Blockchain Technology for Monitoring Energy Production for Reliable and Secure Big Data
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Related Work
3. Fundamentals
3.1. Blockchain
Advantages of Blockchain versus a Database
3.2. Smart Contract
3.3. IoT
3.4. Main Actors in the Energy System
- Distributor: the electricity distribution company is responsible for the network of power lines, underground cables, substations, and so on, that bring electricity to a user’s home. It also owns the meters and takes readings of energy usage.
- User: the person who produces or consumes energy and uses the energy distributor’s services;
- Energy meter: a device used to measure both electricity production and consumption;
- Public Authority (PA): the government institution that oversees the national power grid and accesses power system data such as the current load of the electricity grid in a neighborhood, district, or city.
4. Materials and Methods
4.1. System Overview
- An energy smart meter;
- A blockchain.
- An IoT device;
- A python application;
- A smart contract.
4.2. Software Technologies
- Python 3.8 coding language to develop the main application;
- The Application Programming Interface (API) for reading data from smart meters;
- The web3.py 6.11 python library for reading block data, signing and sending transactions, and interacting with smart contracts;
- The object-oriented, high-level Solidity [49] programming language for writing the smart contract.
4.2.1. Python Development Environment
4.2.2. Ganache Installation and Configuration
4.2.3. Smart Contract Development
- addUser: authorize a user (wallet) to write energy production data to the blockchain;
- removeUser: remove a previously authorized user;
- verifyUser: verify whether a user is authorized to write hourly energy production data to the blockchain;
- addProduction: write an array to the blockchain containing information on energy produced in the last hour (only for addresses in the whitelist).
4.2.4. Decentralized Application Development
5. Results
5.1. System Performance
- Connection request to the smart energy sensor (Step 1);
- Energy production request (Step 2);
- Production data writing on the blockchain (Step 3).
5.2. Blockchain Performance
5.3. Storage Analysis
6. Discussion
7. Conclusions and Future Work
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Technology | Energy | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ref. | Blockchain | Big Data | P2P Trading | Data Managem. | Grid Opt. | Tracking |
[10] | ✔ | x | ✔ | x | x | x |
[29,30] | ✔ | x | x | ✔ | x | x |
[31] | ✔ | x | x | x | ✔ | x |
[32] | ✔ | x | x | x | x | ✔ |
[33] | ✔ | x | ✔ | x | x | x |
[34,35,36] | x | ✔ | x | x | x | x |
[37] | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | x | x | x |
[38] | ✔ | ✔ | x | ✔ | x | x |
[39] | ✔ | ✔ | x | ✔ | x | x |
[42] | ✔ | x | ✔ | x | x | x |
Ref. | Strengths of Previous Studies |
---|---|
[10] | Increases blockchain scalability without compromising security and decentralization. |
[29] | Presents an advanced P2P energy trading system using blockchain, low-cost, low-power, open-source, and readily available components. |
[30] | Implements a low-cost P2P energy trading system. |
[31] | Provides a scalable and reliable blockchain-based security platform for Smart Grid. |
[32] | Integrates Blockchain technology into smart environment and smart mobility for tracking the sources and type of renewable energy. |
[33] | Implements a decentralized market platform for local energy exchange, with associated economic evaluation. |
[34] | Illustrates the issues and challenges related to big data in dynamic energy management used in smart grids. It also describes the data processing methods most commonly used in the literature. |
[35] | Develops a new architecture for electrical load forecasting that integrates data selection, extraction, and classification into a single model. |
[36] | Presents a technology infrastructure for managing large volumes of information through Big Data tools to support renewable energy integration. |
[37] | Presents a review of blockchain implementations for cybersecurity and energy data protection in smart grids. |
[38] | Reviews the methods and application of Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Internet of Things, and Blockchain in smart energy management. |
[39] | Proposes a decentralized big data auditing scheme for smart cities, with lower communication and computational costs than existing schemes. |
[42] | Illustrates a decentralized energy trading system that uses blockchain, multiple signatures, and anonymous encrypted messaging streams for securely and anonymously trading energy prices. |
Description | Max. Response Time (in Seconds) |
---|---|
Hourly Energy Production Request | 2.3 |
Successful Transaction on Blockchain | 5.2 |
Total Time | 7.5 |
Name | Value | Description |
---|---|---|
Gtxcreate | 32,000 | Paid by all contract-creating transactions after the Homestead transition. |
Gtxdatanonzero | 68 | Paid for every non-zero byte of data or code for a transaction. |
Gtransaction | 21,000 | Paid for every transaction. |
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Gerardi, M.; Fallucchi, F.; Orecchini, F. Blockchain Technology for Monitoring Energy Production for Reliable and Secure Big Data. Electronics 2023, 12, 4660. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12224660
Gerardi M, Fallucchi F, Orecchini F. Blockchain Technology for Monitoring Energy Production for Reliable and Secure Big Data. Electronics. 2023; 12(22):4660. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12224660
Chicago/Turabian StyleGerardi, Marco, Francesca Fallucchi, and Fabio Orecchini. 2023. "Blockchain Technology for Monitoring Energy Production for Reliable and Secure Big Data" Electronics 12, no. 22: 4660. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12224660
APA StyleGerardi, M., Fallucchi, F., & Orecchini, F. (2023). Blockchain Technology for Monitoring Energy Production for Reliable and Secure Big Data. Electronics, 12(22), 4660. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12224660