Blockchain electricity trading using tokenised power delivery contracts. ESRI Working Paper No. 649 December 2019

This paper proposes a new mechanism for forward selling renewable electricity generation. In this transactive framework, a wind or solar farm may directly sell to consumers a claim on their future power output in the form of nonfungible blockchain tokens. Using the flexibility of smart contract code, which executes irrevocably on a blockchain, the realised generation levels will offset the token holders’ electricity consumption in near real-time. To elucidate the flexibility offered by such smart contracts, two ways of structuring these power delivery instruments are considered: firstly, an exotic tranched system, where more senior tokens holders enjoy priority claims on power, as compared against a simpler pro-rata scheme, where the realised output of a generator is equally apportioned between token holders. A notional market simulation is provided to explore whether, for instance, consumers could exploit the flatter power delivery profiles of more senior tranches to better schedule their responsive demands

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Codifying Systematic Manuscript Preparation Checklists as a Training and Productivity Resource for Research Students

EDUCON2022: 13th IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference on Digital Transformation for Sustainable Engineering Education, Tunis, Tunisia, 28-31 March 2022This paper aims to provide research students with a tool to make explicit and tangible the steps needed to efficiently produce a high-quality, polished research manuscript. The tool is implemented as a set of checklist resources to be completed by the research student at various stages of manuscript production. Fundamentally, humans are forgetful and are typically poor at consistently executing multi-part procedures in a systematic way. The simple technology of checklists overcome this weakness of human cognition. The checklists themselves function as a learning re-enforcement aide, ensuring that students methodically and repeatedly work through the prescribed workflow for manuscript production and proofreading. Interactive pdf documents were chosen as a suitable educational technology to implement these checklist resources. Such pdf documents contain fillable boxes that can be completed and saved by the user, avoiding the need to print, scan or manually edit such forms. Embedding quality control and proof-reading feedback in such digital documents promotes good record keeping and captures the progression of a manuscript though its different stages of drafting

Maximising Branch Power Flows as a Descriptive Structural Metric for Electrical Networks

This paper describes an optimization-based procedure that identifies the maximum power flow that each branch in an electrical network could be exposed to. The procedure uses a linear optimal power flow formulation that determines the flow-maximising generator dispatch and loading conditions for each branch in turn. This theoretical upper bound on the power flow that a branch could be exposed to is termed its loadability. The paper proposes this loadability as a descriptive structural metric that helps reveal the fundamental origin of congestion in power system. For instance, it is insightful to compare a branch's loadability with its as-built thermal capacity, to identify those branches that are most congestion-prone, or alternatively, those lines which can never exploit their full available capacity. In the six test systems studied, it is found that there is wide variation in the loadability of the various branches, where some would be loaded well beyond their thermal limits by particular generating schedules, whereas other branches can never operate beyond even a fraction of their thermal capabilities. Low branch reactance is found to be a key driver of high loadability in power systems, and this suggests new appraoches to alleviating transmission system congestion.Science Foundation Irelan

Negative Results on Deploying Distributed Series Reactance Devices to Improve Power System Robustness Against Cascading Failures

Distributed Series Reactances are devices that dynamically increase the impedance of a line to reduce the power ow it carries. This work explores whether widely deploying these devices enhances a power system's robustness against line overload cascading failures. The presence of Distributed Series Reactances may make it less likely that equipped lines would become overloaded by contingencies elsewhere, and so their presence may arrest the propagation of line overloads through a system. However, the ecacy of these devices in this role has not been widely investigated. Likewise, there are few extant methodologies for siting dynamic reactances within the grid to mitigate the propagation of cascades. In this paper, the ability of these devices to arrest the propagation of cascading failures within power grids is investigated. First, a novel dc power ow is formulated, which models dynamic line impedances. A novel methodology is proposed for siting the devices on lines spread throughout the network. With these innovations in hand, the devices eects on cascade propagation are simulated using a sizeable database consisting of multiple load & generation snapshots across eight test networks. No major benecial eect is found, even when 25% of lines are equipped.Science Foundation IrelandUCD Energy Institut

Hedging Volumetric Risks of Solar Power Producers Using Weather Derivative Smart Contracts on a Blockchain Marketplace

The vulnerability of solar power producers to sunshine fluctuations exposes them to the volumetric risk that future electricity generation may deviate from predicted generation. Weather derivatives have recently emerged as a tool for hedging the volumetric risks of these power producers. However, the state-of-the-art instruments have several shortcomings, contributing to their limited application in the industry. Therefore, novel solar radiation-based weather derivative smart contract arrangements on a blockchain marketplace are proposed to address some of the main limitations of traditional instruments. In this regard, the cash flow of solar generators is modelled to assess the weather elements causing its stochasticity. Using this information, novel smart contract arrangements on a blockchain marketplace with solar radiation days as the underlying weather index are developed and analytically valued. Thereafter, a suite of novel smart contract autonomous mechanisms compelling contracting parties to behave rationally and maintain an enduring arrangement is presented. Finally, a trading strategy based on the developed smart contract arrangements is proposed to minimize the power producers’ volatility risk. Results emanating from notional simulations indicate that the proposed approach could be more suitable for hedging the volumetric risks of solar power producers than traditional instruments.Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI

