P2P Energy Trading: An Optimal Solution for Energy Shortage in Pakistan

Abstract

Green energy can help in protecting the environment, and its continuous supply increases the quality of life and indeed the economic development of a country. The power sector in Pakistan is highly under stress due to the imbalance between the demand and supply of energy. Pakistan has abundant renewable energy resources, i.e., solar, hydro, wind, etc., which are the main elements of green energy. This study first evaluates the existing power sector in Pakistan. Then, we proposed a peer-to-peer energy trading framework that helps in reducing the stress on the power sector in Pakistan by meeting the local energy demands of the consumers with the help of local energy generation. In the proposed peer-to-peer energy trading market, a novel method for determining the uniform energy trading price is proposed. This proposed pricing method increases the utilities of the market participants i.e., saving in energy bills for consumers and profitability for the sellers. The proposed study assumes that solar energy is provided from the energy producer side. Solar energy penetration on various ratios starting from 14% to 35% is tested on environment and consumer satisfaction levels. We conducted comprehensive experiments to validate the proposed method and the results suggest that a 35% penetration of solar in each subdivision can be helpful to decrease the current stress on Pakistan’s power sector. Furthermore, it also helps in reducing the carbon emission footprint.