Efficient and Secure Strategy for Energy Systems of Interconnected Farmers′ Associations to Meet Variable Energy Demand
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- The transaction for the sale of the energy produced by the photovoltaic panels (PV), installed in the farmers’ associations on the arid lands, located on the irrigation systems channel or on the roofs of the animal farms;
- The purchase transaction with tokens. The farmers use tokens to buy the energy required to supply the water pumps from the irrigation systems, the charging station that powers the agricultural electrical equipment, and the farm facilities;
- Monitoring the amount of energy produced and consumed;
- Monitoring the transactions with tokens.
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- Smart blockchain contracts for energy management in farmers’ associations eliminate intermediary transactions, being transparent, encouraging the formation of partnerships, in addition to optimizing processes in farmers′ associations;
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- Integration of DLT technology for farmers’ associations to ensure the transparency of the energy marketing process and the storage of data in immutable databases;
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- Implementation of tokenization and development of an internal economy within farmers′ associations according to the European Directive 2018/843/EU, and the ERC20 and ETC721 standards based on the Ethereum blockchain;
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- Integration of smart meters in a software package for the automatic energy management in farmers′ associations.
2. Blockchain Implementation in Multiple Domains
2.1. Blockchain Implementing
2.2. Results of Blockchain Implementation
3. Case Study: Energy Management Platform Dedicated to Farmers’ Associations
3.1. Energy Management Platform Architecture
- Trading—the platform offers farmers′ associations that have PV fields to trade excess of energy through smart contracts or to buy from the energy market;
- Transparency—the platform offers transparency regarding the transactions made;
- Energy efficiency
- Safety
- Real-time monitoring cost
3.2. Innovative Character of the Application
- Smart contracts run on blockchain for energy management in farmers’ associations. Nationally, blockchain technology is not used for energy management in farmers’ associations, and internationally, there are similar projects (Lo3Energy (USA) or Power Ledger), but they are oriented towards optimizing the processes of farmers’ associations. The novelty is represented by the fact that blockchain technology will eliminate intermediary transactions, being transparent, and encouraging partnership formation.
- Promote PV integration in farmers’ associations. Nationally, only a few farms using PV have been identified, but interest exists according to the Romanian Agency for Payments and Intervention for Agriculture [74]. Internationally, there are farms that own PV, but blockchain technology has not yet been used in energy management. [75]. The novelty is creating PV parks within farmers’ associations (on arid lands, on the surface of irrigation channels, on roofs) [76].
- Automatic administration of energy management in farmers’ associations. Nationally, although smart meters are introduced [77], users do not have control over the energy management, and currently, there are no digital systems for managing energy production and consumption. Internationally, there are companies that produce prepaid smart meters [78] and offer software platforms for their management [79]. They are not intended for use within farmers’ associations. In this study, integrating these energy management hardware devices into a dedicated software package for farmers’ associations is approached innovatively.
- Integration of DLT technology for farmers’ associations. Nationally, there are software products that implement DLT technologies for data transparency and publication in immutable databases. An example is the SterilTrack product [80]. These products are not addressed to the energy field. Internationally, there are articles on the role of DLT in agriculture, for example, FAOUN published in 2019 a report exemplifying how DLT can make an important contribution to agriculture innovation [81]. It is used in Georgia, USA, for agricultural land registration [18], insurance administration, and supply chain management [82]. The novelty is represented integrating the DLT technology for the transparency of the energy trading process in the farmers’ associations. It would represent a novelty both at a national and international level, and through this, the project proposal has an innovative character.
- Tokenization of goods and development of an internal economy. Nationally, there are no specialized products or literature regarding the tokenization of goods and the development of an internal economy within a closed ecosystem. Internationally, there are numerous products and services that facilitate the tokenization of goods and the generation of tokens, such as the ERC20 standard and the ETC721 standard based on the Ethereum blockchain [83], as well as articles in the literature [84]. This practice is regulated by European Directive 2018/843/EU. The novelty is given by researching and implementing the tokenization and developing an internal economy within the farmers’ associations.