Towards the Use of Computer Vision Techniques on Streetscape Imagery to Empower Citizens in the Planning Enforcement Process

The 25th Irish Machine Vision and Image Processing Conference, University of Galway, Ireland, 30 August - 1st September 2023Urban streetscapes are often cluttered with intrusive advertising signage, which is typically erected without appropriate planning permission. This paper proposes the deployment of computer vision techniques to automatically identify this type of illicit signage within geotagged and timestamped digital images taken of an urban streetscape from a moving vehicle. Such object detection can underpin a semi-automated workflow for instigating planning enforcement complaints against offending signage at scale. The implemented method utilises deep learning models for object detection on a manually collated and labelled dataset of 1051 images containing illegal advertising signage. The system is evaluated on a batch of acquired streetscape images collected from various urban areas in Dublin, Ireland. The results demonstrate high accuracy and efficiency in detecting non-compliant vinyl banners and property signs. This implementation is offered as an example of the potential for computer vision techniques to mediate new relationships between citizens and local authorities

A Taxonomy of the Risks and Challenges of Embracing Blockchain Smart Contracts in Facilitating Renewable Electricity Transactions

IEEE Power Engineering Society Conference and Exposition in Africa, PowerAfrica, Kigali, Rwanda, 22-26 August 2022Environmental imperatives and global energy supply crisis are driving interests in the renewable electricity industry. Yet, the revenue risks of renewable generators make it challenging for them to attract finance from traditional investors. Several mechanisms have been proposed to minimize these risks but have their limitations. Blockchain smart contract arrangements have emerged as a new marketplace, addressing the shortcomings of these traditional electricity hedging mechanisms. However, they have their peculiar challenges, potentially impeding their mainstream adoption in the renewable electricity industry. Hence, this paper develops a novel taxonomy of the risks and challenges of embracing blockchain smart contracts in facilitating renewable electricity transactions. Examining these issues indicates that the adoption of blockchain smart contracts in the renewable energy industry can be facilitated by cooperation and partnerships between technology developers and researchers, renewable energy companies, as well as governments.Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI

Towards Imposing Dayparted Restrictions on Tokenised Energy within Peer-to-Peer Markets

The 9th International Conference on Renewable Power Generation (RPG Dublin), Dublin, Ireland (held online due to Coronavirus outbreak), 1-2 March 2021This piece proposes a novel mechanism for peer-to-peer electricity trading whereby energy tokens can only be redeemed in the same part of the day as when they were generated. The aim of this regulatory mechanism is to reduce token hoarding by consumers to better align the physical production and consumption of electricity, which in turn could decrease electrical system losses and minimise the chance of grid imbalances. To establish the effectiveness of this dayparting mechanism a market simulation is performed. This simulation is made up of 24 consumers’ and five producers’ profiles over a seven-day week. An optimisation is performed to most effectively allocate energy tokens from producers to consumers, aiming to minimise the total energy imported from the larger grid i.e. to make most effective use of local generation. Consumers are permitted to perform a measure of demand response by modulating their demand at certain points while keeping their total energy consumption constant. Allocated energy tokens can be consumed immediately, or during any subsequent daypart to the same type. A series of power flow analyses are performed using the market simulation out-turns to establish the electrical system effects. Consumers are found to move some demand to weekend days when demand is lower but generation is equally abundant. Electrical results reveal a decrease in system losses, as well as less fluctuation from the larger grid supplySustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI

Dissolving Metaphors in Peer-To-Peer Energy Trading: Towards a More Concrete Understanding of Metering, Legitimacy and Revenue Flows

The 2022 IEEE 1st Global Emerging Emerging Technology Blockchain Forum: Blockchain & Beyond (iGETblockchain), Irvine, CA, United States of America, 7-11 November 2022Peer-to-peer (P2P) tokenised energy trading has seen much research interest in recent years. Despite this, the concrete physical workings of such marketplaces are rarely explained in the extant literature. This paper discusses notional P2P marketplaces with regard to their real-world implementation. The analysis of the physical/electrical layer and metaphorical token layer are kept distinct. Tokenised energy is conceptualised here as a dynamic license to consume, which serves as a flow of legitimacy for energy consumption in P2P schemes as typically proposed. Ledger structures, including centralised and decentralised/blockchain examples are examined. With the above points in mind, the workings of a notional blockchain-aware smart meter are described. The authors argue that while P2P energy trading may be a useful tool for regulators and for integration into smart token ecosystems, the drawbacks associated with decentralised tokenised energy markets may outweigh the apparent benefits at present.Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI