Peer-to-peer energy trading based on a hybrid blockchain system

Abstract

The emergence of distributed energy and prosumers has greatly promoted the reform of the energy market. Blockchain technology provides a very potent solution for distributed energy transactions, however, blockchain technology still develops slowly in the energy field due to the unstable performance of the imperfect system. This paper aims to narrow this gap by the following steps. First, a function-driven integration method is proposed to combine the merit of blockchain distributed ledger and traditional centralized databases. Then a hybrid energy blockchain system architecture is designed, including the blockchain layer, smart contract layer, database layer, and client layer. Further, a peer-to-peer market mechanism considering energy storage arbitrage and fully automated matchmaking is developed on the hybrid blockchain system. The case study proves the effectiveness and safety of the system. The proposed architecture of combined blockchain and database technologies effectively paves the way for constructing a more reasonable and feasible distributed energy trading platform.