Experimental bandwidth benchmarking for P2P markets in blockchain managed microgrids

Abstract

As a basic building block of the smart grid, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) is substantial for gathering and sending consumption and production data of consumers. The applications facilitated by blockchain technology like local peer to peer (P2P) markets challenge the centrally organized utility industry with its disruptive potential and rely also heavily on AMIs as data source. However, such technologies pose a number of engineering challenges in early stage pilot projects: Unlike centrally managed AMIs, local P2P markets in particular require AMIs to exchange data with their peer devices, which increases the communication requirements due to the decentral nature of blockchain networks. In this paper, we compare the bandwidth requirement of real-time AMI with the requirements for a blockchain managed peer to peer market. By benchmarking both a normal operation and a high throughput scenario we find a ten times higher demand in bandwidth of the blockchain-based solution compared to real-time AMI and select the appropriate communication technology for an upcoming field test.