, and users that employ elaborate algorithms to authenticate, secure, and record these transactions. This is because of the increasing communal, financial, diplomatic, and environmental repercussions and methods, such as increasing electricity consumption, dealing with the middleman, market liberalization, and pollution. Many authors have investigated blockchain in the context of microgrids from various perspectives. discusses the importance of blockchain, its benefits, and its challenges. presented real-world solutions, such as the Brooklyn Microgrid, which is built on a blockchain ecosystem and use the proof-of-work (PoW) technology. 

Additional in-depth research for persons who want to propose and implement feasible methods and techniques for renewable microgrids based on blockchain technology. Furthermore, red. Demonstrates an efficient P2P blockchain-based energy market between a microgrid and a smart grid, with the distributed consensus method evaluated in the presence of a fault data injection attack (FDIA). In the face of a cyberattack, the key findings of this article revealed that the general agreement process continues, with the P2P market's production response approaching that of the centralized energy market. 

In line with the spirit of the solution, the authors of suggested a concept for a blockchain-based integrated energy management platform and a bilateral trading mechanism that, based on simulation results, considerably optimizes energy flow in a microgrid. Provided a new model for blockchain-based energy systems, with a Pythagorean fuzzy approach for determining the ideal energy creation, distribution, and disposal. Results demonstrating higher profitability and fewer CO2, which proposes an alternative P2P energy trading strategy among dispersed generations based on the same technology and applying a fuzzy meta-heuristic pricing solution. 

Furthermore, in [64], the benefits of merging the power market with blockchain were studied, with transactions focused using a multi-agent coordination and trading model based on the Ethereum private blockchain. As we progress through this section, we see that blockchain applications differ based on the underlying infrastructure technology of microgrids, such as AC, DC, or hybrid AC-DC MGs.

Problems and Solutions: Blockchain-based renewable microgrids provide several advantages but confront substantial challenges. From the beginning to the conclusion, there are limitations in technology, finance, society, the environment, politics and institutions, laws and regulations, social norms, and privacy and security. Privacy, resource management, limits, and pricing remain difficult to balance realistically and successfully. Consortiums operate microgrids in a variety of ways; thus, determining and agreeing on the best algorithm or methods to apply; the most acceptable technology; the most appropriate investor; and a highly skilled crew are critical.

3.5. Energy Management System Using Blockchain

The creation and deployment of a distributed system that incorporates blockchain benefits both producers and users in the energy market. Wind and solar power are becoming increasingly common renewable energy sources, and as a result, the energy market structure and the demand for secure energy transactions have developed to meet this increase. This is possible with the use of blockchain technology. The distributed ledger technology of blockchain has enormous promise for energy marketing transactions. An EMS intends to promote trustworthy real-time energy trading among all energy market players, including but not limited to producing systems (including renewable and nonrenewable energy sources), consumer services, energy suppliers, and so on. Figure 7 displays an EMS's blockchain architecture.

Figure 7: An EMS's blockchain architecture.

The SG intends to integrate alternative and conventional energy sources. We have individual dwellings, apartment complexes, office buildings, commercial centers, and so on on the demand side. Additionally, EV charging stations are available to Singaporeans. The entities in the consumer sector, on the other hand, not only consume but also create electricity. This type of consumer is referred to as a prosumer. When consumers store and use energy surpluses, they assist to reduce the load on the power infrastructure. While this relieves strain on the electrical infrastructure, it also necessitates careful monitoring of who buys and sells electricity. Personal information protection safeguards for both parties are equally important to the operation of the energy marketplace. To achieve this purpose, blockchain technology may be integrated into the EMS.

The blockchain network, as shown in Figure 7, aims to link all SG domains, including the producing system, technological infrastructure, consumption system, regulator, and control center. The blockchain-based EMS guarantees the privacy and integrity of energy transactions due to its distributed nature, interoperability, and smart contracts. To ensure safety and privacy in the energy trading sector, private blockchains may incorporate data protections and restricted group access. Because of its decentralized character, the blockchain-based EMS enhances transparency in P2P energy trading without endangering users' right to privacy.

Challenges and Solutions: Trading challenges occur when energy expenditures grow, necessitating tight management of the trading system; it cannot be permitted to function unchecked. Stringent supervision of this trading system is required because as the energy transaction grows, so do the problems. As a result, introduced an online platform for managing energy transactions, allowing clients to learn more about their own pricing and usage patterns. Yi Zhang et al. addressed the security problem for users and energy flow in ref. S.N.G. Gourisetti et al. introduced an online double auction-based energy market structure. We can now have smart meters with additional privacy and security capabilities thanks to blockchain technology.

Furthermore, proposed a framework for monitoring renewable energy production by storing and selling energy between houses and user communication networks. 

3.6. Energy Management System Using Blockchain

Because of the expansion of technologies such as blockchain, IoT, and cloud computing, the smart city framework is fast evolving. The Internet of Things (IoT)'s future will determine the design of "smart cities," including the number and type of sensors and "smart objects" used to gather information about public facilities and services, as well as the accessibility of that information to the general public, the effectiveness of environmental safeguards, and the level of economic growth. Figure 8 shows a high-level blockchain architecture for SCs. Running all of the smart city's services on the same blockchain network would be unfeasible. 

As a result, cities of various sizes and smart service kinds will require varied blockchain network architectures. It is feasible that each blockchain will be adapted to the exact requirements of a certain application. A blockchain stores data created by smart technology (such as smart automobiles, smart homes, and smart hospitals). We will require proper methodologies and blockchain frameworks to ensure the services function smoothly.

Figure 8: A high-level overview of a blockchain infrastructure for SCs.

Outline some of the challenges with smart city transportation. These studies demonstrated how to use blockchain to improve public transportation and logistics, water supply, green energy, the environment, health, and education. Blockchain allows for the use of distributed stored data and transactions between producers and beneficiaries without the need for intermediaries, such as banks or governments. Smart contracts are becoming more significant in the evolution of transactions between parties, and blockchain architecture will help to accelerate this process. These contracts are triggered by either party's actions (understandings) or by sensor, actuator, or Internet-of-Things tag readings. 

As a result, block chain technology will benefit logistics, energy, the ecosystem, water management, health, and other sectors as it helps transform communities into smart cities.

Challenges and Solutions: Smart city entities come in a vast range. Smart city organizations deploy a variety of blockchain networks, each tailored for a specific use case. When it comes to smart transportation, for example, gadgets are continually moving to new locations, but they remain static when it comes to smart lighting. Because of the scattered nature of the entities, the blockchain's design must be properly thought out before implementation. Proper research is required to improve blockchain technology so that it is both resilient and fast. Furthermore, due to incompatibility, data transfer from one blockchain network to another in the SC may be challenging.