3.3. Management Platform Dedicated to Farmers Association
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- administration and record of the associations registered and using the platform;
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- administration and record of the users, details, such as PV configuration;
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- data stored by each association regarding the energy produced (DLT);
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- interface with the Ethereum blockchain for calculating the number of utility tokens held by each user;
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- interfacing with the platform’s utility token trading market;
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- historical data on the amount of energy produced and consumed;
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- API interface for the mobile application.
4. Results and Discussion
- A.
- Working principle
- B.
- Accessing the data
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- energy produced
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- energy consumed for their own use
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- energy distributed into the association grid to association members or others
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- conversion rate of energy produced in related interest to tokens
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- token balance
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- token trading—smart contracts management [99]
- C.
- Implementing the application and samples from the results obtained
- D.
- Financial forecasts
5. Conclusions
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- It has been shown that the solution proposed in agriculture brings several benefits related to financial improvements and economic growth of agricultural farms by creating photovoltaic parks on arid land, on the surface of irrigation canals, etc., and last but not least, to reducing pollution.
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- The integration of smart blockchain contracts for energy management in farmers′ associations offers increased efficiency and easier and safer access to agricultural services.
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- The security, traceability, and certification of financial processes are improved by integrating DLT technology for farmers′ associations and publishing data in immutable databases, helping governance to enforce the legal, regulatory framework and stop food fraud.
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- The smart marketing developed within the application allows farmers to make agriculture more efficient and to recycle more.
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- The proposed application ensures easier access to agricultural services and insurance, improves the working environment, and facilitates finding employment by implementing tokenization and developing an internal economy within farmers′ associations in accordance with European Directive 2018/843/EU
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Domain | Scope of Implementation | Achieved Performance |
---|---|---|
Agriculture | Energy efficiency market [2]. | Stopping food fraud, affirm legitimacy in agriculture commodities, and promote food safety [10]. |
Facilitates the farmer access to agricultural services [3]. | Ensures a transparent supply chain and overcomes factors, such as policies, technical aspects, regulatory framework, governance, and accessibility [11]. | |
Improve the performance of the application in real-time [4]. | Food safety in agriculture [12]. | |
Effectively reduce the intervention of humans in the system [5]. | Sustainable digital agriculture and sales increase [14]. | |
Applicability at small or large scale [7]. | Improves work environment and workers are less troubled [6]. | |
Smart farming, agricultural insurance, food supply chains, transactions of agricultural products from practical and theoretical perspectives [9]. | Better performance of the systems [8]. | |
Provides safety, traceability, finance security, certification, and evolution. [13] | ||
Automotive | Unify the multiple payment methods available and increases security and privacy [15]. | Cost-effective, efficient, and scalable [18]. |
