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Blockchain Technology for Smart Grids: Decentralized NIST Conceptual Model

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Blockchain Technology for Smart Grids:

Decentralized NIST Conceptual Model
ADEDAYO ADERIBOLE 1 , AAMNA ALJARWAN3 , MUHAMMAD HABIB UR REHMAN2,4 ,
HATEM. H. ZEINELDIN2,5 , TOUFIC MEZHER3 , KHALED SALAH2,4 , ERNESTO DAMIANI2,4
AND DAVOR SVETINOVIC2,4 .
1
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA
2
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE
3
Industrial and Systems Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE
4
Center for Cyber-Physical Systems, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE
5
Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
Corresponding author: Davor Svetinovic (e-mail: davor.svetinovic@ku.ac.ae).

ABSTRACT Blockchain technology is showing a significant potential to disrupt a number of information

technology domains. One of the especially interesting areas for blockchain applications is smart grid. A
number of early papers have been published in this area, however, there is no systematic analysis of
the impact of blockchain technology on decentralization of smart grids. In this paper, we analyze the
standard NIST conceptual model of smart grid domains with respect to the three critical blockchain features:
decentralization, trust and incentive. We integrate our findings in order to produce a fully decentralized
blockchain-enabled smart grid considering NIST conceptual model. The results of this paper should help
smart grid developers and researchers to obtain a conceptual reference of the overall applicability of
blockchain technology in smart grid domains and sub-domains. In addition this research will help to identify
and guide smart grid blockchain development and research initiatives.

INDEX TERMS Smart grid, blockchain, decentralization, trust, incentive

I. INTRODUCTION the rise of decentralized energy systems (e.g., microgrids). In

Lockchain is appearing to be one of the most disruptive
B innovations [1] in recent years. Industry and researchers
are expecting a positive future for blockchain technology and
backing it with significant investments and research efforts.
With its biggest success, the Bitcoin system, blockchain tech-
nology has drawn attention to its distinct features, including
decentralization, transparency and openness, immutability
and tamper detection, provenance, peer-to-peer (P2P) trans-
actions, smart contracts, incentive mechanisms, distributed
ledger technology, timeliness, support of cryptocurrencies,
and forbidding users from double-spending [2]. These fea-
tures mean that blockchain technology has immense potential
to transform the operating methodologies of many industries
and government organizations [3].
Besides the financial industry, we have also seen a sig-
nificant rise of interest in blockchain technology in other
domains [4], [5]. This interest has become evident in com-
plex engineering domains such as energy and the Internet
of Things (IoT). In particular, there is a significant market
interest in blockchain energy trading systems especially with
theory, the functionality of blockchain could be leveraged in
the various domains of smart grids.
Essentially, smart grids are electric utility grids that de-
pend on the bi-directional flow of information among con-
sumers, producers and service providers to efficiently deliver
electricity [6]. The smart grid concept has recently gained
widespread popularity due to advancement of information
communication technology (ICT) — including smart me-
tering, smart appliances, and the proliferation of renewable
energy and energy efficient resources [7] — thus allowing for
more efficient and reliable transmission of electricity, better
integration of customer-owned power generation systems and
improved security [7]. Consequently, with the recent rise of
blockchain in the development of new ICT platforms, it is
being envisioned that smart grids’ various domains can even
further be enhanced with the integration of blockchain.
National Institue of Standards and Technology (NIST) has
recently released the draft of smart grid framework 4.0 [8]
to pave the way for the development of next-generation
smart grid technologies using modern computing systems

