Blockchain: A Workable Distributed Energy Exchange Framework for Prosumers in a Micro-Grid

Abstract

The rampant increase in demand of electrical energy with raising life standards owing to technological advancement coupled with already stressed power system infrastructure, has exacerbated the energy regime. Chasing this demand gap, many countries are heavily investing in non-renewable generating plants. On one hand, it will worsen the global climatic condition, while on the other hand it will further tense the power transmission and distribution systems. A better alternative is to invest in renewable DG’s along with the culture of energy sharing. Currently, net metering is widely used for energy sharing, yet the introduction of Blockchain will revolutionize this industry. A dedicated analysis based on payback, breakeven point, levelized cost of energy, and rate of return has been carried out for both net metering and Blockchain system to find a workable distributed transactive energy exchange framework for con(pro)sumers in a micro-grid. Keywords— Blockchain, Net-Metering, Payback period, Levelized Cost of Energy, Break-Even Point.