Feasibility and a wide applicability range [16]. | Scalability, transparency, costs, integrity, traceability, anonymity [19]. | |
Authentication, transparency, integrity, trustworthiness, robustness, traceability, privacy, security, anonymity. [17] | ||
Smart city | Better services and efficiency [21]. | Development of intelligent parking, unifying different payment methods for parking, rental of mobile vehicles, such as bicycles, scooters, drinking water, transport infrastructure [20]. |
Improvements on the dimensions: Organization, technology, and human [22]. | Fixing the issues on the security system [24]. | |
Improve the life of the citizen and increases the market on energy and information [23]. | ||
Evolution and development in the tourism [24]. | ||
Energy | Peer to peer energy solutions [25]. | Balance supply and demand [28]. |
Reduced costs [26]. | High scale applicability [29]. | |
Security of the energy trading [27]. | ||
Tourism | Higher ROI [30]. | Increases trust and reputation [31,32]. |
Provides high-level propositions for further interventions and improvements [33]. | Transparency in smart food tourism, boost the local economy, easy access systems, reliability on the market chain, better selling strategies, and product originality and traceability [34]. | |
Health | Wider and more precise databases for doctors, management of the pharmaceutical industry according to needs [35]. | Upgrades security and storage, proves verifiability, decentralization, and immutability [36]. |
Improved insurance billing, better medical records, secure access to data, smart contacts and distributed database, device tracking, hospital assets, prescription databases [35]. | Management and secure analysis of medical sensors, reduces the vulnerability of the system [37]. | |
Improved data management [38]. | ||
Reduces the failures in the security system, reduces costs, and increases the accuracy of the data [39]. | ||
Water | Lowering the price of energy [40]. | Socioeconomic gains, technical advantages, transparency, security, overall efficiency, reduced operational cost [41]. |
Reduces water crises [40]. | Sustainable projects and environmental protection [42]. | |
More accurate load, cost reduction [43]. | Fast payment and delivery confirmation [44]. | |
Public administration | Verifiable and permanent way in the public ledger [47]. | Voting system without any fraud, regulatory implications, governance, and security for government [45]. |
Better practices. [48] | Discounts in the transaction costs, provides a more valuable e- governance and a better e-service [46]. | |
Increase transparency in the dividends and reduces tax fraud [49]. | ||
Logistics and supply chain | Completed supervision system in the process of logistics service transaction [50]. | The algorithm realizes the end-to-end traceability of the logistics service supply chain, and the service transaction is transparent, while ensuring the integrity and security of the data [50]. |
Achieve the consistency of the data on the chain with real-world status, as well as the authenticity and transparency of philanthropy logistics data [51]. | Increases the user’s trust in the project, enhance the system’s cleanliness coefficient, and increases the quality of philanthropically raised materials [51]. | |
Improving performance [52]. | Trustworthiness and visibility to management and process improvement decisions [52]. | |
Improvement of logistics service [53]. | Breaks this limitation and achieves central coordination of logistics resources to satisfy heterogeneous requests [53]. | |
Exploring the potential of the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain technology in smart logistics and transportation [54]. | ||
Paradigm shift in the domains of Supply-chain and logistics [55]. | Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the logistics domain being positively affected [55]. | |
Security threats and privacy leak risks in the operation process of related data of intelligent logistics system [56]. | Improving the efficiency and supervision of the operation of the intelligent logistics system [56]. | |
Improve the information flow between the supply chain partners [57]. | Drive digital transformation, constitute new business models, and unify the industry through consortia [57]. | |
