Towards Flexible Distribution Systems : Future Adaptive Management Schemes

During the ongoing evolution of energy systems toward increasingly flexible, resilient, and digitalized distribution systems, many issues need to be developed. In general, a holistic multi-level systemic view is required on the future enabling technologies, control and management methods, operation and planning principles, regulation as well as market and business models. Increasing integration of intermittent renewable generation and electric vehicles, as well as industry electrification during the evolution, requires a huge amount of flexibility services at multiple time scales and from different voltage levels, resources, and sectors. Active use of distribution network-connected flexible energy resources for flexibility services provision through new marketplaces will also be needed. Therefore, increased collaboration between system operators in operation and planning of the future power system will also become essential during the evolution. In addition, use of integrated cyber-secure, resilient, cost-efficient, and advanced communication technologies and solutions will be of key importance. This paper describes a potential three-stage evolution path toward fully flexible, resilient, and digitalized electricity distribution networks. A special focus of this paper is the evolution and development of adaptive control and management methods as well as compatible collaborative market schemes that can enable the improved provision of flexibility services by distribution network-connected flexible energy resources for local (distribution system operator) and system-wide (transmission system operator) needs.© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Possibilidades de uso e aplicabilidade da tecnologia Blockchain no agronegócio

Blockchain tem sido vista como uma ferramenta tecnológica que pode ser aplicada em diferentes setores, com o intuito de solucionar diversos problemas. Nesse sentido, para responder à questão da pesquisa, optou-se por realizar um estudo quantitativo e qualitativo, seguindo três etapas de execução. Primeiramente, realizou-se uma revisão sistemática da literatura cientifica, tencionando responder o primeiro objetivo deste estudo. A análise sistemática foi extraída dos documentos indexados nas plataformas Elsevier’s Scopus e Web of Science (WoS) considerando a metodologia Prisma, da qual o conteúdo dos documentos elegidos estão diretamente relacionados à temática. Foram selecionados 71 artigos para análise. Na segunda etapa, aplicou-se técnicas de mineração de texto, o Text Mining, dos artigos previamente selecionados. A análise de mineração de textos utilizada envolveu a recuperação de informações, análise textual e extração de dados de estudos científicos. Para tanto, envolveu se diversas fases, entre elas, a primeira foi a seleção de 68 artigos dos 71 elegidos na primeira etapa. A terceira etapa consistiu na elaboração de entrevistas com dez especialistas envolvidos em projetos relacionados com a Tecnologia Blockchain, como: gestores, coordenadores, desenvolvedores e participantes que tenham conhecimento de negócio e de programação/estrutura dessa tecnologia. Buscou-se apontar, por meio dessas entrevistas, as vantagens e desvantagens da utilização da tecnologia blockchain nos segmentos do agronegócio e identificar seus desafios e barreiras. Quanto aos resultados obtidos, evidenciou-se o início das publicações em 2016 na WoS e 2017 na Scopus, demonstrando que a temática é recente. Ademais, a maior concentração das publicações ocorre em países da China e dos Estados Unidos da América (EUA), com destaque nas áreas de Ciência da Computação e Engenharia. Observou-se diversas lacunas para estudos futuros, com significativo valor para a ciência, indústria e sociedade. Na análise sistemática, identificou-se os principais segmentos do agronegócio em que a tecnologia está sendo utilizada, entre eles: financeiro, energia, logística, meio ambiente, agrícola, pecuária e indústria. Constatou-se que a tecnologia traz inúmeros benefícios quando utilizada nas cadeias produtivas do agronegócio. Contudo, a blockchain é uma tecnologia em desenvolvimento nos diversos setores, com várias possibilidades de aplicação e amplas vantagens, tais como: aumento da confiança, redução de riscos nas transações, menor burocracia, redução dos custos em razão da eliminação de intermediários, diminuição dos riscos e de fraudes e maior privacidade devido a controles rigorosos e com muito mais segurança, pelo fato da imutabilidade dos dados. Conclui-se que a pesquisa sobre a aplicabilidade e o uso da blockchain nos setores do agronegócio estão em estágio inicial, incluindo a fase de testes e experimentação, uma vez que foram identificados, a partir das análises, protótipos de laboratório em teste de aplicação. Para tanto, a tecnologia blockchain está e será aplicada e usada em todos os segmentos da economia, promovendo maior confiabilidade e agilidade nas informações e redução de custos.Blockchain has been seen as a technological tool that can be applied in different sectors, in order to solve various problems. In this sense, to answer the research question, it was decided to carry out a quantitative and qualitative study following three stages of execution. At first, a systematic review of the scientific literature was carried out to answer the first objective of the study. The systematic analysis was extracted from documents indexed on the platforms Elsevier’s Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) considering the Prisma methodology, whose content of the chosen documents are directly related to the theme. 71 articles were selected for analysis. In the second stage, text mining techniques, Text Mining, from previously selected articles were used. The text mining analysis used involved information retrieval, textual analysis and data extraction from scientific studies. To this end, several stages were involved, in which 68 articles from the 71 selected in the first stage were first selected. In the third stage, interviews were conducted with ten specialists involved in projects related to Blockchain Technology, such as: managers, coordinators, developers and project participants who have knowledge of the business and programming / structure of the technology. We sought to point out, through these interviews, the advantages and disadvantages of using blockchain technology in the agribusiness segments and to identify the challenges and barriers of technology in agribusiness. As for the results obtained, the start of publications in 2016 in WoS and 2017 in Scopus was evidenced, demonstrating that the theme is recent. In addition, the largest concentration of publications occurs in the countries of China and the United States, especially in the areas of Computer Science and Engineering. Several gaps were observed for future studies, with significant value for science, industry and society. In the systematic analysis, the main agribusiness segments in which the technology is being used were identified, including: financial sector, energy, logistics, environment, agriculture, livestock and industry. It was found that the technology brings numerous benefits when used in the agribusiness production chains. However, blockchain is a technology under development in different sectors with several possibilities of application and wide advantages, for example: increased confidence, reduced risks in transactions, less bureaucracy, reduced costs due to the elimination of intermediaries, reduced risks and fraud, greater privacy due to strict controls and with much more security due to the immutability of data. It is concluded that research on the applicability and use of blockchain in the agribusiness sectors is at an early stage, including the testing and experimentation phase, since laboratory prototypes under application testing were identified from the analyzes. Therefore, blockchain technology is and will be applied and used in all segments of the economy, promoting greater reliability, agility in information and cost reduction

