303 research outputs found
Discussion on drivers and proposition of approaches to support the transition of traditional electricity consumers to prosumers
In recent years, traditional power systems have undergone a significant transition, mainly
related to the massive penetration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES). More specifically, the
transformation of residential consumers into prosumers has been challenging to the traditional
operation of electricity markets. This transition brings new challenges and opportunities to
the power system, leading to new Business Model (BM). One widely discussed change is
related to a consumer-centric or prosumer-driven approach, promoting increased participation
of small consumers in power systems. The present thesis aims at discussing the recent BMs as
enablers of the increasing prosumers’ role in the energy market and power system worldwide,
deepening the discussion with a holistic view of the Brazilian context. To do so, it defines
the main features of prosumers and their general related regulation as well as possible market
designs within power systems. Moreover, the work intends to contribute to the knowledge,
identification and understanding of the main regulatory barriers and enablers for the development
of those BMs in the Brazilian energy market. In addition, it discusses enabling technologies to
properly create the conditions that sustain new prosumer-driven markets. Then, it presents a
comprehensive review of existing and innovative BMs and a discussion on their future roles in
modern power systems and, in the Brazilian regulatory framework seeking to guide the decisions
for the country to develop its political and regulatory environment in the future. Moreover, a
set of recommendations for promoting these BMs in the power system worldwide is provided
along with policy recommendations to promote prosumers aggregation in the Brazilian energy
sector. An important conclusion is that, even though economically possible, not all innovative
BMs can spread around the world due to regulatory issues. Seeking to further explore one of
the prosumer-driven approaches presented and the challenges imposed by this innovative BM,
a study of energy and reserve markets based on the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) structure is carried out.
This structure is very promising for the prosumers’ promotion but presents some challenges for
the network operation. A critical challenge is to ensure that network constraints are not violated
due to energy trades between peers and neither due to the use of reserve capacity. Therefore,
two methodologies are proposed. First, is proposed a three-step approach (P2PTDF), using
Topological Distribution Factors (TDF) to penalize peers responsible for violations that may
occur in the network constraints, ensuring a feasible solution. Second, it is proposed a new
integrated prosumers-DSO approach applied in P2P energy and reserve tradings that also ensures
the feasibility of both energy and reserve transactions under network constraints. The proposed
approach includes the estimation of reserve requirements based on the RES uncertain behavior
from historical generation data, which allows identifying RES patterns. The proposed models
are assessed through a case study that uses a 14-bus system, under the technical and economic
criteria. The results show that the approaches can ensure a feasible network operation.Nos últimos anos, os sistemas tradicionais de energia passaram por uma transição significativa, principalmente relacionada à penetração massiva de fontes de energia renováveis (do
inglês, Renewable energy sources-RES). Mais especificamente, a transformação de consumidores
residenciais em prosumidores tem desafiado a atual operação do mercado de energia elétrica.
Essa transição traz novos desafios e oportunidades para o sistema elétrico, levando a novos
modelos de negócios (do inglês, Business Models-BM). Uma mudança amplamente discutida
está relacionada a uma abordagem centrada no consumidor ou direcionada ao prossumidor,
promovendo maior participação de pequenos consumidores nos sistemas de energia. A presente
tese tem como objetivo discutir os recentes BMs como facilitadores do crescente papel dos
prosumidores no mercado de energia e no sistema elétrico mundial, aprofundando a discussão
com uma visão holística do contexto brasileiro. Para tanto, define as principais características
dos prosumidores e sua regulamentação geral relacionada, bem como possíveis designs de
mercado dentro dos sistemas de energia. Além disso, o trabalho pretende contribuir para o
conhecimento, identificação e compreensão das principais barreiras regulatórias e facilitadoras
para o desenvolvimento desses BMs no mercado brasileiro de energia. Assim como, discutir as
tecnologias importantes para criar adequadamente as condições que sustentam novos mercados
orientados ao consumidor final. Em seguida, apresenta uma revisão abrangente dos BMs existentes e inovadores e uma discussão sobre seus papéis futuros nos sistemas de energia modernos
e, no quadro regulatório brasileiro, buscando orientar as decisões para que o país desenvolva
seu ambiente político e regulatório no futuro. Além disso, um conjunto de recomendações
para promover esses BMs no sistema de energia em todo o mundo é fornecido juntamente com
recomendações de políticas para promover a agregação de prosumidores no setor de energia
brasileiro. Uma conclusão importante é que, mesmo sendo economicamente possível, nem todos
os BMs inovadores podem se espalhar pelo mundo devido a obstáculos regulatórias. Buscando
explorar ainda mais uma das abordagens orientadas ao prosumidor apresentadas e os desafios
impostos por este BM inovador, é realizado um estudo dos mercados de energia e de reserva com
base na estrutura ponto a ponto (do inglês, peer-to-peer-P2P). Esta estrutura é muito promissora
para a promoção dos prosumidores mas apresenta alguns desafios para o funcionamento da rede.