Industry | To provide blockchain service over cloud computing environments [58]. | Developers can focus on the business code to explore how to apply blockchain technology more appropriately to their business scenarios [58]. |
To protect data validity and to enhance inter and intra-organizational communications. To increase the efficiency of the manufacturing process [59]. | Blockchain application, such as additive manufacturing, cloud manufacturing, and building information models (BIM0s) [59]. | |
To fix the privacy protection issues [60]. | Quick convergence with advanced verifications and member selections [60]. | |
The widespread future adoption of blockchain technology in major areas [61]. | ||
The automotive industry a platform able to distribute trusted and cyber-resilient information that defies current non-collaborative organizational structures [62]. | ||
To develop Industry 4.0 applications [63]. | Provides a detailed guide for the future Industry 4.0 developers [63]. | |
A guide for engineering managers wishing to make sense of blockchain’s potential in electricity [64]. | ||
Newer application areas of blockchain technology [64]. | Assists decision-makers in their blockchain adoption and investment in Industry 4.0 and Industrial IoT (IioT) space [65]. | |
Improve systems scalability, robustness, data storage, network latency, auditability, immutability, and traceability [66]. | ||
Securely recording and sharing transactional data, establishing automated and efficient supply chain processes, and enhancing transparency across [67]. | Better efficiency of blockchain technology [67]. | |
The opportunity to generate the necessary level of trust between unknown and anonymous counterparts to allow them to trade without intermediaries [68]. | ||
Increase the number of applications of blockchain in the oil and gas industry [69]. | Better understanding of the of blockchain technology [69]. | |
Fixing security and scalability issues [70]. | ||
To ensure information security and achieve efficient product traceability [71]. | Better product perception, complete information delivery, and increased effectiveness [71]. |
Research | Production | Exploitation | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 | Year 7 | Year 8 | Year 9 | Year 10 | |
Customers number | 0 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 300 | 435 | 566 | 691 | 767 | 805 |
Sales | 0 | 0 | 0 | 116,000 | 156,600 | 204,363 | 239,305 | 262,995 | 291,920 | 306,383 |
Subscription price | - | - | - | 580 | 522 | 470 | 423 | 381 | 381 | 381 |
Research | Production | Exploitation | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 | Year 7 | Year 8 | Year 9 | Year 10 | |
K1. Raw materials and materials | Note: Expenses according to the project budget, covered by non-reimbursable financing and own contributions. | −120,000 | −1260 | −1323 | −1389 | −1459 | −1532 | −1608 | −1689 | |
K2. Staff costs (including contributions) | −129,514 | −64,757 | −97,135 | −129,514 | −161,892 | −194,270 | −210,460 | −226,649 | ||
K3. Rents, operating leasing royalties | −3309 | −1654 | −2482 | −3309 | −4136 | −4963 | −5377 | −5790 | ||
K4. Utilities (fuel, energy, water, etc.) | −1614 | −807 | −1211 | −1614 | −2018 | −2422 | −2623 | −2825 | ||
K5. Transport | −190 | −95 | −143 | −190 | −238 | −286 | −309 | −333 | ||
K6. Advertisement | −1500 | −25,000 | −26,250 | −27,562 | −28,941 | −30,388 | −31,907 | −33,502 | ||
K7. Trips | −3211 | −1606 | −2408 | −3211 | −4014 | −4817 | −5218 | −5620 | ||
K8. Maintenance, upkeep, repairs, etc. | −5846 | −2923 | −4388 | −5846 | −7308 | −8770 | −9500 | −10,231 | ||
K9. Training | −2240 | −1120 | −1680 | −2240 | −2800 | −3360 | −3640 | −3920 | ||
K10. Taxes on buildings, land, cars, etc. | −1998 | −999 | −1499 | −1998 | −2498 | −2998 | −3247 | −3497 | ||
Total cash outflows | −150,623 | −100,222 | −138,515 | −176,875 | −215,303 | −253,804 | −273,890 | −294,057 |
Reference Years | Indicator name | Research | Production | Exploitation | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | 2018 | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 | Year 7 | Year 8 | Year 9 | Year 10 | |
2927,593 | 4206,667 | Total income | 5587,811 | 6399,399 | 6603,415 | 6933,586 | 7280,265 | 7498,673 | 7723,634 | 7955,343 | 8194,003 | 8439,823 |
187,387 | 243,204 | Cost of the sold goods | 291,845 | 321,033 | 330,660 | 340,580 | 350,797 | 357,813 | 364,970 | 372,269 | 379,714 | 387,309 |
