Efficient and Secure Energy Trading with Electric Vehicles and Distributed Ledger Technology
Efficient energy management of Distributed Renewable Energy Resources (DRER) enables a more sustainable and efficient energy ecosystem. Therefore, we propose a holistic Energy Management System (EMS), utilising the computational and energy storage capabilities of nearby Electric Vehicles (EVs), providing a low-latency and efficient management platform for DRER. Through leveraging the inherent, immutable features of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and smart contracts, we create a secure management environment, facilitating interactions between multiple EVs and energy resources. Using a privacy-preserving load forecasting method powered by Vehicular Fog Computing (VFC), we integrate the computational resources of the EVs. Using DLT and our forecasting framework, we accommodate efficient management algorithms in a secure and low-latency manner enabling greater utilisation of the energy storage resources. Finally, we assess our proposed EMS in terms of monetary and energy utility metrics, establishing the increased benefits of multiple interacting EVs and load forecasting. Through the proposed system, we have established the potential of our framework to create a more sustainable and efficient energy ecosystem whilst providing measurable benefits to participating agents.