Distributed Renewable Energy Management: A Gap Analysis and Proposed Blockchain-Based Architecture.

Area of Science:

• Energy Systems
• Information Technology
• Distributed Ledger Technology

Background:

• Traditional IT infrastructure struggles with the complexity of decentralized renewable energy sources.
• Existing grid systems face challenges in managing heterogeneous and distributed energy generation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the current state of grid infrastructure and propose a blockchain-enabled future state.
• To identify architectural requirements for a blockchain-enhanced grid.
• To present a novel hybrid architecture for renewable energy systems.

Main Methods:

• Overview of current grid system technology layers.
• Gap analysis between traditional and blockchain-enabled infrastructures.
• Development of architectural requirements for a blockchain future state.
• Proposal of a hybrid architecture integrating blockchain, verifiable credentials, and smart contracts.

Main Results:

• Identification of key challenges in current grid IT infrastructure for renewable energy.
• A proposed set of architectural requirements for a future blockchain-enabled grid.
• A novel hybrid architecture designed to support critical renewable energy layers.
• Demonstration of the architecture's capability to manage system architecture, registries, grid management, billing, privacy, and interoperability.

Conclusions:

• Blockchain technology is crucial for addressing the limitations of centralized IT in renewable energy grids.
• The proposed hybrid architecture offers a viable solution for secure, interoperable, and efficient grid management.
• This approach uniquely supports essential technological layers for the integration of renewable energies.