Um desafio crítico é garantir que as restrições da rede não sejam violadas devido a negociações
de energia entre pares e nem devido ao uso da capacidade de reserva. Portanto, duas metodologias são propostas. Primeiramente, é proposta uma abordagem em três passos (P2PTDF),
utilizando Fatores de Distribuição Topológica (do inglês, Topological Distribution Factors-TDF
) para penalizar os peers responsáveis por violações que possam ocorrer nas restrições da rede,
garantindo uma solução viável. Em segundo lugar, é proposta uma nova abordagem integrada
de prosumidores-DSO aplicada em transações P2P de energia e reserva que também garante a
viabilidade de transações de energia e reserva sob restrições de rede. A abordagem proposta
inclui a estimativa dos requisitos de reserva com base no comportamento incerto da RES a partir
de dados históricos de geração, o que permite identificar padrões de RES. Os modelos propostos
são avaliados através de um estudo de caso que utiliza um sistema de 14 barras, sob os critérios
técnico e econômico. Os resultados mostram que as abordagens podem garantir uma operação
de rede viável abrangendo energia e mercados de reserva
Examining justice issues in minigrids for rural electrification: a participatory and interdisciplinary study
Electricity is necessary for many basic needs, but globally over 700 million people lack access. Economic modelling suggests that minigrids or solar home systems are often the most cost-effective solution in unelectrified rural areas. There has been an increase in the role of the private sector in delivering these projects, which leads to justice questions about implementation.
This thesis uses participatory and interdisciplinary approaches to explore justice issues in minigrids for rural electrification in Tanzania. Six rural minigrids were visited across the country, with one village, Mpale, forming the main case study. Data collection methods include interviews, focus groups, surveys, observations and participatory activities. Data were analysed using a grounded coding methodology in NVivo and through economic and technical approaches. This included a distributional analysis of tariff costs and a comparison of measured load profiles with customer survey data. The use of participatory methods in this research provided additional insights, developed through more equal relationships with communities, as well as outputs that benefited the communities I worked with and the minigrid sector in Tanzania.
I have found that energy justice issues manifest in many ways. Poorer households often pay more per unit of electricity than others. Under some tariffs, households self-disconnect, which also influences the load profiles of minigrids. Community perspectives are often only considered to a limited amount and are not given adequate information. There is discordance between community expectations and project realities, particularly regarding tariff costs. Load-profile modelling doesn’t adequately consider the local context, particularly the affordability of tariffs and desired demand compared to actual usage.
I conclude that there needs to be consideration of justice issues in rural minigrids. Increased participation of communities in policy and project planning would help to ensure their needs are better considered, which may also increase the likelihood of projects being successful
Unleashing the power of internet of things and blockchain: A comprehensive analysis and future directions.
As the fusion of the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain technology advances, it is increasingly shaping diverse fields. The potential of this convergence to fortify security, enhance privacy, and streamline operations has ignited considerable academic interest, resulting in an impressive body of literature. However, there is a noticeable scarcity of studies employing Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to dissect and categorize this field. This review paper endeavours to bridge this gap by meticulously analysing a dataset of 4455 journal articles drawn solely from the Scopus database, cantered around IoT and blockchain applications. Utilizing LDA, we have extracted 14 distinct topics from the collection, offering a broad view of the research themes in this interdisciplinary domain. Our exploration underscores an upswing in research pertaining to IoT and blockchain, emphasizing the rising prominence of this technological amalgamation. Among the most recurrent themes are IoT and blockchain integration in supply chain management and blockchain in healthcare data management and security, indicating the significant potential of this convergence to transform supply chains and secure healthcare data. Meanwhile, the less frequently discussed topics include access control and management in blockchain-based IoT systems and energy efficiency in wireless sensor networks using blockchain and IoT. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to apply LDA in the context of IoT and blockchain research, providing unique perspectives on the existing literature. Moreover, our findings pave the way for proposed future research directions, stimulating further investigation into the less explored aspects and sustaining the growth of this dynamic field
Blockchain and artificial intelligence enabled peer-to-peer energy trading in smart grids
Peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading allows smart grid-connected parties to trade renewable energy with each other. It is widely considered a scheme to mitigate the supplydemand imbalances during peak-hour. In a P2P energy trading system, users (e.g., prosumers, Electric Vehicles (EV)) increase their utility by trading energy securely with each
other at a lower price than that of the main grid. However, three challenges hinder the
development of secured P2P energy trading systems. First, there is a lack of implicit trust
and transparency between trading participants because they do not know each other. Second, P2P energy trading systems cannot offer an intelligent trading strategy that could
maximize users’ (agents’) utility. This is because the agents may lack previous trading
experience data that enable them to select an optimal trading strategy. Third, the current
energy trading platforms are mainly centralized, which makes them vulnerable to malicious
attacks and Single point of failure (SPOF). This may interrupt the transaction validation
mechanism when the system is compromised, and the central database is unavailable. [...
