A comparative analysis of using Distributed Ledger Technologies for Transactive Energy Systems

Abstract

Transactive Energy Systems (TES) represent a new approach to achieve an optimal utilisation of distributed energy resources (DER) as well as realising a better integration of prosumers. As transactive participants, producers, consumers and prosumers take part in achieving a dynamic and efficient grid operation based on economic and control mechanisms. A key challenge of realising TES is to enable a decentralised structure. With the gaining popularity of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) and especially Blockchain in the year 2017, this trend has also gained traction in the field of TES to build a decentralised system. However, even before the aforementioned DLT approaches from 2017 onwards, there have been functioning TES implementations that are not based on DLT. It is also important to note that with all the advantages that the use of DLT brings, there are also new challenges linked with. The objective of this paper is to analyse, whether the use of DLT for TES is scientifically plausible or can be identified as a temporal hype. At first, the foundations of TES as well as the basic principles of using DLT for TES are being presented. Furthermore, different implementations of TES with and without the use of DLT are being shown. On this basis a comparative analysis of regular TES as well as TES based on DLT is executed. Within this framework an assessment of the effectiveness of using DLT for TES is formed.