Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Increased integration of sensors such as smart meters in power grids has created possibilities for new application and services. At the same, time, there is an increased demand to enable individuals to fully control and monitor the use of their data. Expansion of electric vehicles and renewable resources including solar and wind power has introduced new requirements and challenges into electric grid operations especially in respect to energy trading. Consequently, there is a need to develop new technologies to address those challenges.* The main objective of this research project is to design and develop a generic and extendable software architecture for smart grids in order to provide consumers with the ability to manage and monitor access to energy data and services, offer a unified interface for energy applications, enable novel ways for direct energy trading, and encourage energy-responsible behaviours. Grounding this architecture on the blockchain technologies will enhance security and traceability through the immutable ledger, remove reliance on a central authority or third party to verify transactions, and increase reliability through distribution and replication.* The results from this project will benefit the industrial partner London Hydro by providing a generic and extendable architecture for smart grids. The outcomes will provide energy consumers with new services such as the ability to control access to their data, monitor the use of their data, and serve as single point of access to energy applications. Energy producers will be able to directly trade energy with consumers. This project will prepare London Hydro for the changes in electric grids, strengthen its position as a leader of the Green Button initiative and as a steward of energy conservation and environmental sustainability. Through incentive models, this project will help reduce energy footprint, reduce greenhouse gas emission and will contribute to a more sustainable future. It is also expected that it will contribute to advancements in the smart grid and blockchain domains. The HQP involved in this project will gain experience working on smart grids, blockchain and large data sets, which will make them valuable to any energy, Big Data, and blockchain job market.*