VOLUME x, 2019 1

such as IoTs, edge computing, cloud computing, and artificial
intelligence. The framework proposal is still under devel-
opment hence it creates an opportunity to outline the goals
for decentralized applications based on NIST’s conceptual
model. Based on our previous research, including [4], [9] and
[10], and our feature analysis of blockchain technology and
its applications, e.g., [11], we have identified three critical
blockchain features (decentralization, trust, and incentive)
and analyzed smart grid related literature to identify key
requirements for decentralized version of NIST conceptual
model.
• Decentralization — to design the operations of the
smart grid, to improve automation, and to eliminate
the need for a central control unit, thus reducing the
possibility of a single point of failure, attacks, and col-
lusion. Full decentralization assumes open, anonymous
joining and leaving the system and thus allows for a
plug-and-play functionality. The blockchain provides a
platform for decentralized application deployment using
computing resources from consumers, producers, and
service providers and enables P2P network among them.
The operational control of decentralized applications is
determined through smart contracts on the blockchain
networks.
• Trust — to replace the traditional means of trust with
computational or mathematical trust. This enables dis-
tributing trust among different nodes and ensures that
the operation rules are unchangeable unless the whole
(or majority of) network agrees on them (depending on
the details of trust design). The blockchain technologies
improve trust by solving the double-spending problem
using consensus protocols and distributed ledger tech-
nologies and ensuring immutability, tamper detection,
resilience, scalability, and provenance in the smart-grid
infrastructures.
• Incentive — to design system participation incentive in
order to ensure ongoing and very-long-term functioning
of the system. Blockchain solutions need continuous
participation of the nodes; this participation is expensive
and it is highly unlikely that nodes will continue partic-
ipating unless there is a clear and long-term incentive
to do so, therefore, it enables cryptocurrencies and P2P
transactions to incentivize the participating nodes and
enable non-repudiation on the network.
These three objectives are critical since while significant
research effort and venture capital is getting invested in
blockchain research, we have identified a lack of clear direc-
tion where this research is going, and we have also identified
a number of research directions in areas that are less than
ideal for application of blockchain technology, i.e., the areas
where traditional solutions are more appropriate due to the
lack of a need to fully decentralize, or lack of a need for
trust, or simply a lack of design of appropriate incentive
mechanisms that will ensure that a blockchain solution is
feasible and maintainable in the long term. This identification
2 VOLUME x, 2019
A. Aderibole et al.: Blockchain for Smart Grids
of a lack of the direction and misapplications of blockchain
was the main motivation to perform a comprehensive study
of blockchain applicability in various smart grid applica-
tions and provide the smart grid research community with
a comprehensive reference and clear starting point for future
research.
Thus, in this paper, we survey and evaluate the applica-
bility of the blockchain in smart grids with respect to the
three critical objectives that indicate a potential need for
advantages supplied by the incorporation of the blockchain.
The main contributions of this paper are:
1) Survey of the existing literature to identify the need for
blockchain technology in smart grid domain.
2) The evaluation of smart grid domain needs with respect
to the main blockchain features.
3) The specification of a decentralized, blockchain-
enabled version of NIST conceptual model.
Blockchain technology is a resource-intensive and compu-
tationally expensive technology for which it is critical to un-
derstand the basic deployment requirements and constraints.
For any solution, it is critical to fulfill these requirements
since the cost and overhead of running blockchain is high
compared to traditional centralized solutions.
Section II covers a general understanding of blockchain
and its operations with the aforementioned three critical
features explained in detail. Section III covers the smart
grid domains and sub-domains and how blockchain can be
applied in each sub-domain according to the three mentioned
features. Section IV evaluates the application in each of
the sub-domains. Finally, Section V summarizes the main
outcomes and conclusions are drawn.
II. BLOCKCHAIN
Blockchain represents a cryptographically secure distributed
digital ledger over a P2P network of computing devices and
systems. Blockchain is also defined as a distributed data
structure whereby all data items are permanently recorded
after they are verified by majority of the nodes in P2P net-
work. The key components of a blockchain system include:
1) linked linear data structures to incrementally append data
items (termed as transactions) in existing valid blockchains,
2) cryptographic algorithms to generate hash keys to anony-
mously access the data items on the blockchain, 3) consensus
algorithms to ensure the validity of changes in already stored
data, and 4) message passing protocols to enable P2P com-
munication over underlying network. Blockchain technolo-
gies use variety of consensus algorithms such as proof-of-
work [12], proof-of-stake [13], proof-of-activity [14], proof-
of-authority [15], proof-of-burn [16], Byzantine fault toler-
ance [17], proof-of-elapsed time [18], proof-of-capacity [19],
proof-of-importance [20], and proof-of-benefit [21], to name
a few. We had reviewed and presented the above-mentioned
consensus algorithms in our previous work [4]. We ob-
served that proof-of-work is dominantly adopted by current
blockchain based technologies, mainly cryptocurrencies but
A. Aderibole et al.: Blockchain for Smart Grids
other consensus algorithms were also implemented by vari-
ous early adopters of blockchain technologies.
A plethora of open source programmable blockchain plat-
forms is currently available to develop and commercialize
decentralized, cryptocurrency based shared economy appli-
cations [22]. These platforms enable the application de-
velopers to fork the blockchain platforms over their own
computing infrastructures and develop private or consortium
based blockchain applications for specific group of users.
Alternately, these platforms are freely and publicly available
for application development and testing, however, applica-
tion users need to pay in terms of cryptocurrency tokens
for commercial activities. Considering the fast adoption of
blockchain technologies, almost all large-scale cloud service
providers are enabling blockchain-based application devel-
opment platforms on top of their existing computing infras-
tructures. These Blockchain-as-a-Service (BCaaS) providers
are gradually capturing the market for non-financial shared
economy applications.
The key features of a blockchain-based application de-
velopment platforms, such as Ethereum, are 1) blockchain
systems for tamper-proof data processing in P2P networks,
2) consensus protocols for verification and validation of
data items, 3) smart contracts for automated transaction
processing across blockchain networks, and 4) cryptocurren-
cies and tokenization protocols to enable both general and
application-specific financial transactions on the blockchain.
In addition, these platforms could potentially use decentral-
ized storage systems, such as Sia, IPFS, FileCoin, Storj,
or Swarm, which use P2P nodes as data storage units and
maintain unique data instances across the underlying net-
work. Considering current implementations of blockchain
technologies, we categorize its features to achieve the objec-
tives of 1) decentralization, 2) trust, and 3) incentives.
• Decentralization
– Decentralized network: A representation of com-
puting nodes on the network having distributed
control to ensure multiple points-of-failures for
quick network resumption.
– P2P network: The mesh topology to include all
participating nodes on the same network having
same broadcast domain.
• Trust:
– Smart contracts: The self-executing agreement
mechanism to verify the transactions on the
blockchain network.
– Distributed ledger technology: A multi-node data
store on P2P network.
– Scalability: The ability to collectively execute data
and applications on P2P network.
– Traceability: The ability to track back the genesis
(origin) of transferred data/value/asset.
– Resilience: The ability to rollback to a previous
agreed upon stage of data or valued digital assets
on the blockchain.
VOLUME x, 2019
• Incentives:
– Cryptocurrencies: The secure and anonymous cur-
rency for P2P network.
– P2P Transactions: The autonomous and consensus-
based value/data/asset transfer among blockchain
users.
– Non-repudiation: The ability to enforce the par-
ticipants to fulfill the commitment if the required
conditions are successfully matched.
III. SMART GRID DOMAINS ANALYSIS
The NIST’s conceptual model categorizes actors, applica-
tions, and concepts into seven different domains and their
sub-domains. These domains are customers, markets, service
providers, operations, generation, transmission, and distribu-
tions. The customers domain consists of the final electricity
users in the smart grid. The markets domains is composed
of electricity market participants. Service providers are the
entities that provide cloud and edge computing services to
customers, prosumers, and utilities. The operations domain
consists of independent system operators that develop smart
grid applications to use edge and cloud computing services
and execute different business models. The bulk generation,
transmission and distribution domains are the generators,
carriers and distributors of electricity in bulk quantities,
respectively.
We analyzed the proposed sub-domains from NIST’s
proposal in order to identify the primary sub-domains for
blockchain implementation. In particular, we analyzed key
features of building automation and control system, home
energy management system, grid-wise energy management
system, reliability and market optimization systems, ad-
vanced distribution management systems, distributed en-
ergy resources (DER) management systems, and demand-
response management system (DRMS).
Figure 1 illustrates the NIST smart grid domains and their
relation with the identified sub-domains for potential inclu-
sion of decentralized applications to comply with the NIST
conceptual model and the Table 1 summarizes the results
of the domain analysis with respect to the main blockchain
features (decentralization, trust, and incentive). Moreover,
Table 1 also specified possible types of blockchain systems
for selected sub-domains. We have taken the information we
identified in the Table 1 in the blockchain analysis of each
sub-domain discussed below.
A. METERING
Smart grid metering involves employing advanced metering
infrastructure (AMI) and automated meter reading (AMR)
technology to bi-directionally transmit information between
customers and the utility [7], [23]. With these smart tech-
niques, electric power utility operators are able to accurately
predict the daily demand profile as a consequence of the pre-
cise electricity consumption data being gathered from their
customers [24]. Modern AMIs, empowered by IoT devices,
enable to monitor smart spaces such as smart homes, smart
3

