Blockchain-based sequential market-clearing platform for enabling energy trading in Interconnected Microgrids

Abstract

Interconnected Microgrids (IMGs) are considered a futuristic paradigm of power grids that offer modularity, resilience, and independence with energy exchangeability. In this context, each MG is accountable to its own citizens (i.e., generators or loads) and can participate in a market with its neighbours, if this enhances the benefits of its citizens. Thus, greedy behaviour is assumed to be rational for MGs participating in such a market. In this paper, a novel decentralized platform to facilitate energy trading between IMGs is developed. The platform would allow interested MGs to participate and gain benefits assuming self-benefit-driven (SBD) actions from participating MGs. The proposed platform provides a market-clearing approach based on sequential rounds. In each round, the MG with the cheapest energy price is privileged to export its surplus energy and maximize its own benefits. In order to identify the round champ, a decentralized ranking algorithm is developed to determine the MG with the cheapest energy price. The effectiveness of the proposed platform is validated using various case studies.