A blockchain application to pave the way for transactive energy at Brazilian micro/mini-grids

Abstract

The electricity consumption is directly related to the population quality of life and well-being. Therefore, general efforts have been happening to supply the growing power demand through more sustainable and socially responsible alternatives. From centralized big power plants to Distributed Generation (DG) of electricity, the advance of Informa- tion and Communications Technology (ICT) is bringing new approaches to the electricity sector, despite the technical and business challenges to do so. More recently, the advent of the blockchain technology has resurfaced a past desire of free energy trading between all kinds of power consumers. Specifically, in the distribution level, the concept of Trans- active Energy (TE) is imperative for any discussion about the techniques to deal with a new subset of an energy market. Hence, the present work is a quasi-POC that outlines the challenges and opportunities of a distributed application (DApp) to support the power management of micro/mini-grids inside a particular Brazilian regulation framework, de- nominated as shared consumption group. This dissertation has also produced the smart contract MTEsm that manages the crypto-currency SEB. All the development process is presented and attempts to show the economic and technical subjects that must be considered for a complete POC proposition