Load
Operations Forecasting
Electric
Vehicle
Cyber Security
Cloud
Computing
Markets
Generation
Tracking Renewable
Energy
Transmission
Energy Trading
FIGURE 1: Selected Domains/Sub-domains from Standard NIST Smart Grid Conceptual Model [8]
factories, and smart cities, to name a few. The key functions
of these AMIs are remote meter reading, customer relation-
ship management, demand-side management, and prepaid
energy services. Furthermore, AMIs benefit electric utility
operators to ensure exact billing instead of estimated billing
and to detect frauds and energy thefts [7].
Blockchain analysis: We found that blockchain applica-
tions are needed to enable decentralized metering appli-
cations at multiple levels using devices and systems from
consumers, prosumers, and utilities. Considering the growth
of IoT devices and energy consumption trends, the cen-
tralized data collection potentially hampers the smart grid
performance, and therefore, the smart grid applications could
improve through decentralized collection and verification
of electricity loads from consumers. Moreover, blockchain
enables the utilities to obtain consensus-based feedback from
consumers. The underlying P2P networks and distributed
ledger technology of the blockchain systems are needed to
ensure consensus-based energy consumption data sharing
and collaborative utilization of energy resources among con-
sumers, prosumers, and utilities. The cryptocurrencies and
incentive mechanisms are required to execute new decentral-
ized business models among prosumers and utilities.
4 VOLUME x, 2019
A. Aderibole et al.: Blockchain for Smart Grids
Customers
Metering
Microgrid
Service
Providers Demand
Response
Virtual Power
Plant
Distribution
B. ENERGY TRADING
The deregulation of the electrical power grid has given rise to
the decentralization of electricity markets around the world
[25]. As a result of this, consumers are able to buy elec-
tricity at favorable prices on spot and from future markets
[26]. However, the designs of energy trading systems vary
considering the variety in energy generation systems which
could be as small as a domestic DER or as big as a com-
mercial grade power plant. Therefore current energy trading
systems apply multiple centralized and decentralized trading
strategies. The game-theory based strategies such as auc-
tion mechanisms, stackelberg games, and non-cooperative
games are used to enable decentralized energy trading. In
addition, smart-contract based consensus protocols such as
proof-of-benefit also enable decentralized P2P energy trading
among microgrid infrastructures. The centralized strategies
use single-objective [27] or multi-objective [28] grid-wise
optimization algorithms in energy trading systems.
Blockchain analysis: The number of prosumers in the
electricity network are increasing rapidly. Blockchain tech-
nologies are required to decentralize existing energy trading
platforms which creates the opportunity for prosumers to
perform direct P2P energy trading with consumers and other
prosumers on the network. In addition, blockchain enables
A. Aderibole et al.: Blockchain for Smart Grids
the consumers to select specific energy sources from their
preferred prosumers. Blockchain networks are also needed
to decentralize the reputation systems for consumers, pro-
sumers, and utilities. The resultant energy trading platforms
allow prosumers and consumers to efficiently trade electricity
at suitable prices during peak and off-peak demand periods in
a highly decentralized manner [29]. In addition, blockchain is
required to ensure secure energy trade and privacy preserving
data storage. Therefore, decentralized ledger technology and
hashing algorithms can help ensure secure storage of energy
resources and preserve privacy of transactional information.
C. VIRTUAL POWER PLANTS
Virtual power plants (VPPs) are software-as-a-service power
system structures consisting of grid-tied distributed energy
resources with energy storage capability spread across a large
geographical area whose aim is to supply electricity in a
power system as a single entity [30]. With the concept of
VPPs in smart grids, power can be generated closer to the
loads without the need to transmit power through transmis-
sion lines over long distances to minimize power losses [31].
VPPs facilitate in accumulating energy from variety of de-
centralized power sources and profile their performances and
energy loads. In addition, VPPs provide functions to enable
direct market and intraday energy trade between utililies,
prosumers, and consumers.
Blockchain analysis: Blockchain is a potential choice for
VPP service providers to maximize their operational effi-
ciency (i.e., the generation and provision of electricity near
the consumers). Blockchain networks enable the service
providers to create decentralized energy requests to the near-
est prosumers and utilities from consumers. The prosumers
and utilities provide information about their available energy
sources on the blockchain and VPPs compute decentralized
reputations based on the feedback from the previous con-
sumers. VPPs prioritize the energy sources based on repu-
tation scores which help generate and provide the electric-
ity to consumers. Blockchain networks facilitate the tamper
proof management of the reputation data, consensus-based
computation of reputation scores to ensure trust and decen-
tralization, and cryptocurrency-based incentive mechanisms
to reward or penalize the prosumers and utilities.
D. DEMAND RESPONSE
One of the avenues to achieve effective power systems is the
optimization of DRMS to minimize the variation of demand
and ensure it is always met by the available supply [32],
[33]. Demand response (DR) is defined as the changes in
the electricity consumption of consumers from their normal
levels as a response to variations in electricity prices over
a time period [33]. It is always accompanied by payments
to motivate end-users to alter their electricity consumption
for a certain duration. Modern smart grid infrastructures use
centralized DRMS to balance the electricity load in energy
distribution systems. Current DRMSs are deployed at grid
levels hence require grid-wise load optimization functions.
VOLUME x, 2019
Blockchain analysis: The blockchain enables DRMS at
microgrids and consumers’ sites which ensures local load-
balancing and saving operational cost of the centralized
DRMS. A typical DRMS usually involves a utility opera-
tor sending command signals to customers requesting load
reduction for a specific period of time [33]. However, some
of the customers, such as hospitals, schools, public spaces,
and government offices are not always able to comply with
the requests. The blockchain technologies are needed to
decentralize the load request modules in DRMS. Apart from
the load requests by DRMS, customers are also required
to initiate load requests to demand or shed the loads in
exchange for cryptocurrency payments. Blockchain networks
can also facilitate mission-critical customers such as the
operation theaters, electric rail operators, etc., to generate
the load reduction request on the network and IoT devices
and systems, in return, voluntarily perform consensus-based
load reduction in their premises. Blockchain networks are
also needed to execute new business models for P2P load
request management between participating customers and
prosumers.
E. TRACKING RENEWABLE ENERGY
The electricity generation by renewable energy sources vary
due to weather conditions and time of the day, therefore,
smart grid operators need to track received power. Two
types of tracking strategies are used: contract-path track-
ing method and renewable energy certificates (RECs). The
contract-path method is a conventional technique which is
used to verify, track, and trace the sequence of ownership
of renewable energy from generation systems to consumers.
Modern renewable energy tracking systems use RECs that
are tradeable commodities issued when 1 MWh of electricity
is generated from a renewable energy resource and delivered
to the electricity grid [34], [35].
Blockchain analysis: Blockchain technologies could be
used to track energy certificates efficiently. Blockchain-based
contract-path tracking strategies use distributed ledger tech-
nologies to record and transact the energy certificates. These
strategies benefit from tracking of decentralized ownership
of energy certificates, incentivize the trade using cryptocur-
rencies, and perform P2P transactions. Similarly, blockchain
technologies are required to create new decentralized REC
marketplaces for renewable energy producers, utilities, and
customers. RECs do not guarantee that electricity generated
from a renewable energy source (RES) directly reaches the
buyer, as it is difficult to distinguish the sources of energy
once injected into the grid. However, they substantiate the
generation and help grow the renewable energy market. A
blockchain system eliminates the need of a central inter-
mediary that ensures that RECs are not double-counted.
The ownership history of each certificate is recorded on the
blockchain. This helps provide a tamper-proof and trans-
parent way of managing certificates for renewable power
and emissions allowances. Blockchain allows participating
members to sell RECs at maximum profit. RECs incentivize
5

