2017/12/11 by José Horta, Horta, José, Daniel Kofman +3
Computer Science · Engineering · #Blockchain Technology Applications and Security #Computers and Society (cs.CY) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Multiagent Systems (cs.MA) #Smart Grid Energy Management #Smart Grid Security and Resilience
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1712.05841
openalex publication_date 2017/12/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The electricity distribution grid was not designed to cope with load dynamics imposed by high penetration of electric vehicles, neither to deal with the increasing deployment of distributed Renewable Energy Sources. Distribution System Operators (DSO) will increasingly rely on flexible Distributed Energy Resources (flexible loads, controllable generation and storage) to keep the grid stable and to ensure quality of supply. In order to properly integrate demand-side flexibility, DSOs need new energy management architectures, capable of fostering collaboration with wholesale market actors and pro-sumers. We propose the creation of Virtual Distribution Grids (VDG) over a common physical infrastructure , to cope with heterogeneity of resources and actors, and with the increasing complexity of distribution grid management and related resources allocation problems. Focusing on residential VDG, we propose an agent-based hierarchical architecture for providing Demand-Side Management services through a market-based approach, where households transact their surplus/lack of energy and their flexibility with neighbours, aggregators, utilities and DSOs. For implementing the overall solution, we consider fine-grained control of smart homes based on Inter-net of Things technology. Homes seamlessly transact self-enforcing smart contracts over a blockchain-based generic platform. Finally, we extend the architecture to solve existing problems on smart home control, beyond energy management.