Grant: Engage Grants Program
University of Regina
$25,000.00
Blockchain Technology for Electric Utility Consumption
EF 2017-18
Résumé
SaskPower is the principal electric utility in Saskatchewan. The company has been recently active in theresearch and development of innovative software solutions to optimize the management and planning of publicpower systems including generation and transmission. In this regard, there are opportunities for improvementas well as identified difficulties in the power utilities market that could be addressed with the Blockchaintechnology. One of these opportunities is a unified way to get the dynamic rates for the bigger consumers withthe transparency of a trustable information of their meters along with the automated contracts (Smart BusinessRates). These rates correspond to the previous agreement with the client for the average monthly powerconsumption with a fixed rate (normally for industries), satisfying a set of constraints. Given the use ofdifferent systems and the change of rates for each client, a manual process is needed since there is a differentrule for each client. Constraints include the client agreement as well as the average of the last months and therules for extra fees and new rates. While this problem has been extensively studied in the literature, most of theworks use an approach that integrates the system and creates web views for the clients. This is not howeverpractical as there are issues regarding trustable data from meters to the client as well as different business rulesfor each client. We propose a solution based on smart technology. In order to address the challenges oftransparency and dynamic business rules inside of a system, we will adopt the use of Blockchain. Theinformation will be provided by smart meters that will send the updates directly to the Blockchain. With thesmart contract technology, we will be able to adjust the business rules according to each customer (includingdynamic changes of fees and contract execution). With a trustable data, we can in the system both theRegulator Body (from the government) and the financial institutions (to automate the bills payments and getnotifications regarding large incomes). This new approach will reduce time and resources, saves money toSaskPower and increase the client's satisfaction.
Programme
Engage Grants Program
Bénéficiaire
Emplacement
Saskatchewan, Canada
Type de bénéficiaire
Academia
Type
Grant
Source
NSERC's Awards Data
Tel que publié
Application id
522818-2017
Name nom
Mouhoub, Malek
Department département
Computer Science
Organization id
17
Institution établissement
University of Regina
Province en
Saskatchewan
Province fr
Saskatchewan
Country en
CANADA
Country fr
CANADA
Fiscal year exercice financier
2017
Competition year année de concours
2017
Award amount
25000
Program id
EGP
Program name en
Engage Grants Program
Program name fr
Programme de subventions d'engagement partenariat
Group en
Research partnerships programs
Group fr
Programmes de partenariat
Committee code
1555
Committee name en
Prairie Internal Decision Committee
Committee name fr
Comité de décision interne pour les Prairies
Area of application code
800
Area of application group en
Information and communication services
Area of application group fr
Services d'information et de télécommunications
Area of application en
Information and communication services
Area of application fr
Services d'information et de télécommunications
Research subject code
2720
Research subject group en
Information technology
Research subject group fr
Technologie de l'information
Research subject en
Computer systems software
Research subject fr
Logiciel de systèmes informatiques
Partie
1
Nb partie
1
Application title
Blockchain Technology for Electric Utility Consumption
Keyword
NSERC
Application summary
SaskPower is the principal electric utility in Saskatchewan. The company has been recently active in theresearch and development of innovative software solutions to optimize the management and planning of publicpower systems including generation and transmission. In this regard, there are opportunities for improvementas well as identified difficulties in the power utilities market that could be addressed with the Blockchaintechnology. One of these opportunities is a unified way to get the dynamic rates for the bigger consumers withthe transparency of a trustable information of their meters along with the automated contracts (Smart BusinessRates). These rates correspond to the previous agreement with the client for the average monthly powerconsumption with a fixed rate (normally for industries), satisfying a set of constraints. Given the use ofdifferent systems and the change of rates for each client, a manual process is needed since there is a differentrule for each client. Constraints include the client agreement as well as the average of the last months and therules for extra fees and new rates. While this problem has been extensively studied in the literature, most of theworks use an approach that integrates the system and creates web views for the clients. This is not howeverpractical as there are issues regarding trustable data from meters to the client as well as different business rulesfor each client. We propose a solution based on smart technology. In order to address the challenges oftransparency and dynamic business rules inside of a system, we will adopt the use of Blockchain. Theinformation will be provided by smart meters that will send the updates directly to the Blockchain. With thesmart contract technology, we will be able to adjust the business rules according to each customer (includingdynamic changes of fees and contract execution). With a trustable data, we can in the system both theRegulator Body (from the government) and the financial institutions (to automate the bills payments and getnotifications regarding large incomes). This new approach will reduce time and resources, saves money toSaskPower and increase the client's satisfaction.
