Blockchain outlook for deployment of IoT in distribution networks and smart homes

International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE)
Vol. 10, No. 3, June 2020, pp. 2787~2796
ISSN: 2088-8708, DOI: 10.11591/ijece.v10i3.pp2787-2796  2787
Journal homepage: http://ijece.iaescore.com/index.php/IJECE
Blockchain outlook for deployment of IoT in distribution
networks and smart homes
Heliasadat Hosseinian1
, Hossein Shahinzadeh2
, Gevork B. Gharehpetian3
, Zohreh Azani4
, Mahdi Shaneh5
1,2,3,4
Department of Electrical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran
5
Department of Electrical Engineering, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran
5
Smart Microgrid Research Center, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran
Article Info ABSTRACT
Article history:
Received May 31, 2019
Revised Nov 30, 2019
Accepted Dec 10, 2019
Nowadays, the integration of renewable energy sources, as distributed
generation, into power systems is accelerated, and the corresponding
technological development is evolving at a frantic pace. The power industry
is going to reach a turning point for increasing the penetration of these
sources due to concerns pertaining to climate changes and world-wide ever-
growing demand for energy. The pervasive renewable energy in small-scale
poses new challenges for operators to manage an abundant number of small-
scale generation sources, called microsources. The current banking structures
are unable to handle such massive high-frequency transactions.
Thus, the incorporation of cryptocurrencies is inevitable. Besides,
the utilization of IoT-enabled devices produces a large body of data that must
be securely transferred, stored, processed, and managed to boost the grid’s
observability, controllability, and autonomy. Artificial intelligence and big
data techniques should be used to analyze the data for quasi-real-time
decision making. This study delves into the aforementioned controversial
challenges and opportunities, and the corresponding solutions for
the incorporation of IoT and blockchain in power systems, particularly in
the distribution level, residential section, smart buildings, smart homes,
energy hubs schemes, and the management of residential electric vehicle
supply equipment are addressed.
Keywords:
Blockchain
Consensus
Home appliances
Internet of things (IoT)
Renewable energy
Smart grid
Copyright © 2020 Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science.
All rights reserved.
Corresponding Author:
Hossein Shahinzadeh,
IEEE Member - Department of Electrical Engineering,
Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic),
P.O. Box: 15875-4413, No. 424, Hafez Ave, Tehran, Iran.
Email: h.s.shahinzadeh@ieee.org
1. INTRODUCTION
Since recent decades, power systems are experiencing revolutionary changes. Aside from the ever-
growing development of technology in various parts of power systems, the insight into the way a power
system must be expanded, managed, and operated is changed. The tendency to exploit more renewable clean
energy is increased across the globe. This propensity is both in the integration of large-scale plants (such as
wind farms and solar parks) and small-scale demand-side generation sources. By integration of such
renewable energy sources (RES) in demand-side, the idea of microgrid has emerged. Microgrids are also
regarded as a part of active distribution networks, in which the presence of resources and power injection
electric vehicles (EV) with vehicle-to-grid capabilities are also taken into account. The power system
planners are prone to enable small-scale and distributed sources, particularly those with low or zero air
pollution to avoid further installation of large-scale fossil-based generation units. The complexity of power
systems is permanently increasing due to the diversification of components, different operating structures,
and the increase of sources of uncertainty in electricity grids [1].

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To tackle such complexity and prepare the power system infrastructure for the challenges and
barriers of future grids in upcoming decades, the concept of smart grid has been propounded by many
researchers since the last two decades. Even though the smart grid initiative has been launched mainly in far
remote locations or in the academic institutions, it demonstrates a bright prospect for the future of electricity
grids. The smart grid brings remarkable changes in the management of assets and resources that it requires
significant advances in telecommunication infrastructure, reporting software, automation, and the level of
smartness of grids. Therefore, in order to pave the way for the implementation of smart grids,
some prerequisites must be fulfilled in order to provide better operation of the grid and exploitation of
resources [2-3]. The improvement of the level of smartness of power grids sounds to be indispensable in
order to increase the level of autonomy of system, better real-time monitoring, and developing
the controllability and observability over various parts of power systems, particularly in the side of end-users.
This matter entails the digitalization of various parts and components in a power grid and proliferated
platforms to communicate all elements to each other. Hereby, the power grids should undergo technological
changes to conform to these requirements in terms of telecommunications and data processing [4-5].
