Towards blockchain-based Internet of Things systems for energy smart contracts with Constrained Hardware Devices and cloud infrastructure

Hardware solutions based on blockchain used in peer-to-peer electricity trading operations have been on rise during the last years. It is expected that due to their usage, it will become easier for prosumers to participate in the power grid on more equal terms when compared to the traditional players that have been settled in this market for the last decades. However, devices used to fully integrate prosumers are scarce and often offer minimal functionalities to perform the task of becoming integrated in those markets. This manuscript puts forward a Constrained Hardware Device enhanced with several software elements related to blockchain and cloud infrastructures, which make possible for any electricity generator or storage system to perform major actions like executing smart contracts, requesting energy prices to a Transmission System Operator and replicating the interchanged data in a cloud computing environment in case there are blockchain node failures. In this way, Renewable Energy Sources can be integrated by means of inexpensive, reliable devices with all the required software components preinstalled, with prosumers being able to further intervene in energy markets.