A Low-Cost, Open-Source Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading System for a Remote Community Using the Internet-of-Things, Blockchain, and Hypertext Transfer Protocol

Mirza Jabbar Aziz Baig, M. Tariq Iqbal, Mohsin Jamil and Jahangir Khan
Additional contact information
Mirza Jabbar Aziz Baig: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 230 Elizabeth Ave, St. John’s, NL A1C5S7, Canada
M. Tariq Iqbal: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 230 Elizabeth Ave, St. John’s, NL A1C5S7, Canada
Mohsin Jamil: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 230 Elizabeth Ave, St. John’s, NL A1C5S7, Canada
Jahangir Khan: BC Hydro, Transmission Lines Engineering, 6911 Southpoint Drive, Burnaby, BC V3N4X8, Canada

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 13, 1-22

Abstract: A low-cost, open-source peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading system for a remote community is presented in this paper. As a result of its geographic location, this community has never been able to access electricity and other modern amenities. This study aims to design and implement a P2P energy trading system for this remote community that allows residents to take advantage of distributed energy resources. A Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (Pi4B) hosts the main server of the trading system that includes the user interface and a local Ethereum blockchain server. The Ethereum blockchain is used to deploy smart contracts. The Internet-of-Things (IoT) servers run on ESP32 microcontrollers. Sensors and actuators connected to the ESP32 are field instrumentation devices that facilitate acquiring, monitoring, and transferring energy data in real-time. To perform trading activities, React.JS open-source library was used to develop the blockchain-enabled user interface. An immutable blockchain network keeps track of all transactions. The proposed system runs on a local Wi-Fi network with restricted authorization for system security. Other security measures such as login credentials, private key, firewall, and secret recovery phrases are also considered for information security and data integrity. A Hypertext Transfer Protocol is implemented for communication between the servers and the client. This explains the overall system design, implementation, testing, and results.

Keywords: peer-to-peer (P2P); distributed generation (DG); internet-of-things (IoT); blockchain; hypertext transfer protocol; open-source (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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