A survey on blockchain‐enabled smart grids: Advances, applications and challenges. Issue 2 (20th May 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Chao; Zhang, Xiaoshuai; Chai, Kok Koeng; Loo, Jonathan; Chen, Yue
• Is Part Of: IET smart cities. Volume 3:Issue 2(2021)
• Page Start: 56
• Page End: 78
• Publication Date: 2021-05-20
• Subjects: Smart cities -- Periodicals; City planning -- Technological innovations -- Periodicals; Cities and towns -- Growth -- Periodicals; Sustainable urban development -- Periodicals; Sustainable development; City planning -- Technological innovations; Cities and towns -- Growth; Periodicals; 307.76
• DOI: 10.1049/smc2.12010
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2631-7680

Abstract

Abstract: Electric power grid infrastructure has revolutionized our world and changed the way of living. So has blockchain technology. The hierarchical electric power grid has been shifting from a centralized structure to a decentralized structure to achieve higher flexibility and stability, and blockchain technology has been widely adopted in the energy sector to deal with grid management, billing, metering, and so on, because of its nature of decentralization. Here, the aim is to provide a multi‐dimensional review on the technological advances of the blockchain in smart grids. Its corresponding applications based on these advances, including company projects and use cases, are summarized. Furthermore, the security threat issues in smart grids, Ethereum Virtual Machine (i.e. the operating environment of consensus mechanisms), and smart contracts are analysed, with a brief conclusion to manifest the prior tasks in building secure blockchain‐based infrastructures in smart grids. As such, the challenges and features of different protocols and their applicability in each use case are identified to provide an insightful guide for future research studies.