The necessity translates into a new communicational platform, which is more powerful and swift,
which is introduced as the internet of things (IoT). The applications of IoT is not hedged to power systems,
but it can be useful in various sections of industry, municipal affairs, healthcare, and everyday life. In this
study, it is intended to catch up with IoT applications in the power industry [6]. All scientists have arrived at
a consensus that the current trend of air pollution can jeopardize the future of human life on the earth due to
global warming and climate changes. A considerable portion of the production of greenhouse gases is
correlated with the generation of electricity. Energy systems need significant investment in order to achieve
long-term goals of carbon emission reduction. It is estimated that a minimum investment of 200 billion euro
is required just in the European Union to achieve a sustainable and reliable energy system. It will also be
needed to invest up to $2 trillion to upgrade the grid in the United States by 2030 [7-9]. In order to generate
the intended fund, there is a need for intelligent management and control. By increasing the number of
generating plants, rising activities, and tasks should be more active, decentralized, and complex while it’s
very challenging in energy systems [10].
Regretfully, there is a vague perspective for developing renewable energy, according to the lack of
goals and long-term planning in Iran. In other words, prices change in the exchange rate, a major investment
of renewable plant is based on currency budget, and most of the investors are foreigners. Therefore,
investment in this sector has a major problem due to Rial payments and currency fluctuations. According to
the report of Iran organization for Management of Electric Power Generation and Transmission (Tavanir),
in 2016, the total generation of wind and solar plants and other types of renewable energies does not exceed
468 megawatts equal to 0.6% out of total nominal power of the country which is a very small percentage
compared to Iran’s potential for renewable energy [11-13]. Regard to the expansion of technology and
the reduction of fossil fuels, the increase in the use of clean energy throughout the world is inevitable.
Thus, advanced communication and data exchanges between different sectors of the grid are increasingly
needed, which needs management and centralized and challenging operation more than ever. Currently,
decentralization and digitalization are the techniques for controlling and management of local distribution
networks in order to comply with this procedure [14-16].
The blockchain is a decentralized database which is also called distributed ledger, in such a way that
data records are stacked in blocks. Considering these blocks are encrypted in sequence by a hash function,
it can be ensured that signed blocks cannot be manipulated anyway [17-19]. In the case of a frantic attempt to
make a cyber-attack, the block cannot be recognized and manipulated because of its decentralized structure.
As a result, blockchain can help to solve the challenges of decentralized energy systems. The first and
foremost, the blockchain allows the automatic implementation of intelligent contracts in peer to peer
networks [20]. Therefore, the decentralized structure of blockchain is very suitable to implement processes of
energy systems as a multi-agent system. The recent studies about startups and pioneer organizations show
that blockchain technology can potentially provide solutions to some of the challenges in the energy
industry [21]. Future energy system requirements can be summarized to three key principles: decarbonizing,
decentralizing, and digitizing systems. It is noticeable that the current structure of electricity and energy
markets is not sufficient to achieve this prospect. Recently, blockchain’s developers introduced new digital
transaction platforms, which are completely decentralized and make peer-to-peer energy exchange
possible [22-24]. They developed local energy markets, and now they are expanding the use of IoT as an
important and influential factor in future smart grids. Blockchain technology is able to respond to
the challenges, which the IoT is encountered with. Since blockchain technology can provide a simple
infrastructure for two devices in order to transfer directly a portion of the property, such as money or data
through a safe and secure contract with affirmation [25]. IoT-equipped devices use intelligent contracts to
enable message exchange, which is able to model an agreement among individuals [26]. This feature enables

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Blockchain outlook for deployment of IoT in distribution networks and smart homes (Heliasadat Hosseinian)
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smart devices’ performance without any need for a centralized server. This peer to peer data exchange can be
generalized among devices, humans, and things to maintain a trusted and fully distributed and decentralized
digital infrastructure [27].
The high cost of construction of a new power generation plant, on the one hand, and the role of
generating units in the power supply necessitate the construction of new plants and the maintenance of old
units, which should be updated carefully and accurately [28]. Deficiency in the provision of sufficient
generation capacity of Iran’s power plants results in undesirable effects of electricity outages and unreliable
supply, which sometimes causes severe damage to the economic, political, and social structures of
the country. As a result, any possibility of cost-saving and improving productivity in the operation of energy
systems and market development is prominence and worthy of investigation [29]. In this paper, in addition to
the introduction of the fundamental background of blockchain and its types, the practical applications of
blockchain in distributed generation systems are investigated, and ultimately, the ability to use this
innovation in order to solve the challenges that IoT is facing with is examined. The extant researches
conducted in this field are basic studies, and the roles of IoT and blockchain in future power grids are well
matured and discussed in this study, and the structural applications of them are concisely presented. Besides,
the benefits of the utilization of IoT in smart homes and smart buildings for the management of energy in
the residential section are proposed.
