Abstract
Data security of present-day power systems, such as the electricity market, has spurred global interest in both industry and academia. The electricity market can either be regulated (state-controlled entrance, policies, and pricing) or deregulated (open for competitors). While the security threats in a deregulated electricity market are commonly known and have been investigated for years, those in a regulated market still have scope for extensive research. Our current work focuses on exploring the data security of the regulated electricity market, and the regulated New Zealand Electricity Market (NZEM) has been considered for this research. Although the chances of cyberattacks on state-controlled regulated electricity market are relatively less, different layers of the current SCADA systems do pose some threats. In this context, we propose a decentralized Ethereum Blockchain-based end-to-end security prototype for a regulated electricity market such as the NZEM. This prototype aims to enhance data security between the different layers of the current SCADA systems. The detailed operation process and features of this prototype are presented in this work. The proposed prototype has prospects of offering improved data security solutions for the regulated electricity market.
Highlights
The worldwide demand for electricity is expected to rise by 1.3% per year until 2040, primarily due to the effect of globalization [1]
The prospect of implementing blockchain technology for a regulated electricity market is investigated in this paper, and a decentralized end-to-end Ethereum Blockchain prototype is proposed to enhance the data security between the different layers of the current Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems used in regulated electricity market like New Zealand Electricity Market (NZEM)
Ethereum is an electronic currency used for funds exchange in an encrypted system which does not depend on any legalized central banking system
Summary
The worldwide demand for electricity is expected to rise by 1.3% per year until 2040, primarily due to the effect of globalization [1]. Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are an integral part of the physical infrastructure of NZEM that monitors and stores real-time data of the grid network. Most of the technical information about the specific SCADA control modules have been widely available as open-source content This information, can be used to compromise the security of the entire SCADA system. Blockchain technology, equipped with the key features of digital, chronological, time-stamped, distributed ledger, consensus-based, and cryptographically sealed, is considered as a potential tool to provide the data security of the electricity market. The prospect of implementing blockchain technology for a regulated electricity market is investigated in this paper, and a decentralized end-to-end Ethereum Blockchain prototype is proposed to enhance the data security between the different layers of the current SCADA systems used in regulated electricity market like NZEM.
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