Using a Ledger to Facilitate Autonomous Peer-to-Peer Virtual Net Metering of Solar Photovoltaic Distributed Generation
To assist electric utilities to overcome limitations of centralized billing and encourage distributed production of solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity, this study designs and assesses a novel open-source autonomous virtual utility to monitor users and enable peer-to-peer trading. This study provides system design and software implementation of the concept using blockchain technology written in Solidity and Truffle. A set of smart contracts adds users to a system and monitors their demand, PV generation, and facilitates transactions between users on an hourly basis when one user has PV-generated excess electricity, and another has demand. Unit tests for each of the contracts’ methods are developed in Solidity, and data on gas usage and costs is collected. Once the contracts have been written and evaluated, a JavaScript simulation is developed to use the contracts on real load and PV generation data for one year on an hourly basis. The results of two case studies are quantified: 1) true peers, where all houses are prosumers with rooftop PV, and 2) intermittent transition case, where PV deployment and demand are more varied. The results found that with ten users in the system, the true peers case study resulted in an uneconomic number of exchanges, but the intermittent transition case study resulted in more than a factor of twenty increases in exchanges and net cost savings. The savings more than doubles for both cases when time of use pricing is in effect. The system utility increases with more variability of PV production across participating users and is recommended for utilities targeting increases in distributed generation during the energy transition.
Source Code
[edit | edit source]Highlights
[edit | edit source]- Designs/tests novel open-source autonomous virtual utility: monitor users, enable peer-to-peer trading.
- Provides system design and software implementation of the concept using blockchain technology
- Smart contracts adds users, monitors their demand, PV generation, and facilitates transactions
- True peers, prosumers with rooftop PV and intermittent transition cases tested
- Intermittent transition case study resulted 20C increase in exchanges and net cost savings; 2X for TOU.
See also
[edit | edit source]- Residential Sizing of Solar Photovoltaic Systems and Heat Pumps for Net Zero Sustainable Thermal Building Energy
- A Free and open-source microgrid optimization tool: SAMA the Solar Alone Multi-Objective Advisor
- Low emissions analysis platform model for renewable energy: Community-scale case studies in Nigeria
- Economic viability of captive off-grid solar photovoltaic and diesel hybrid energy systems for the Nigerian private sector
- Simulations of Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions from Low-Cost Hybrid Solar Photovoltaic and Cogeneration Systems for New Communities
- Adapting the European typology approach for building stock energy assessment (TABULA) concept for the developing world: The Nigerian case study
- Achieving 100% Renewable and Self-Sufficient Electricity in Impoverished, Rural, Northern Climates: Case Studies from Upper Michigan, USA
- Techno-Economic Evaluation of Electricity Pricing Structures on Photovoltaic and Photovoltaic-Battery Hybrid Systems in Canada
- A Review of Phase-Change Material-Based Thermal Batteries for Sustainable Energy Storage of Solar Photovoltaic Systems Coupled to Heat Pumps in the Building Sector
In the News
[edit | edit source]- Novel blockchain-based virtual utility for P2P PV trading PV Magazine
- Novedosa utilidad virtual basada en blockchain para el comercio fotovoltaico P2P PV Magazine Latin America
| Authors | Julia M. Groza, Seyyed Ali Sadat, Koami S. Hayibo, Joshua M. Pearce |
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| License | CC-BY-SA-4.0 |
| Cite as | Julia M. Groza, Seyyed Ali Sadat, Koami S. Hayibo, Joshua M. Pearce (2024–2026). "Using a Ledger to Facilitate Autonomous Peer-to-Peer Virtual Net Metering of Solar Photovoltaic Distributed Generation". Appropedia. Retrieved June 12, 2026. |