An Outlook of Flexibility Aggregation of Distributed Energy Sources over a Blockchain-enabled Energy Internet

Abstract

China aims to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. This announcement positioned the fast-growing information and communication technology industry in China to begin transitioning toward building a low-carbon or zero-emission Information and communication industry. The ICT infrastructure such as IDCs is growing to be multi-MW loads in many cities. Meanwhile, the fast-growing blockchain-based digital economy exacerbates energy consumption, especially driven by the consensus proof of work mechanism by Bitcoin. The paper discussed the technical architecture of integrating distributed resources via flexibility aggregation such as internet data center loads and energy storage systems into Blockchain-based energy internet. This Blockchain-powered distributed energy resources aggregation aims to support local renewable generation and consumption via blockchain-secured peer-to-peer energy trading. The architecture for such energy transactions should be built with considerations for resilience, scalability, and availability. This paper discussed the challenges of meeting carbon emission goals for the information and communication industry in China, the availability and characteristics of ESS and IDC UPS as flexible resources in the blockchain-enabled peer-to-peer energy trading architecture. Lastly, the paper summarizes a framework for the construction of the new electric power grid in a response to China’s ambition to achieve her 2030 and 2060’s carbon neutrality goals.