Building a Community of Users for Open Market Energy

Abstract

Energy markets are based on energy transactions with a central control entity, where the players are companies. In this research work, we propose an IoT (Internet of Things) system for the accounting of energy flows, as well as a blockchain approach to overcome the need for a central control entity. This allows for the creation of local energy markets to handle distributed energy transactions without needing central control. In parallel, the system aggregates users into communities with target goals and creates new markets for players. These two approaches (blockchain and IoT) are brought together using a gamification approach, allowing for the creation and maintenance of a community for electricity market participation based on pre-defined goals. This community approach increases the number of market players and creates the possibility of traditional end users earning money through small coordinated efforts. We apply this approach to the aggregation of batteries from electrical vehicles so that they become a player in the spinning reserve market. It is also possible to apply this approach to local demand flexibility, associated with the demand response (DR) concept. DR is aggregated to allow greater flexibility in the regulation market based on an OpenADR approach that allows the turning on and off of predefined equipment to handle local microgeneration.