A Blockchain-Based Authorization System for Trustworthy Resource Monitoring and Trading in Smart Communities

Resource consumption in residential areas requires novel contributions in the field of consumer information management and collaborative mechanisms for the exchange of resources, in order to optimize the overall consumption of the community. We propose an authorization system to facilitate access to consumer information and resource trading, based on blockchain technology. Our proposal is oriented to the Smart communities, an evolution of Community Energy Management Systems, in which communities are involved in the monitoring and coordination of resource consumption. The proposed environment allows a more reliable management of monitoring and authorization functions, with secure data access and storage and delegation of controller functions among householders. We provide the definition of virtual assets for energy and water resource sharing as an auction, which encourages the optimization of global consumption and saves resources. The proposed solution is implemented and validated in application scenarios that demonstrate the suitability of the defined consensus mechanism, trustworthiness in the level of provided security for resource monitoring and delegation and reduction on resource consumption by the resource trading contribution

A Blockchain-Based Authorization System for Trustworthy Resource Monitoring and Trading in Smart Communities

Resource consumption in residential areas requires novel contributions in the field of consumer information management and collaborative mechanisms for the exchange of resources, in order to optimize the overall consumption of the community. We propose an authorization system to facilitate access to consumer information and resource trading, based on blockchain technology. Our proposal is oriented to the Smart communities, an evolution of Community Energy Management Systems, in which communities are involved in the monitoring and coordination of resource consumption. The proposed environment allows a more reliable management of monitoring and authorization functions, with secure data access and storage and delegation of controller functions among householders. We provide the definition of virtual assets for energy and water resource sharing as an auction, which encourages the optimization of global consumption and saves resources. The proposed solution is implemented and validated in application scenarios that demonstrate the suitability of the defined consensus mechanism, trustworthiness in the level of provided security for resource monitoring and delegation and reduction on resource consumption by the resource trading contribution

BlockNet Report: Exploring the Blockchain Skills Concept and Best Practice Use Cases

In order to explore the practical potential and needs of interdisciplinary knowledge and competence requirements of Blockchain technology, the project activity "Development of Interdisciplinary Blockchain Skills Concept" starts with the literature review identifying the state of the art of Blockchain in Supply Chain Management and Logistics, Business and Finance, as well as Computer Science and IT-Security. The project activity further explores the academic and industry landscape of existing initiatives in education which offer Blockchain courses. Moreover, job descriptions and adverts are analyzed in order to specify today's competence requirements from enterprises. To discuss and define the future required competence, expert workshops are organized to validate the findings by academic experts. Based on the research outcome and validation, an interdisciplinary approach for Blockchain competence is developed. A second part focuses on the development of the Blockchain Best Practices activity while conducting qualitative empirical research based on case studies with industry representatives. Therefore, company interviews, based on the theoretical basis of Output 1, explore existing Blockchain use cases in different sectors. Due to the interdisciplinary importance of Blockchain technology, these skills will be defined by different perspectives of Blockchain from across multiple mentioned disciplines. The use cases and companies for the interviews will be selected based on various sampling criteria to gain results valid for a broad scale. The analysis of the various use cases will be conducted and defined in a standardized format to identify the key drivers and competence requirements for Blockchain technology applications and their adoption. On the one hand, this approach ensures comparability, on the other hand, it facilitates the development of a structured and systematic framework.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2102.0322