Improved Resilience of Local Energy Markets using Blockchain Technology and Self-Sovereign Identity

Abstract

The Digital Green Transition of the energy industry is accelerating as decarbonization and digitalization of the power market and system are gaining momentum. Unlocking the full and real potential of local energy markets is among the opportunities to be demystified in the coming years, with blockchain technology being a prominent enabler. Important subcomponents such as functional and fair local energy pricing mechanisms and management algorithms will be required for next-generation digital local energy trading and management platforms. Even though rapid digitalization of the energy sector offers considerable advantages, it also increases the cyber-physical risk levels of energy systems in general. The proposed framework of this paper accommodates considerable undiscovered aspects of democratization of the energy systems and future digital shared economy conventions. Nevertheless, privacy concerns must be addressed in tandem with the cyber-physical security of local energy markets and their ecosystem. This work proposes a joint privacy and cyber-physical security framework designed for local energy markets to improve cyber-physical resilience. All related parts, such as blockchain technology and self-sovereign identity, are used in an organized way to create a possible solution.