Sustainable Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading Principles and Smart Meter Requirements for Smart Grids

Abstract

The sustainability and efficiency of the current and future power grid is an important topic nowadays. Thus, the increasing usage of renewable energy sources for generation of electricity requires a more complex infrastructure to manage generation and demand efficiently. In order to stabilize a power grid there are different methods to trade energy sources. Especially for smart grid infrastructures, the most interesting approach is to trade energy peer-to-peer. Thus, we consider different peer-to-peer principles in detail. Particularly, the underlying subsystem is essential for fast and accurate trading. That is why smart meters, forming the lowest layer of the system, are one of the most important parts within the grid infrastructure. Their main task is to provide high quality information and services for smart contracting and also for controlling the power grid with regard to efficiency and sustainability. The information provided by smart meters can also be used within a smart energy management to optimize production and consumption times. This demand side management approach helps to prevent overproduction and hence leads to more sustainablitiy in future decentralized power grids. For this purpose, peer-to-peer methods and smart meters have to fulfil dedicated requirements which are considered here in more detail.