renewable energy by providing a production subsidy to elec-
tricity generated from renewable sources.
F. CLOUD COMPUTING
Cloud computing involves the provision of networking, com-
puting, and storage services over the internet [7]. NIST’s
latest proposal aims to deploy cloud computing services to
cater the needs of modern technologies and grid applications
such as, IoTs, edge computing, and artificial intelligence. The
provisioning of high quality edge-cloud computing services
ensures low latency and high throughput application services
for customers, service providers, prosumers, and utilities.
Cloud computing was mainly used by utility operators in
NIST’s earlier proposals, however, the enablement of edge
computing and IoT devices in the smart grid networks will
lead toward a plethora of new types of distributed and de-
centralized applications for customers, prosumers, and mi-
crogrids [7].
Blockchain analysis: The deployment of the blockchain-
based edge-computing services enables decentralized inter-
action of P2P IoT devices across the smart grid. In addition,
blockchain facilitates decentralized data collection and pro-
vides decentralized data management and storage services
near the data sources. The utilization of blockchain on the
edge-computing network benefits in terms of consensus-
based data reporting by consumer devices. In addition, it
lowers the data communication cost within the edge-cloud
network. The blockchain-based data management also re-
duces the cost of data storage in the centralized system for
utility operators.
G. LOAD FORECASTING
Consumers’ electricity demand vary due to multiple factors,
e.g., weather conditions, time of the day, pricing models of
utilities [36], and specific events and festivals. Alternately,
the electricity load keeps changing due to variability in
consumer demand, variation in incoming renewable energy
supply, the capacities of energy storage equipment, and ran-
dom disturbances in the smart grid (e.g., shutting down the
substations, fire incidents, or lightening due to bad weather).
Therefore, load forecasting helps in maintaining an equilib-
rium between electricity demand and supply in the smart
grid [18], [37]. It helps the operators to adequately schedule
power generation operations and plan efficient DR strategies.
Blockchain analysis: Blockchain technology cannot be
directly applied to forecast load demand in a smart grid.
However, the integration of blockchain with decentralized
storage systems (such as IPFS) aids system operators in
predicting future load demand by having access to accurate
and tamper-proof historical demand data. In addition, the
transparency and availability of historical demand profiles
provide independent system operators with accurate data to
aid them in planning and scheduling of power generation
without relying on a central utility. Blockchain can also
enable the prosumers and utilities to acquire customers’
past demand data that can aid them in planning future DR
6 VOLUME x, 2019
A. Aderibole et al.: Blockchain for Smart Grids
strategies. However, the secure nature of blockchains would
always ensure that only trustworthy and tamper-proof data
are stored on the decentralized storage networks.
H. ELECTRIC VEHICLES
A vehicle that is powered by at least one electric motor is
known as an electric vehicle (EV) [7]. The increased focus on
CO2 emission has led to the proliferation of EV. Apart from
transportation, EVs also serve the purpose of storing and
supplying power during off-peak and peak demand periods,
respectively [7]. Bloomberg predicts that EVs will count
for at least 50% of newly sold cars in Europe by 2035.
Considering such an unprecedented increase in electricity de-
mand by EVs, the distribution network operating companies
will install charging stations across the smart grid networks.
However, enabling DRMS and forecasting energy loads will
be a great challenge in the EVs era.
Blockchain analysis: The operation of EVs in a highly
decentralized manner seems like an obvious choice. Pro-
grammable computers embedded in EVs will be connected
to wireless P2P network to benefit from blockchain for
the following purposes: energy trading with the grid dur-
ing peak and off-peak demand periods; and participation in
DRMS to generate decentralized demand requests. In addi-
tion, blockchains can enable EVs to share their energy con-
sumption statistics on different routes. Utilities can execute
consensus algorithms to collaboratively filter these statistics
and guide EVs to appropriate charging stations.
I. CYBER SECURITY
Like other cyber physical systems, smart grid are suscep-
tible to cybersecurity attacks across whole underlying net-
work [38]. NIST’s current proposal provides detailed require-
ment specifications of cybersecurity related components for
future smart grid implementations. The attackers or mali-
cious users can launch reconnaissance attacks such as social
engineering attacks to collect customer/utility credentials and
enter the smart grid network [39], [40]. Smart grid systems
are also vulnerable to scanning attacks whereby attackers
try to scan IP addresses, ports, and services to intercept the
communications channels and alter the data in transmitted
packets. In addition, smart grid networks face system ex-
ploitation attacks such as viruses/worms/Trojan horses, de-
nial of services attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, replay at-
tacks, channel jamming, integrity violation, and privacy com-
promises [41]. Existing smart grid implementations mitigate
the above-mentioned attacks from a central system which
leads towards inefficiencies considering the heterogeneity of
devices and systems in the smart grid networks.
Blockchain analysis: The decentralization of smart grid
resources over a P2P network enables blockchain to ef-
fectively safeguard against potential hackers and security
threats. The decentralization ensures multiple points of re-
sumption against security attacks. In addition, the consensus
algorithms enable to collectively report and block malicious
users, nodes, and applications on the smart grid. Blockchain
A. Aderibole et al.: Blockchain for Smart Grids
TABLE 1: Trust, Decentralization, Incentives, and Blockchain Type for Selected Sub-domains
Sub-domain Decentralization Trust
Metering High Medium
Energy Trading High High
Virtual Power Plants High High
Demand Response High Low
Tracking Renewable Energy Low Medium
Cloud Computing High Low
Load Forecasting Mediun Medium
Electric Vehicles High High
Cyber Security High High
Microgrids High High
enables the users to collectively verify and validate new
software updates and downloads. It also enables to safeguard
against denial of service attacks due to multiple communi-
cation points in the network. The decentralized detection of
intruders (i.e. software/devices/systems) and reporting on the
underlying P2P network helps in safeguarding other parts
of the network. The enablement of decentralized storage
provides safeguard against data loss which is a major issue
in current centralized smart grid systems. The decentralized
identity management on blockchain enables users and de-
vices to effectively communicate with smart grid systems.
Similarly decentralized storage of public-private keys ben-
efits in terms of secure communication and identity theft.
Finally, the data provenance feature of blockchain enables to
prevent recording false data in smart grid databases. Hence,
the increased security of customers’ and utility operators’
data are incentives that could drive the implementation of
blockchain to improve cyber security in smart grids.
J. MICROGRIDS
Microgrids are small-scale electrical power grids consisting
of DERs and energy storage devices employed to meet the
local electricity and heating demands of an area [42]. Micro-
grids are typically operated in either grid-connected or stand-
alone mode. Stand-alone microgrids exist in remote areas that
do not have access to the utility grid for either economic
or geographical reasons [43], [44]. It is envisioned that
future smart grids will be made up of both grid-connected
and stand-alone microgrids. The microgrid systems provide
localization benefits in terms of data management, grid mon-
itoring, automation and control, DRMS provisioning, energy
storage, load forecasting, and microgrid utilization. However,
microgrid management becomes challenging when electric-
ity demands or depletion of storage resources [45] occur
in standalone microgrid infrastructures. In addition, energy
trading outside standalone microgrids is impossible.
Blockchain analysis: Microgrids, particularly stand-alone
microgrids, are highly decentralized power systems. With the
presence or absence of a utility grid; generation, markets
and other aspects of a microgrid operation are inherently
decentralized. Consequently, blockchains are applicable to
microgrids in areas such as, energy trading, demand re-
sponse, EVs and load forecasting. The issues of trust and
incentives applicable to energy trading, metering and demand
VOLUME x, 2019
Incentives Blockchain Type
High Private, BCaaS
High Private, BCaaS
High Consortium, BCaaS
Medium Private, BCaaS
High Private, BCaaS
Medium Private, BCaaS
Low Private, BCaaS
High Private, BCaaS
High Private
High Consortium, BCaaS
response in smart grids can be extended to microgrids.
IV. EVALUATION
This section presents the evaluation of existing smart grid
architectures in the light of NIST’s reference architecture
in framework 4.0 (see Figure 2). The applicability of the
blockchain technology to the various smart grid sub-domains
presented in the previous section is evaluated and presented
in Figure 3 and Table 2. Furthermore, a state-of-the-art re-
view of the recent work on the application of blockchain to
smart grid sub-domains is also presented in this section.
The aim of metering is to accurately measure the consump-
tion and production of electricity at various points across
the smart grid. As mentioned in the previous section, the
AMI in smart grids are highly decentralized. Furthermore,
the proliferation of prosumers, microgrids and VPPs in smart
grids also ensures the presence of large amounts of meter-
ing information. A blockchain thus provides a platform to
securely store this information in a tamper-proof manner.
As of the moment of writing this paper, there has been no
work reported on the application of blockchain to metering
in smart grids. Therefore, we anticipate that decentraliz-
ing a few operations (such as reporting electricity loads
to other customers and proving a collaborative consensus
based feedback to centralized energy management systems)
of metering applications will enhance the trust among smart
grid stakeholders and it will help in creating participatory
and inclusive customer-base for smart grids. In addition, the
utilities can offer customized pricing schemes and business
models to customers and prosumers for participation and run-
ning decentralized metering applications. These applications
will utilize computing resources from customers’ domestic
devices and blockchain services at edge servers enabled by
independent system operators.
Existing wholesale energy markets can operate in two
ways: through private contracts between individuals or
through auctions and bidding. In both cases, transparency and
accuracy of electricity prices may be jeopardized. Moreover,
existing wholesale markets fall short in real-time pricing due
to the increasing number of volatile RES [46]. LO3 Energy
established the Brooklyn Microgrid (BMG) project which al-
lows P2P energy trading through a private blockchain, where
the market is based on double auction and implemented via
closed order book [47]. A market clearing price is determined
7
 A. Aderibole et al.: Blockchain for Smart Grids

