Proof of Flow: A Design Pattern for the Green Energy Market

The increased penetration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) in electricity markets has given rise to a new category of energy players, called Aggregators, whose role is to ensure fair remuneration for energy supplied by DERs, and support the smooth feeding of the intermittent energy produced into the distribution network. This paper presents a software solution, described as a design pattern, that governs the interaction between an Aggregator and DERs, leveraging blockchain technology to achieve a higher degree of decentralization, data integrity and security, through a properly designed, blockchain-based, smart contract. Thus, the proposed solution reduces the reliance on intermediaries acting as authorities, while affording transparency, efficiency and trust to the energy exchange process. Thanks to the underlying blockchain properties, generated events are easily observable and cannot be forged or altered. However, blockchain technology has inherent drawbacks, i.e., mainly the cost of storage and execution, hence our solution provides additional strategies for limiting blockchain usage, without undermining its strengths. Moreover, the design of our smart contract takes care of orchestrating the players, and copes with their potential mutual disagreements, which could arise from different measures of energy, providing an automatic decision process to resolve such disputes. The overall approach results in lower fees for running smart contacts supporting energy players and in a greater degree of fairness assurance.