Blockchain Technology for Smart Grids

Smart grids with distributed clean energy generation, storage and prosumers are the future of energy systems. They need two-way digital communication between multiple customers and suppliers of energy, to produce, buy and sell electricity to the grid at small scales. These arrangements need a system that maintains, checks, and registers information about transactions.

Blockchain technology is able to handle these requirements with smart contracts, peer-to-peer energy trading and immutable transactions. A blockchain is a digital ledger of transactions that can be accessed across the entire network of computer systems. Combined with sensors to track energy flows, blockchain can enable the smart grid.

After an introduction to blockchain, chapters cover integration with IoT, IoT- and blockchain-enabled smart grids, use of sensors, security and privacy, use of machine and deep learning, energy storage and transaction, as well as use of cryptocurrencies for transactions.

Written by an international team with the necessary multi-disciplinarity, this work for researchers in power systems as well as economists with related interests covers the use of blockchain technology for smart grids.

Gururaj H. L. is an associate professor at Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering, Mysuru, India. He is a professional member of ACM, founder of Wireless Internetworking Group (WiNG), senior member of IEEE and lifetime member of ISTE and CSI, and board member of the International Journal of Block chains and Cryptocurrencies (IJBC). His research interests include Blockchain technology, wireless sensor networks, machine learning and others. He has published over 75 research papers in international journals.

Ravi Kumar V. is head of the Department in Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering, Mysuru, India. A professional member of ACM and lifetime member of ISTE, IETE and CSI, and board member of the International Journal of Block chains and Cryptocurrencies (IJBC), his research interests include Blockchain technology, data mining and machine learning.

Francesco Flammini is a professor of Computer Science with a focus on Cyber-Physical Systems at Mälardalen University, Sweden. He has led the Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) research and education area within the Smarter Systems complete knowledge environment. An IEEE senior member and the chair of the IEEE SMC Technical Committee on Homeland Security, he is currently a steering committee member and conference coordinator for the IEEE FDC Initiative on Symbiotic Autonomous Systems.

Hong Lin is a professor in computer science at University of Houston-Downtown, USA. He has worked on large-scale computational biology at Purdue University, active networks at the National Research Council Canada, and network security at Nokia, Inc. He established the Grid Computing Lab at UHD, and has published more than 100 research papers in various reputed international journals and conferences.

Goutham B. is an assistant professor at Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering Mysuru, Karnataka, India. He is the faculty member of the Wireless Internetworking Group (WiNG) and an RPA global certified member. His areas of interest include smart grids, cyber security, microgrids, renewable energy sources and electrical machines.