When energy trading meets blockchain in electrical power system: The state of the art

With the rapid growth of renewable energy resources, energy trading has been shifting from the centralized manner to distributed manner. Blockchain, as a distributed public ledger technology, has been widely adopted in the design of new energy trading schemes. However, there are many challenging issues in blockchain-based energy trading, e.g., low efficiency, high transaction cost, and security and privacy issues. To tackle these challenges, many solutions have been proposed. In this survey, the blockchain-based energy trading in the electrical power system is thoroughly investigated. Firstly, the challenges in blockchain-based energy trading are identified and summarized. Then, the existing energy trading schemes are studied and classified into three categories based on their main focuses: energy transaction, consensus mechanism, and system optimization. Blockchain-based energy trading has been a popular research topic, new blockchain architectures, models and products are continually emerging to overcome the limitations of existing solutions, forming a virtuous circle. The internal combination of different blockchain types and the combination of blockchain with other technologies improve the blockchain-based energy trading system to better satisfy the practical requirements of modern power systems. However, there are still some problems to be solved, for example, the lack of regulatory system, environmental challenges and so on. In the future, we will strive for a better optimized structure and establish a comprehensive security assessment model for blockchain-based energy trading system.This research was funded by Beijing Natural Science Foundation (grant number 4182060).Scopu

Hydrodynamics-Biology Coupling for Algae Culture and Biofuel Production

International audienceBiofuel production from microalgae represents an acute optimization problem for industry. There is a wide range of parameters that must be taken into account in the development of this technology. Here, mathematical modelling has a vital role to play. The potential of microalgae as a source of biofuel and as a technological solution for CO2 fixation is the subject of intense academic and industrial research. Large-scale production of microalgae has potential for biofuel applications owing to the high productivity that can be attained in high-rate raceway ponds. We show, through 3D numerical simulations, that our approach is capable of discriminating between situations where the paddle wheel is rapidly moving water or slowly agitating the process. Moreover, the simulated velocity fields can provide lagrangian trajectories of the algae. The resulting light pattern to which each cell is submitted when travelling from light (surface) to dark (bottom) can then be derived. It will then be reproduced in lab experiments to study photosynthesis under realistic light patterns

Demand response performance and uncertainty: A systematic literature review

The present review has been carried out, resorting to the PRISMA methodology, analyzing 218 published articles. A comprehensive analysis has been conducted regarding the consumer's role in the energy market. Moreover, the methods used to address demand response uncertainty and the strategies used to enhance performance and motivate participation have been reviewed. The authors find that participants will be willing to change their consumption pattern and behavior given that they have a complete awareness of the market environment, seeking the optimal decision. The authors also find that a contextual solution, giving the right signals according to the different behaviors and to the different types of participants in the DR event, can improve the performance of consumers' participation, providing a reliable response. DR is a mean of demand-side management, so both these concepts are addressed in the present paper. Finally, the pathways for future research are discussed.This article is a result of the project RETINA (NORTE-01-0145- FEDER-000062), supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). We also acknowledge the work facilities and equipment provided by GECAD research center (UIDB/00760/2020) to the project team, and grants CEECIND/02887/2017 and SFRH/BD/144200/2019.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Digitizing Citizen Energy Communities : A Platform Engineering Approach

Low acceptance and protests against the increasing expansion of renewable generation capacities by local citizens have repeatedly slowed down the ongoing energy transition in western countries. A promising approach to address this issue is the energy community concept, for which the European Union introduced a regulatory framework within the \u27Directive on common rules for the internal market for electricity\u27. It refers to them communities as Citizen Energy Communities. Within these communities, participants can exchange locally generated energy and the community can be represented by a digital platform, which organizes the community\u27s continuous power distribution and financial flows. In the academic literature, these communities are discussed as a tool to actively integrate citizens into the energy system on a local level. They increase the acceptance by benefiting the local value chain and empower the energy sector\u27s decarbonization. However, there is a lack of research on how Citizen Energy Communities can be implemented in practice and how they perform under real-world conditions. This dissertation’s contribution addresses the empirical challenges in the implementation and long-term operating of Citizen Energy Communities. The thesis reports on six studies. In the first study, the necessary IT architecture and digital building blocks are developed based on a literature review and insights from a real-world implementation for Citizen Energy Communities are described. From the resulting experiences, requirements for the individual building blocks and technologies are deducted. Researchers propose that blockchain technology can accelerate the introduction of Citizen Energy Communities. Therefore, a maturity model for blockchain-based Citizen Energy Community projects is established in the subsequent study, which allows assessing the development status of field implementations and identifying necessary next steps. In the third study, a platform-based allocation mechanism is designed, which addresses heterogeneous preferences of participants and thus enables local prices for different local energy sources. Based on an implementation, the mechanism\u27s performance and functionality are evaluated. Besides the technical functionality, user behavior is of central importance for success. Therefore, seven user interface design principles are deducted in the fourth study based on a structured design science research process with the help of expert interviews and a behavioral laboratory experiment. In the fifth study, it is quantified and evaluated if participants are regularly active within the community, willing to pay premium prices for local renewable sources and whether they are responsive to local price signals as often assumed in the literature. The results show that Citizen Energy Communities need to be tested more thoroughly and that the platform\u27s allocation mechanism require a low complexity or additional support systems like automated agents. As a result, the sixth study evaluates the real-world trading performance of automated agents and their impact on the platform market. The results show that a single agent among human traders can minimize the participant\u27s cost. However, this advantage diminishes with the number of additional automated agents in the market. The thesis is concluded with an outlook and pathway for future research

Competitive Benchmarking: An IS Research Approach to Address Wicked Problems with Big Data and Analytics

Wicked problems like sustainable energy and financial market stability are societal challenges that arise from complex socio-technical systems in which numerous social, economic, political, and technical factors interact. Understanding and mitigating them requires research methods that scale beyond the traditional areas of inquiry of Information Systems (IS) “individuals, organizations, and markets” and that deliver solutions in addition to insights. We describe an approach to address these challenges through Competitive Benchmarking (CB), a novel research method that helps interdisciplinary research communities to tackle complex challenges of societal scale by using different types of data from a variety of sources such as usage data from customers, production patterns from producers, public policy and regulatory constraints, etc. for a given instantiation. Further, the CB platform generates data that can be used to improve operational strategies and judge the effectiveness of regulatory regimes and policies. We describe our experience applying CB to the sustainable energy challenge in the Power Trading Agent Competition (Power TAC) in which more than a dozen research groups from around the world jointly devise, benchmark, and improve IS-based solutions