Islanded microgrid management based on blockchain communication

Abstract Blockchain technology (BT) allows the development of platforms in which micropayments can be carried out between machines without the need for human intervention. Thus its capabilities make it suitable as the technology for energy management in islanded microgrids (MGs) based on automatic micropayments between the entities of the system. In this chapter a multiagent market framework is proposed for islanded blockchain-based MGs as sustainable energy systems. The proposed multiagent system (MAS) consists of three types of agents: producers, consumers, and the so-called prosumers (which are able to produce and consume energy). In this way, each agent writes the required energy demand or energy generation capacity into their corresponding blockchain accounts. Oracle agents are in charge of providing information about the energy offers in the blockchain-based MG. If there is an unbalance in the MG, the surplus/demand energy is transacted with an MG operator agent, to trade energy with the upstream grid. In the proposed blockchain-based MG, the agents are connected to a permissioned blockchain. This kind of blockchain has a scalable design and handles a high rate of transactions per second with low fees. Although this type of blockchain has its downsides, like it is not fully decentralized, it is suitable for performing micropayments and securing the system.