Centralized Systems
Operational Control Center ISO/RTO Aggregator
Participants
Control Systems Transmission Ops Distribution Ops
Energy Advanced Retailer

Management System
Demand Response
Building Management Distribution Energy Market
Automation and System Management Clearing House
Control System System
Wholesaler
Reliability &
Market
DER Markets
Home Energy Management
Management Optimization System
System

Generator
Operational Enterprise Services Bus

Communicating Distributed Systems

Programmable
Thermostate

Utility Energy Microgrid Master

Synchro-Phasor Energy Storage
Home Controller Storage System Controller

operational communication

Remote Distribution Intelligent Phasor

HVAC Smart Smart Electric
Controllable Automation Electronic Measuremen DER
Systems Meter Inverter Vehicle
Appliance Device Device t Unit

Customer Distribution Transmission Generation

Edge Systems

FIGURE 2: Smart Grid Conceptual Model in NIST Framework Proposal 4.0

for each specific time slot and competitive bid orders are
filled. The project tackles both virtual and physical layers of
the market platform, where a new microgrid is built along
with the blockchain infrastructure.
This model still connects to the traditional distribution
grid to balance supply with demand. Mengelkamp et al.
propose a similar approach to the BMG project but differs
in the fact that the blockchain layer does not connect to
a separate microgrid [46]. Additionally, Mengelkamp et al.
provide an optimization model which minimizes the market’s
total electricity costs, as well as analyze agents’ behavior via
a simulation outside of the blockchain where only the final
orders are forecasted into the blockchain [46]. This feature
indicates that information is gathered in a central system to
be studied and the decentralization criteria for this feature is
not met. Nevertheless, the energy trading process does follow
the decentralization criteria.
Both approaches confirm the trust criteria by keep-
ing customer-specific data locally stored while forecasting
data generated from customers’ smart meters onto their
blockchain accounts [46], [47]. An identity-based consensus
mechanism is used to prevent corrupted agents from entering
the system by verifying the identities through a centralized
8 VOLUME x, 2019
entity (i.e. government). The incentive criteria is met in both
approaches by pricing the electricity above applicable taxes
and fees and generating profits. However, this criteria is met
only if the average energy prices are lower than the external
grid price [47]. Although several blockchain-based energy
trading initiatives are underway, the transmission, generation
and distribution aspects of the smart grid present scalability
challenges. To solve this challenge, there has been active
research done in regards to sharding and similar concepts,
however, it does not seem to have been implemented in
energy trading yet.
VPPs have been gaining widespread attention recently
[48]–[50]. Although VPPs are highly decentralized systems,
there has been a limited focus on the ways that blockchain
can be applied to this increasingly popular concept. Research
efforts can be focused on how a trustless distributed ledger
can be employed to store metering, trading and other sensi-
tive information from VPPs in a secure manner.
In the previous section, it was determined that the demand
response sub-domain of a smart grid meets the criteria of
decentralization, trust and incentives. Thus, DR programs to
improve the efficiency of smart grids can be implemented on
a blockchain network. Some of the recent works in this area
A. Aderibole et al.: Blockchain for Smart Grids

Centralized Systems
Operational Control Center ISO/RTO Aggregator
Participants
Control Systems Transmission Ops Distribution Ops
Energy Advanced Retailer

Management System
Demand Response
Building Management Distribution Energy Market
Automation and System Management Clearing House
Control System System
Wholesaler
Reliability &
Market
DER Centralized Markets
Home Energy Management
Management Optimization System
System

Generator
Operational Enterprise Services Bus

Distributed Systems (cloud) RQ9

Communicating RQ4 RQ3

Programmable
Thermostate
RQ7
Utility Energy Microgrid Master
Synchro-Phasor Energy Storage
Home Controller Storage System Controller

RQ1 RQ5 RQ8 RQ6 Prosumers/ Aggregator

operational communication Miscrogrids

Remote Distribution Intelligent Phasor Retailer

HVAC Smart Smart Electric Local Energy
Controllable Automation Electronic Measurement DER
Systems Meter Inverter Vehicle Market Clearing
Appliance Device Device Unit
House
Wholesaler
RQ2
Customer Distribution Transmission Generation

