Blockchain for Transacting Energy and Carbon Allowance in Networked Microgrids

This paper proposes a blockchain application for transacting energy and carbon allowance in networked microgrids (MGs). MGs submit trading energy and carbon allowance data to the centralized distribution system operator (DSO) operation, which would optimize the provision of energy and carbon allowance trading among MGs for satisfying power distribution network constraints. The hourly demand response along with onsite MG generation and the DSO’s trading exchanges with ISO are considered among market options to maximize MG payoffs and satisfy distribution network constraints. A cooperative game with externalities is applied to model the market behavior of networked MGs. A two-stage payoff allocation problem is devised to allocate the grand coalition payoff to participating MGs. A solution algorithm is proposed which consists of column-and-constraint generation (C&CG) and Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions to solve the proposed two-stage market optimization problem with acceptable computational performance. Also, blockchain is applied to provide secure and effective transaction settlements and transparent distribution market operations in the proposed transactive energy and carbon allowance trading strategy. The proposed centralized transactive market is tested on a 4-MG system, the IEEE 33-bus system, and the IEEE 123-bus system. The numerical results show the effectiveness of the proposed method in incentivizing MGs to trade energy and carbon allowance while satisfying the distribution network constraints.