A dedicated consensus algorithm for improving performance of futuristic energy blockchain

Abstract

Integrating renewable energy generation in the consumer end has transformed users acting as both buyers and sellers. Uncoordinated interconnections lead to degraded power quality, which demands for continuous network monitoring. This study evaluates the applicability of the network monitoring process to develop a novel consensus protocol, customized for blockchain platforms integrated with smart grids. The motivation for integrating grid monitoring with the blockchain consensus mechanism lies in the significance of decentralized architectures such as distributed ledger technologies for future energy grids. Existing blockchain consensus mechanisms have exhibited excessive energy usage and low scalability due to the additional workload associated. Hence, the study proposes a customised solution, which has the advantage of combining grid monitoring with the blockchain consensus protocol. This eliminates the additional computation burden, reduces the cost of execution, and improves the transaction throughput of the blockchain consensus mechanism.