Edge Systems

FIGURE 3: Decentralized Smart Grid Conceptual Model based on the NIST Framework Proposal 4.0

include [51], where a blockchain system on the Ethereum decentralized manner, this model meets the decentralization
platform is proposed to manage DR events in a smart grid. criteria. Although the criteria are met, a blockchain approach
This platform allows distributed energy prosumers (DEPs) to to GoO is not capable of being put to use in the emerging
trade bids containing the amount of energy they are willing small-scale distributed generation industry (below 1 MWh)
to increase or curtail with the distributed system operator [53]. In other words, the number of prosumers plugged
(DSO) and store metering data in a tamper-proof manner. into the blockchain is limited to those with high production
In addition, [51] also proposes employing smart contracts capacity.
to ensure customers involved in DR programs comply with Cloud computing infrastructures are usually employed
agreements while distributing reward and penalties. The in smart grids to provide energy management, information
proposed blockchain presented is limited to DEPs making management and security services [54]. These clouds are
bids with the DSOs, however, a more sophisticated system normally centralized in nature. The advantages of cloud
can be developed which allows DEPs to make bids among computing include: flexibility and scalability [55]. While the
themselves in addition with the DSO. drawbacks of employing cloud computing are cost, security
Castellanos et al. propose a marketplace in which RECs and privacy of the relevant data. The decentralization of cloud
or Guarantees of Origin (GoO) are tokenized and traded computing in a smart grid can act to reduce the associated
among prosumers [52]. The market utilizes the Ethereum costs. Thus, in addition to increasing the security and privacy
Blockchain and smart contracts to enable transaction of to- of the data stored in the cloud, a blockchain platform can be
kens for Ether (ETH) which can be cashed out as incentives. employed in this regard. Recent works [56], [57] has been
The model is simulated using a Fixed Price Strategy and a done on the application of blockchain to cloud computing in
Variable Price Strategy. In the former strategy, the tokens general. To the knowledge of the authors, no work relating
are sold at the average market price of one GoO, while the to the application of blockchain to cloud computing in smart
latter allows prosumers to sell tokens at a price that falls grids has been reported in the literature. As a result, this area
between the cost of fossil and green energy. The simulations is highlighted as a potential research direction.
of both strategies indicated that the Variable Price Strategy There is currently no work in the existing literature apply-
is more profitable. Therefore, this approach meets the trust ing blockchain to load forecasting in smart grids. The benefit
and incentives criteria. Also, since the trade is occurring in a of allowing customers, prosumers and electricity generators
VOLUME x, 2019 9
 A. Aderibole et al.: Blockchain for Smart Grids

TABLE 2: Mapping Blockchain Requirements on NIST Framework Proposal 4.0

Req. Sub-domain Op- Domains Blockchain Preconditions Blockchain Require- Blockchain Objectives
erations Type ments
RQ1 Smart metering Service BCaaS All devices and systems Smart contracts for re- Decentralized electricity
applications Providers, must be registered with porting and verification load verification,
Customers service-providers of electricity loads, en- consensus-based
ergy consumption trends, feedback, decentralized
collaborative utilization of business models
energy resources
RQ2 Marketplaces for Transmission, BCaaS All consumers, prosumers, Smart contracts for market Local decentralized
energy trading Generation, and microgrids must be clearing, energy aggrega- marketplaces, service-
Distribution registered with service- tion, P2P trading, reputa- delivery through P2P
providers tion management reputation management
RQ3 Energy Generation BCaaS All consumers, prosumers, Smart contracts for decen- Optimal on-demand
generation in devices, systems, and mi- tralized energy requests electricity generation and
VPPs crogrids must be registered and reputation manage- decentralized reputation
with service providers ment management
RQ4 Energy distribu- Distribution BCaaS All consumers, prosumers, Smart contracts for de- Optimal P2P energy trade
tion in VPPs devices, systems, and mi- centralized energy distri- and decentralized reputa-
crogrids must be registered bution and reputation man- tion management
with service providers agement
RQ5 Load request Customers, BCaaS All consumers must be on Smart contracts for decen- Optimal P2P energy load
management for Service the registered with service tralized energy requests management
DRMS Providers, providers and incentive mechanisms
Distribution for P2P load management
RQ6 Renewable Generation, Mar- BCaaS All utilities, energy gen- Smart contracts for market Local decentralized mar-
energy tracking kets eration systems, and pro- clearing, energy aggrega- ketplaces for energy cer-
sumers must be registered tion, P2P trading, reputa- tificates, Provenance, veri-
with service providers tion management fication, and validation of
energy certificates
RQ7 Data Operations, Cus- BCaaS All storage devices must Cryptographic algorithms Distributed decentralized
management for tomers be managed by service to generate hashes of traceable data
load forecasting providers stored metadata management
RQ8 Data Operations, Cus- BCaaS All EVs must be registered Consensus algorithms, Decentralized reporting
management tomers with service providers DLT, and cryptographic of energy consumption,
for EVs algorithms for customized energy trading
decentralized storage with EVs
RQ9 Cybersecurity All Private All actors must be Consensus algorithms Decentralized threat re-
operations registered with service porting and cybersecurity
providers management

