Blockchain-based trust management and authentication of devices in smart grid

Abstract

The digitalization of the power grid and advancement in intelligent technologies have enabled the service provider to convert the existing electrical grid into a smart grid. The transformation of the grid will help in integrating cleaner energy technologies with energy management to improve power network efficiency. Internet of things (IoT) and various network components need to be deployed to harness the full potential of the smart grid. Also, integrating intermittent renewable energy sources, energy storage, intelligent control of selected power-intensive loads, etc will improve energy efficiency. But deployment of this information and communication technologies will make the grid more vulnerable to cyber attacks from hackers. In this work, blockchain-based self-sovereign identification and authentication technique is presented to avert identity theft and masquerading. The proposed approach can minimize the chances of identity-based security breaches in the smart grid. This paper provides an overview of the model of identification and authentication of IoT devices in Smart Grid based on Blockchain technology. The Blockchain based implementation of identification and authentication of devices is proposed to validate the model in the distributed electrical energy network. The model is able to authenticate the device using Blockchain in a trusted model. The system works according to plan validating the authenticity of transaction in a node in log(n) time, which justifies presented result.