2. BLOCKCHAIN’S BASIC CONCEPTS
Fundamentally, blockchain technology is a decentralized database that works on a peer to peer
network and uses consensus algorithms for decision making, and network security is preserved by encryption
methods. In other words, the data structure is a kind of library that may include digital transactions, data
records, commands for controlling actions, or executable signals [30-32]. The data of a transaction needs to
be verified through certain certifications corresponded with a growing list of encrypted records, which are
called blocks, to avoid tampering with the data of digital documents. Each block is corresponded with its
previous block to form a chain of records which determines the order of the events and is called blockchain.
Most of the base cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, are working based on blockchain technology, but this
technology can also be used in non-monetary transactions. For example, intelligent contracts-which were first
introduced on the Ethereum blockchain- are activated on this platform, and when certain conditions are
provided, these contracts are implemented automatically without human intervention [33-34].
2.1. Types of the blockchain
General, private, and consortium are three different types of blockchain which are described based
on access permission and changelog capabilities.
2.1.1. General blockchain
The general blockchain is considered open source and totally decentralized. In this kind of
blockchain, anyone has access to the information and can have a transaction and participate in the consensus
process and voting. So far, the use of this kind of blockchain has been more pervasive because the consensus
algorithm is a secured algorithm due to being open-source and trusted algorithm [35]. Open source
blockchain is also referred to as Openchain and is targeted for enterprise purposes.
2.1.2. Private blockchain
Usually, private blockchain belongs to a specific person or a company which has read and write
permission and verifies transactions [36]. This type of blockchain can be public at the proof of ownership.
The underlying principles of this model is that in a private blockchain, the transactions are reversible,
validators are authenticated, a hacker needs to manipulate 51% of the chain to change a block, thereby there
is no risk of attack, transactions are cheaper, privacy has become more secure by restricting the issuance of
permissions to read information, and consensus algorithm runs faster. This kind of blockchain is not
completely decentralized. Therefore, it is more suitable for internal processes of companies such as database
management, inspection, and auditing [37].
2.1.3. Consortium blockchain
This type of blockchain is controlled by specific groups, so only certain nodes in the network have
permission to vote in the consensus process. This type of blockchain is somewhat decentralized, and
the license can be issued publicly or limited [38-39]. It is also faster and more secure. Thus, it is mostly used
in the corporate finance sector.

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2.2. Proofs
In traditional payment systems, traditional banks are third parties, and they are trusted to keep
transactions and financial balance. In contrast, blockchain is a consensus system without any need for
centralized trusted authority, and it is distributed and also doesn’t require any third party to verify.
This matter is regarded as a prominent attribute of blockchain that defends against 51% attack. Considering
that each member of the blockchain (each node) can have a copy of the information by itself and has the right
to verify the information [40]. The important thing is that information of all members is equal and is
constantly being updated. A consensus mechanism is needed in order to achieve this consistent consensus
throughout the system. The structure of blockchain features secure be design using specific consensus
mechanisms such as proof of work (PoW). There are also some different mechanisms such as proof of
authority (PoAu), proof of understanding (PoU), proof-of-burn (PoB), proof-of-capacity (PoC) (also referred
to as proof-of-space), proof-of-activity (PoAc), proof of validity proof of elapsed time (PoET), proof of
importance (PoI), delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) (also called proof of stack), and leased proof-of-stake
(LPoS) [41].
2.2.1. Proof of work
In proof of work consensus mechanism, miners compete with the power-sharing of their computers
to solve a “computer puzzle,” which is hard to solve, but the result confirmation should be easy. This puzzle
includes nonce determination. The nonce is a random string that is added to data in order to create different
hashes. A hash function is a cryptographic tool that produces a specific code, which is called digest or hash
value, for each input that can be text or massage. Changes in nonce change the hash in general. Usually, high
processing power is used to solve this puzzle [42]. This process is called mining. As the computational power
of the grid increases, blocks are created faster. The response to this change, which is defined by a threshold,
is called the difficulty of the problem, and it is periodically adjusted in order to control the amount of block
production. The first miner, who solves the puzzle will put the answer on the network to be verified by other
members, and they receive rewards for finding the answer. The mining operation has two main goals in
the process of base cryptocurrency. Verifying the correctness of network transactions and creating new
digital coins as the mining rewards are the goals. A lot of energy is needed to handle this measure.
This is the fundamental defect of the proof of work method. For instance, bitcoin transactions by 2020 will be
as much as today’s electricity consumption in Denmark [43].
2.2.2. Proof of stack
In proof of stack system, miners do not compete with each other. On the contrary, they cooperate
with each other to keep a validation collection. In this method, anyone who has coins of a particular
blockchain (e.g., Ethidium) must lock the coins as the deposit in the blockchain which is called stacks.
Then network validators participate in the block creation process. In this system, the next block generator is
selected randomly by the system. Therefore, anyone has more stacks has more chance of being selected.