Efficiency and Sustainability of the Distributed Renewable Hybrid Power Systems Based on the Energy Internet, Blockchain Technology and Smart Contracts-Volume II
The climate changes that are becoming visible today are a challenge for the global research community. In this context, renewable energy sources, fuel cell systems, and other energy generating sources must be optimally combined and connected to the grid system using advanced energy transaction methods. As this reprint presents the latest solutions in the implementation of fuel cell and renewable energy in mobile and stationary applications, such as hybrid and microgrid power systems based on the Energy Internet, Blockchain technology, and smart contracts, we hope that they will be of interest to readers working in the related fields mentioned above
Challenges and pathways of low-carbon oriented energy transition and power system planning strategy: a review
This paper provides an overview of the challenges and pathways involved in achieving a low-carbon-oriented energy transition roadmap and power system planning strategy. The transition towards low-carbon energy sources is crucial in mitigating the global climate change crisis. However, this transition presents several technical, economic, and political challenges. The paper emphasizes the importance of an integrated approach to power system planning that considers the entire energy system (including both physical and information systems and market mechanisms) and not just individual technologies. To achieve this goal, the paper discusses various pathways toward low-carbon energy transition, including the integration of renewable energy sources into current energy systems, energy efficiency measures, and market-based and regulatory strategies encompassing the implementation of regulations, standards, and policies. Furthermore, the paper underscores the need for a comprehensive and coordinated approach to energy planning, taking into account the socio-economic and political dimensions of the transition process. In addition, the paper reviews the methodologies used in modeling low-carbon-oriented power system planning, including both model-based methods and advanced machine learning-assisted solutions. Overall, the paper concludes that achieving a low-carbon-oriented energy transition roadmap and power system planning strategy requires a multi-dimensional approach that considers technical, economic, political, and social factors
Blockchain Technology in the Nordic Energy Market and in the Renewable Energy Sector
The goal of this master’s thesis is to research the current state of blockchain technology, identify opportunities and challenges of blockchain technology in the Nordic energy market and in the renewable energy sector and recognize possible use cases. Climate change and decreasing natural resources are the main drivers to finding new solutions to utilize renewable energy and boost energy efficiency. There is growing energy demands that cannot be met by conventional energy systems. The energy systems are changing to be dynamic with numerous participants, and managing this complex system needs automation. Energy trading is transforming, and a suitable communication and trading system between market participants is needed.
The Nordic countries have ambitious progress goals towards carbon neutrality by 2050. The Nordic energy market is one of the most successfully functioning regional markets in Europe and has a high share of renewable energy consumption, which has remained well above the EU average. Blockchain technology is a distributed system and includes a consensus protocol. New transactions are added to the blockchain agreed by all nodes. The most interesting area of adoption of blockchain technology is the energy industry revolution, and several researchers in the academic world believe that this technology can bring changes in the energy sector. So far, there is a lack of research of this kind; hence this research will give a solid foundation for future research.
First, in this master’s thesis theory part is provided to give a comprehensive overview of the main concepts of the research. The central concepts of this master’s thesis are Blockchain technology, the Nordic energy market, and the renewable energy sector. The definition and fundamental principles of blockchain technology are clearly stated that the reader understands the basics of this emerging technology. Then Nordic energy market is introduced containing market participants, current challenges, the transformation of the energy system, comprehensive setting of trends and megatrends and drivers of change in the energy sector, and finally, the renewable energy sector is introduced. The theory part supports the empirical part and gives justification for the research results.
The research was conducted as qualitative survey research by organizing surveys for several energy sector stakeholders in every Nordic country. The survey objective is to find an answer to the main research question and sub research questions from the five different dimensions with the help of the TESEI framework. This master’s thesis concludes that blockchain technology is a potential solution for different challenges in the Nordic energy market and in the renewable energy sector. It could simplify many processes, help the Nordic electricity market be much more efficient, offer novel solutions, change business models in the long term, and inspire new ways of thinking about services related to the energy industry
- …