A peer-to-peer verifiable and secure energy trading framework based on blockchain technology

Blockchain technology is currently being adopted in several domains and applications, including the energy domain and specifically in smart grids. One of the principal applications of blockchain technology is peer-to-peer energy trading among stakeholders of smart grids, providing trusted transactions without the need of third parties. Also, e-auctions are rapidly growing as a mean of e-commerce that allows direct product bidding through the internet. One of the major issues of e-auctions is the reliance on a third-party to host the e-auction platform which not only induces extra cost and complexity of transactions, but also the third-party should be trusted by buyers and sellers, as it handles all the e-auction processes. In addition, trust may also be undermined by potential malicious sellers or buyers. This paper introduces a blockchain-based energy trading framework based on a sealed bid auction type to offer a safe, trusted and privacy preserving energy exchange mechanism between EPES stakeholders of an islanded part of the grid that constitute an energy community, developed in context of the SDN-microSENSE. Furthermore, this framework utilises blockchain solutions for monitoring the security status of smart grid devices in order to confront any transactions involving malicious parties or parties with compromised equipment.