2740,206 | 3963,463 | Gross edge | 5295,966 | 6078,370 | 6272,755 | 6593,006 | 6929,468 | 7140,860 | 7358,664 | 7583,074 | 7814,289 | 8052,514 |
2000,452 | 2931,366 | Expenses related to sales, administrative | 3898,717 | 4561,498 | 4835,188 | 5125,300 | 5432,818 | 5704,459 | 5989,681 | 6289,166 | 6603,624 | 6933,805 |
228,341 | 315,984 | Other operating expenses | 539,402 | 602,134 | 521,204 | 552,477 | 585,625 | 614,907 | 645,652 | 677,935 | 711,831 | 747,423 |
511,414 | 716,113 | Operational profit | 857,847 | 914,737 | 916,362 | 915,230 | 911,025 | 821,495 | 723,331 | 615,974 | 498,833 | 371,287 |
36,113 | 34,424 | Financial expenses | 36,145 | 37,953 | 39,091 | 40,264 | 41,472 | 42,301 | 43,147 | 44,010 | 44,891 | 45,788 |
28,608 | 15,501 | Financial income | 15,966 | 16,445 | 16,774 | 17,109 | 17,451 | 17,801 | 18,157 | 18,520 | 18,890 | 19,268 |
503,909 | 697,190 | Profit before tax | 837,668 | 893,229 | 894,045 | 892,075 | 887,005 | 796,994 | 698,340 | 590,483 | 472,833 | 344,766 |
72,455 | 96,607 | Taxes | 134,027 | 142,917 | 143,053 | 142,732 | 141,921 | 127,519 | 111,734 | 94,477 | 75,653 | 55,163 |
431,455 | 600,583 | Net profit financial year | 703,641 | 750,312 | 750,998 | 749,343 | 745,084 | 669,475 | 586,605 | 496,006 | 397,180 | 289,603 |
0 | 0 | Net loss financial year | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Reference Years | Indicator Name | Research | Production | Exploitation | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | 2018 | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 | Year 7 | Year 8 | Year 9 | Year 10 | |
2927,593 | 4206,667 | Total income | 55,878,109 | 6399,399 | 6754,159 | 7049,586 | 7436,865 | 7703,036 | 7942,938 | 8218,337 | 8485,923 | 8746,206 |
187,387 | 243,204 | Cost of the sold goods | 291,845 | 321,029 | 330,660 | 340,580 | 350,797 | 357,813 | 364,970 | 372,269 | 379,714 | 387,309 |
2740,206 | 3963,463 | Gross edge | 5295,966 | 6078,370 | 6423,378 | 6709,006 | 7086,068 | 7345,223 | 7597,969 | 7846,068 | 8106,209 | 8358,897 |
2000,452 | 2931,366 | Expenses related to sales, administrative | 3898,717 | 4561,498 | 4835,188 | 5225,521 | 5571,333 | 5881,333 | 6204,985 | 6542,970 | 6877,514 | 7227,861 |
228,341 | 315,984 | Other operating expenses | 539,402 | 602,134 | 671,828 | 552,477 | 585,625 | 614,907 | 645,652 | 677,935 | 711,831 | 747,423 |
511,414 | 716,113 | Operational profit | 857,847 | 914,737 | 916,362 | 931,008 | 929,110 | 848,983 | 747,332 | 625,164 | 516,863 | 383,613 |
36,113 | 34,424 | Financial expenses | 36,145 | 37,953 | 39,091 | 40,264 | 41,472 | 42,301 | 43,147 | 44,010 | 44,891 | 45,788 |
28,608 | 15,501 | Financial income | 15,966 | 16,445 | 16,774 | 17,109 | 17,451 | 17,801 | 18,157 | 18,520 | 18,890 | 19,268 |
503,909 | 697,190 | Profit before tax | 837,668 | 893,229 | 894,045 | 907,853 | 905,089 | 824,482 | 722,341 | 599,673 | 490,863 | 357,092 |
72,455 | 96,607 | Taxes | 134,027 | 142,917 | 143,047 | 145,257 | 144,814 | 131,917 | 115,575 | 95,948 | 78,538 | 57,135 |
431,455 | 600,583 | Net profit financial year | 703,641 | 750,312 | 750,998 | 762,597 | 760,275 | 692,565 | 606,767 | 503,726 | 412,325 | 299,958 |
0 | 0 | Net loss financial year | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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Raboaca, M.S.; Bizon, N.; Trufin, C.; Enescu, F.M. Efficient and Secure Strategy for Energy Systems of Interconnected Farmers′ Associations to Meet Variable Energy Demand. Mathematics 2020, 8, 2182. https://doi.org/10.3390/math8122182
Raboaca MS, Bizon N, Trufin C, Enescu FM. Efficient and Secure Strategy for Energy Systems of Interconnected Farmers′ Associations to Meet Variable Energy Demand. Mathematics. 2020; 8(12):2182. https://doi.org/10.3390/math8122182
Chicago/Turabian StyleRaboaca, Maria Simona, Nicu Bizon, Catalin Trufin, and Florentina Magda Enescu. 2020. "Efficient and Secure Strategy for Energy Systems of Interconnected Farmers′ Associations to Meet Variable Energy Demand" Mathematics 8, no. 12: 2182. https://doi.org/10.3390/math8122182
APA StyleRaboaca, M. S., Bizon, N., Trufin, C., & Enescu, F. M. (2020). Efficient and Secure Strategy for Energy Systems of Interconnected Farmers′ Associations to Meet Variable Energy Demand. Mathematics, 8(12), 2182. https://doi.org/10.3390/math8122182