Guest Editors
Dr. E. Laxmi Lydia, Vignan’s Institute of Information Technology (Autonomous) Visakhapatnam, India. Email: lydia@vignanvizag.com
Dr. Dinesh Jackson Samuel, Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom. Email: rsamuel@brookes.ac.uk
Dr. Ashutosh Sharma, Southern Federal University, Russia. Email: ashutosh@sfedu.ru
Summary
There is a growing need for clean, renewable energy, the demand is rising due to environmental concerns and the failing fossil fuel-based power plants. There are many ways renewable energy can be utilized these days, such as solar panels or wind turbines. The role of blockchain in renewable energy-assisted virtual power plants is increasing day by day. This feature assists the countries to achieve their goal concerning sustainable energy management. Through the effective use of blockchain technology, one can track the amount of energy consumption in real-time and share energy with renewable forms of energy. The cost will be less as compared to traditional power plants. A virtual power plant is a centralized and cheaper source of energy. It is less costly as it involves the purchase of generation assets by a single buyer. Moreover, to get more power, one can simply add generation sources by just purchasing them with the approval of every participant hence reducing the costs.
Virtual power plants have emerged as essential concepts to leverage distributed energy resources such as solar PV and battery storage and apply them in a manner more consistent with the needs of the energy system. As the isolated use of solar power is not efficient, a virtual power plant works as a single distributed energy resource and aggregates electricity produced by several smaller systems. It can also improve grid service reliability, water provisioning, supply of green power credits, and increase the value of solar power. The virtual power plants facilitate independent operators to pool power into the large and deliberately created grid to contribute to the overall dynamic supply of electricity at any given time. Blockchain technology introduces the era of decentralized nature; this makes it possible for every end-user to access the solutions efficiently. By making the best use of smart meters, a blockchain-based platform will enable decentralized and automated control of millions of dispersed assets by integrating their participatory role with financial incentives. Blockchain helps implement a more robust and efficient distribution of renewable power, turning solar panels into nodes on a decentralized network. It also opens the door to a new way of financing full-scale renewable energy installations. More advanced research in this domain helps the energy generated by a solar panel system or the other renewable energy sources be effectively traded between consumers, grid operators, utility companies, and national electricity providers. Thus, finding more in terms of blockchain for renewable energy-assisted virtual plants is mandatory.
This special issue investigates and calls for various research activities for the advances in blockchain technology for renewable energy-assisted virtual power plants.
The following topics are welcome but not restricted to:
• Blockchain-based decentralized virtual power plants for renewable energy management.
• Decentralisation of energy sources in virtual power plants using blockchain technology.
• Role of distributed ledgers in maintaining energy efficiency across virtual power plant.
• Energy production and consumption in virtual power plants with blockchain technology.
• Use Cases of blockchain in virtual power plants for energy commodity management.
• Blockchain-based intelligent power plants for renewable energy management.
• Blockchain-based sustainable energy technologies for the future era.
• Peer-to-peer transactive systems in virtual power plant management.
• Energy transition with blockchain technology.
• Integration of renewable energy in virtual power plant using blockchain.
• Future of intelligent grid with blockchain and its applications.
• Blockchain in power consumption for energy management.
Keywords
Energy Production; Virtual Power Plant; Blockchain Technology; Renewable Energy; Power Consumption