in smart grids to broadcast their demand and generation
profile on a decentralized network like a blockchain include:
providing a distributed ledger containing historical data that
would aid and improve the accuracy of future forecasting;
equipping independent prosumers with accurate historic data
for planning and scheduling purposes to maximize profits
without the need for a centralized utility; allowing customers
in general to plan DR response activities with the knowl-
edge of accurate past demand data. Moreover, the use of a
blockchain would reduce the control of a centralized entity
that might alter and skew past demand and forecasting data to
their own benefit at the expense of consumers and prosumers.
By utilizing the advantages of the blockchain technology,
a P2P network can be employed to trade energy among EVs
and between EVs and the power grid in a decentralized and
secure manner. Moreover, EV-to-EV trading is also done for
peak shifting and demand response purposes [58]. Recent
work in this area can be found in [59]–[61]. An ethereum-
based blockchain was proposed in [60] to autonomously
aid EVs to select charging stations based on bids, waiting
and estimated charging time from different charging stations.
Furthermore, a security model to protect transactions be-
tween EVs and charging stations is further studied in [61].
10
While [59] proposes a localized P2P blockchain system to
accommodate electricity trading and DR capabilities with
incentives among EVs. Further work can still be done in this
regard.
In this paper, avenues in which blockchain can be applied
to areas such as trading, cloud computing, consumption mon-
itoring through metering and load forecasting have been pre-
sented. However, the security and privacy of information and
data stored and transmitted in the network is important for the
successful operation of blockchain networks in smart grids.
In addition to providing basic security, the blockchain should
inherently protect itself from cyber attackers without relying
on a third-party. Consequently, some published works have
studied and proposed ways in which blockchain technology
can improve cyber security. In [62], a token-based private
decentralization energy trading platform is implemented se-
curely using blockchain technology. The privacy and security
of energy trading on this platform is made robust by em-
ploying multi-signatures and anonymous encrypted message
propagation streams. Additional work on data protection in
smart grids using blockchain was proposed in [63]. The
proposed solution involves applying the distributed security
features of a blockchain to enhance the data security of smart
VOLUME x, 2019
A. Aderibole et al.: Blockchain for Smart Grids
grids against cyber attacks. Other works on the application of
blockchain to cyber security in smart grids are presented in
[56], [64], [65].
Microgrids are typically comprised of renewable and non-
renewable DERs. This has led to the development of decen-
tralized control, optimization and other techniques employed
to efficiently operate these microgrids [43]. Consequently,
some of the benefits of a decentralized platform, such as a
blockchain can also be extended to improve microgrid effi-
ciency. For instance, a P2P direct trading platform between
consumers and prosumers on a blockchain has been proposed
in [66]–[68]. This direct transaction between prosumers and
consumers not only reduces costs, but also eliminates trust
issues that might exist between these parties and utility op-
erators in conventional trading platforms. Trading conditions
are enclosed in smart contracts to improve the transparency
of the trading system. In addition, further work on applying
blockchain to microgrid energy trading reveals that there is a
correlation between energy transaction and microgrid power
losses variation [69], [70]. Most of the reported work in
literature focuses on the application of blockchain to energy
trading in microgrids. However, similar to [71], the authors
propose that more work can be done to apply blockchain to
other aspects of microgrid operation, such as: cloud comput-
ing, load forecasting and DR.
The applicability of blockchain technology to the key
smart grid sub-domains with respect to the three critical
requirements has been discussed in this paper. Based on
the decentralization, trust and incentive criteria, we found
that the largest impact of the research efforts is in energy
trading, cybersecurity and demand response, respectively.
The ability of a blockchain to provide highly decentralized
platforms for trading, similar to the bitcoin blockhain, makes
energy trading the top sub-domain that can be enhanced with
the decentralization quality of blockchain. Moreover, the
inherent ability of blockchain to secure data in the network
due to its cryptographic nature and consensus mechanisms,
points to cybersecurity as a promising research direction for
the application of blockchain in smart grids. Finally, demand
response is an incentive-based strategy employed for efficient
smart grid operations. Therefore, this leads to it being a
suitable research area for the application of blockchain in
smart grids. The solid application of blockchain technology
in these three sub-domains can effectively drive the propaga-
tion of blockchain technology in the other sub-domains such
as microgrids and smart metering. One could attempt the
incorporation of the blockchain in these other areas first, but
we believe that direction will make the overall integration and
standardization much harder and costlier due to the complex-
ity and widespread impact of energy trading, cybersecurity
and demand response solutions.
The operations of all seven domains in the NIST’s cen-
tralized conceptual model are tightly coupled and depen-
dent upon one another, and as such, the implementation of
blockchain technologies is difficult in the fully centralized
grid systems. Furthermore, considering the non-technical
VOLUME x, 2019
role of operations, generation, distribution, transmission,
customers, and markets, it is quite difficult to deploy and
manage the blockchain systems in these domains. Therefore,
it is difficult to integrate purely public blockchain systems
whereby all domains can configure the blockchain nodes,
perform mining and validation, improve the source code, and
maintain a fair and open cryptocurrency environment. This
creates a big opportunity for service providers to integrate
and monetize cloud-based (BCaaS) blockchain systems for
most of the highly-coupled sub-domain operations.
The service providers can help ensure the provisioning
of BCaaS in the edge-cloud networks to enable spatio-
temporal decentralization (e.g., microgrid-to-microgrid, EV-
to-grid, EV-to-EV, or customer-to-grid) which support local-
ized trust models and localized P2P transactions. In addition,
service providers may enable consortium-based blockchain
solutions with a common cryptocurrency for energy trade
between different standalone microgrids or main grids. The
private blockchain deployment is most appropriate when all
the domains and sub-domains contribute as part of a single
but fully decentralized system which may run at a country or
regional level. However, based on NIST’s current proposal,
private blockchain systems are perceived to deploy grid-
specific decentralized applications to report cyber attacks
in the smart grid. Finally, we believe that after lowering
the coupling and dependencies between domains and sub-
domains, service providers can enhance the applicability of
public blockchain networks for future smart grid operations.
These public blockchain systems will enable fully open and
transparent decentralized applications for completely local
energy trade between different entities.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, the applicability of blockchain technology in
standard NIST conceptual model smart grids domains was
presented to help identify and guide the decentralization
of the smart grids. First, we identified key smart grid sub-
domains that can be enhanced using blockchain technology
with respect to three critical blockchain features: decen-
tralization, trust and incentive. Second, the application of
blockchain in each of the domains was evaluated based on
the three aforementioned criteria and the existing research
in the literature. Finally, we identified key priority areas in
each domain and specified a decentralized blockchain-based
version of the NIST conceptual model. The critical future
research should be the analysis of blockchain impact on the
costs and efficiency of smart grid operations. Within each
selected domain, it is important to identify the concrete tech-
nical issues and challenges. Some of these might show sig-
nificant inefficiencies with respect to the achievement of the
core requirements of trust, decentralization, and incentive,
and in turn demonstrate potential superiority of centralized
approaches in some cases.
11

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for smart grid: A survey,” IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed
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dent and a research assistant at MIT, USA. His re-
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computing based framework for big data information management of
search interests include smart grid and blockchain
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D. Janssens, “Peer to peer energy trading with electric vehicles,” IEEE AAMNA ALJARWAN was a graduate student at
Intelligent Transportation Systems Magazine, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 33–44, Fall Khalifa University of Science and Technology,
2016. Abu Dhabi, UAE. She completed her MSs in
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“Enabling localized peer-to-peer electricity trading among plug-in hybrid
NoPhoto.png in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from
electric vehicles using consortium blockchains,” IEEE Transactions on
Khalifa University. Currently she is serving as
Industrial Informatics, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 3154–3164, Dec 2017.
a research assistant and she is passionate about
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tion of electric vehicle charging station,” in 2016 International Conference
technology, entrepreneurship, and humane devel-
on Identification, Information and Knowledge in the Internet of Things opment.
(IIKI), Oct 2016, pp. 217–222.
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ing, pp. 1–1, 2016. MUHAMMAD HABIB UR REHMAN is cur-
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blockchain-based data protection framework for modern power systems tems of Khalifa University in United Arab Emi-
against cyber attacks,” IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, pp. 1–1, 2018. rates as a postdoctoral research fellow. He is cur-
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ization and cyber resiliency,” in 2017 North American Power Symposium nologies for intelligent cyber-physical systems.
(NAPS), Sept 2017, pp. 1–5. His main research activities include research and
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blockchain for secure energy trading in industrial internet of things,” IEEE trustworthy artificial intelligence applications for
Transactions on Industrial Informatics, pp. 1–1, 2017. cyber-physical systems. He is also an alumnae of
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Blockchain-enabled peer-to-peer electricity trading mechanism,” in 2017
fellow and he obtained his PhD degree from faculty of computer Science and
IEEE Conference on Energy Internet and Energy System Integration (EI2),
information technology, University of Malaya, Malaysia. He completed his
Nov 2017, pp. 1–5.
bachelors and masters degrees in Pakistan whereby he received gold medals
[67] A. Goranović, M. Meisel, L. Fotiadis, S. Wilker, A. Treytl, and T. Sauter,
“Blockchain applications in microgrids an overview of current projects and 100% fee-waiver scholarships from COMSATS University Islamabad,
and concepts,” in IECON 2017 - 43rd Annual Conference of the IEEE Pakistan. Overall, he has authored/co-authored 40 international publica-
Industrial Electronics Society, Oct 2017, pp. 6153–6158. tions including journal articles, conference proceedings, book chapters,
[68] J. Wang, Q. Wang, N. Zhou, and Y. Chi, “A novel electricity transaction and magazine articles whereby his 04 articles are categorized as highly
mode of microgrids based on blockchain and continuous double auction,” cited publications by Web-of-Science. Dr. Habib’s research interests include
Energies, vol. 10, no. 12, 2017. blockchain technologies, cyber-Physical Systems, secure key management,
[69] E. R. Sanseverino, M. L. D. Silvestre, P. Gallo, G. Zizzo, and M. Ippolito, big data, edge computing, and industrial IoT. Dr. Habib is a professional
“The blockchain in microgrids for transacting energy and attributing member of IEEE.
losses,” in 2017 IEEE International Conference on Internet of Things
(iThings) and IEEE Green Computing and Communications (GreenCom)

