Data Trading in Smart Grids: Future Research Directions

The proliferation of measuring devices and sensors has resulted in a surge in smart grid (SG) data volume. However, the potential users of SG data usually face difficulty in accessing the SG data. The lack of an effective SG data exchange platform can be one of the underlying causes behind this issue. Limited accessibility of SG data can be one of the major bottlenecks towards the anticipated success of data-driven algorithms in SGs. One of the possible solutions is to establish smart grid data markets (SGDMs) for trading SG data. In this regard, recently an online survey was conducted in order to understand the stakeholders’ views on various aspects of data trading in SGs. The survey helped in identifying several obstacles including data privacy, security threat to the grid, data authenticity and money availability. These obstacles must be addressed before data trading becomes a reality in SGs. Hence, this paper proposes several directions for future research in the area of SGDMs. At first, several unique characteristics of SG data are discussed. These characteristics should be considered while addressing the challenges associated with SGDMs. Then, this paper sheds light on several areas of technical research related to data trading in SGs such as data pricing, data quality assessment, privacy pricing, privacy-preserving data trading, data value assessment, and security of data trading in SGs. In addition, this paper also identifies several areas of policy-oriented research related to SGDMs. There is a need for extensive research along the proposed research directions in order to make data trading in SGs viable in the future.