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Comparative analysis of blockchain-based smart contracts for solar electricity exchanges

February 17, 2019

Authors: Jason Lin, Manisa Pipattanasomporn, and Saifur Rahman

Conference10th Conference on Innovative Smart Grid Technologies (ISGT 2019), February 17-20, 2019, Washington D.C., USA

DOI

Abstract: With the advent of blockchain technology and the increasing penetration of rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems, a new opportunity for energy trading through smart contracts has emerged. Challenges arise in such transactive markets to ensure individual rationality, incentive compatibility, budget balance, and economic efficiency during the auction process. This paper presents a comparative analysis of different smart contracts for solar electricity exchange in terms of market demand and supply metrics. Auction mechanisms considered in this paper are discriminatory and uniform k-Double Auction (k-DA). A simulation case study of 100 participants in a microgrid is presented using typical residential load and solar PV generation profiles. Results indicate that the discriminatory k-DA mechanism has the highest average percentage of contracts cleared and quantity traded during the period of excess solar energy generation, regardless of the level of PV penetration.