VOLUME x, 2019 13

H. H. ZEINELDIN (M06SM13) received the
B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering
from Cairo University, Giza, Egypt, in 1999 and
2002, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electri-
cal and computer engineering from the University
of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada, in 2006. He
was with Smith and Andersen Electrical Engineer-
ing, Inc., North York, ON, USA, where he was
involved in projects involving distribution system
designs, protection, and distributed generation. He
was a Visiting Professor with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge, MA, USA. He is currently with the Faculty of Engineering,
Cairo University, Egypt and is on leave from Khalifa University of Science
and Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE. His current research interests include
distribution system protection, distributed generation, and micro grids. He
is currently an Editor for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENERGY CON-
VERSION and the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRID.
TOUFIC MEZHER is a Professor of Industrial
and Systems Engineering at Khalifa University
of Science and Technology (KUST) since 2017.
Before Joining KUST, he was a Professor of
Engineering Systems and Management at Mas-
dar Institute of Science and Technology (2008-
2016) and Professor of Engineering Management
at the American University in Beirut from 1992 to
2007. He earned a BS in Civil Engineering from
University of Florida, and a Master and ScD in
Engineering Management from George Washington University in 1988 and
1992 respectively. Research Interests include Energy Strategy and Policy;
Technology Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Innovation; Knowledge Man-
agement, and Sustainable Development.
KHALED SALAH received the B.S. degree in
computer engineering with a minor in computer
science from Iowa State University, USA, in 1990,
the M.S. degree in computer systems engineering
and the Ph.D. degree in computer science from the
Illinois Institute of Technology, USA, in 1994 and
2000, respectively. He is currently a Full Professor
with the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, Khalifa University, UAE. He joined
Khalifa University, in August 2010, where he is
teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in the areas of cloud comput-
ing, computer and network security, computer networks, operating systems,
and performance modeling and analysis. Prior to joining Khalifa University,
he worked at the Department of Information and Computer Science, King
Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia, for
ten years. He has over 190 publications and holds three patents, has been
giving a number of international keynote speeches, invited talks, tutorials,
and research seminars on the subjects of blockchain, the IoT, fog and cloud
computing, and cybersecurity. He is a member of the IEEE Blockchain Edu-
cation Committee. He was a recipient of the Khalifa University Outstanding
Research Award, in 2014 and 2015, the KFUPM University Excellence in
Research Award, in 2008 and 2009, and the KFUPM Best Research Project
Award, in 2009 and 2010, and the departmental awards for Distinguished
Research and Teaching in prior years. He serves on the editorial boards of
many WoS-listed journals, including IET Communications, IET Networks,
Elsevier’s JNCA, Wiley’s SCN, Wiley’s IJNM, J.UCS, and AJSE. He is the
Track Chair of the IEEE Globecom 2018 on Cloud Computing. He is an
Associate Editor of the IEEE BLOCKCHAIN NEWSLETTER.
14
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A. Aderibole et al.: Blockchain for Smart Grids
ERNESTO DAMIANI joined Khalifa University
as Chair of the Information Security Group and
Program, and EBTIC as Research Professor. He is
on extended leave from the Department of Com-
puter Science, Università degli Studi di Milano,
Italy, where he leads the SESAR research lab and
is the Head of the Ph.D. Program in Computer Sci-
ence. Ernesto’s research interests include secure
service-oriented architectures, privacy-preserving
Big Data analytics and Cyber-Physical Systems
security. Ernesto holds/has held visiting positions at a number of inter-
national institutions, including George Mason University in Virginia, US,
Tokyo Denki University, Japan, LaTrobe University in Melbourne, Australia,
and the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA) at Lyon, France.
He is a Fellow of the Japanese Society for the Progress of Science. He
has been Principal Investigator in a number of large-scale research projects
funded by the European Commission, the Italian Ministry of Research
and by private companies such as British Telecom, Cisco Systems, SAP,
Telecom Italia, Siemens Networks (now Nokia Siemens) and many others.
Ernesto serves in the editorial board of several international journals; among
others, he is the EIC of the International Journal on Big Data and of the
International Journal of Knowledge and Learning. He is Associate Editor
of IEEE Transactions on Service-oriented Computing and of the IEEE
Transactions on Fuzzy Systems. Ernesto is a senior member of the IEEE
and served as Vice-Chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Industrial
Informatics. In 2008, Ernesto was nominated ACM Distinguished Scientist
and received the Chester Sall Award from the IEEE Industrial Electronics
Society. Ernesto has co-authored over 350 scientific papers and many books,
including “Open Source Systems Security Certification” (Springer 2009).
DAVOR SVETINOVIC received the Ph.D. degree
in computer science from the University of Water-
loo, Canada, 2006. He is currently an Associate
Professor of computer science with the Khalifa
University of Science and Technology, UAE, and
a Research Affiliate with the Media Lab, Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA.
Previously, he worked as a Visiting Professor at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
and a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Lero–the
Irish Software Engineering Center, Ireland, and the Vienna University of
Technology, Austria. He leads the Strategic Requirements and Systems
Security Group (SRSSG), and he has extensive experience working on
complex multidisciplinary research projects. He has published over 75
articles in leading journals and conferences. His current research interests
include systems security and privacy, blockchain engineering, and artificial
intelligence. He is a Senior Member of IEEE and ACM.
VOLUME x, 2019