Research and Application of Blockchain Technology in Smart Grid

Abstract

Smart grid, as a new paradigm of the traditional grid, was proposed to find an effective way to integrate green and renewable energy technologies. In this model, the Internet-connected smart grid is also known as the Internet of Energy, which is also an innovative method to ensure the sharing of energy data anytime and anywhere, and ultimately build a sustainable society. However, integrating and coordinating the large and growing number of connections is a challenging problem for the traditional centralized grid system. Therefore, the smart grid architecture is changing from the centralized structure to the decentralized structure. Besides, due to its excellent characteristics, blockchain technology has been widely used in various scenarios of Smart Grid. Therefore, this article aims to review the research and application of blockchain technology in smart grid industry. Firstly, we identify the major security challenges in smart grid scenarios that the blockchain can deal with. Then, we introduce some of the latest research work based on blockchain and propose security issues in the field of smart grid in different works of literature. Finally, we discuss the main research challenges and future research directions for applying blockchain to smart grid.