This method has an overwhelming advantage according to proof of work method. It doesn’t need computer-
based computing, and it reduces energy consumption, which ultimately leads to a reduction in the final
cost [44]. If anyone thinks about defraud, all their stacks will be seized, and they will be dismissed from
the system. Since there is no computational operation in this system, there is no bonus for generating a new
block, and only the transaction verification fee is charged. This algorithm is still being upgraded.
2.2.3. Proof of validity
The proof of validity algorithm is based on the principles of the authenticated identities or validators
on the blockchain, and they don’t need to compete for completing transactions. By using this new algorithm,
all participants in a collective agreement are known and valid. The proof of validity algorithm appears very
successful in the output, and it is optimized for private networks. Therefore, this mechanism will be
incorporated in blockchain unlikely due to its centralized nature.
3. BLOCKCHAIN’S APPLICATION IN DISTRIBUTED GENERATION
The decentralized structure of blockchain is proportional to the decentralized control approach and
business processes at the local level and distributed generation. The operators of the energy sector and
the experts in corresponding companies believe that blockchain is capable of solving the challenges of
the distributed energy system in the future [45]. One of the fundamental challenges is decentralization and
digitization of emerging energy systems which requires investigating, discovering, and accepting new
methods and technologies. Transactions in the energy sector are considered different from the financial sector
because the delivery of electricity to the customers and subscribers should be considered physically.

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These transactions are not only about price and information value but also about energy trading transmitted
through the network infrastructure. In this section, some blockchain projects are provided for distributed
generation. Most of these projects are developing or tested as prototypes, and they are not yet fully
commercialized.
3.1. Power ledger
Power Ledger is an energy commerce network that operates peer-to-peer on the major
cryptocurrencies and renewable energy exchanges in blockchain in Western Australia. Power Ledger
platform provides interoperability between various mechanisms of market management, pricing, and
electrical measurement units (kilowatt per hour) through purchased tokens. It also controls the market by
two-token ecosystems in two blockchain layers (SParkz and POWR) [14].
3.2. PWR company
PWR Company works in peer-to-peer commerce of renewable energies. Household equipment of
this company stores energy in long-life batteries instead of immediate energy sell in order to stabilize
the network. This project is currently running on the Ethereum platform, but according to the proposed
roadmap, in the near future, it will be transferred to its base cryptocurrency (PWRtoken) which is based on
energy. A PWRtoken is equal to 1 MW, which can be exchanged in global trading markets [15].
3.3. Key2energy
The main idea of Key2Energy is that many apartments offer their self-produced solar energy instead
of using power from the grid. This offer is to their tenants at lower prices. Two factors are involved in this
process: an attempt to maximize household income by selling produced solar energy in the local market at
the best possible cost; trying to minimize the general cost of electricity, such as elevators and the lighting of
the stairwells. For smart deals and contracts, the blockchain is used as a marketplace in this kind of
structure [15]. In this context, the most prominent question is how to determine the role of operators of
the transmission system, distribution system, and distributed generation sources [46]. These employees
continue to carry out their duties in the physical infrastructure of the power grids, and they are also
responsible because of the stability and sustainability of the system. These operators will receive their wages
due to network maintenance and repairments. They keep being responsible for supplying the energy of
decentralized energy transactions agreed between parties according to the limitation of the physical systems.
4. INTERNET OF THINGS BASED ON BLOCKCHAIN IN THE ENERGY FIELD
Internet of things is a sensible and practical way to connect many types of equipment to each other
through specific software, sensors, devices, etc. Things include vehicles, home appliances, smartphones, etc.
In this technology, all devices, which are connected to a network, are able to operate automatically.
These devices are fully automated to maintain special responses based on environmental changes. They can
also exchange various data with devices in other networks without any human interference [4]. Blockchain
facilitates peer-to-peer digital transactions; thus, potentially they can activate machine to machine (M2M)
communications and data exchanges between smart devices. Lots of smart devices will be connected to
the internet (20.8 billion devices) by 2020 [10]. Smart devices and data transmission technologies are
increasingly being used in the field of energy; power systems included. This incremental process, along
with the automation power and massive data analysis, can potentially create a valuable energy chain in
the energy sector [47].
A useful analysis of these data increases power system performance and asset detection, which can
be led to considerable cost reductions. Digitizing electrical facilities provides an opportunity to improve
network performance, billing processes, power supply chain, opportunity to explore new sources of
innovation, and new business models. By increasing the number of devices that generate a huge amount of
data in high frequency, the traditional centralized approaches will definitely be inefficient. Therefore, local
decision making and distribution control can decrease the computational resources requirement, which is
needed to optimized future power systems. Due to the decentralized structure, collaborative work, being
open-source, and high security of blockchain, its performance can facilitate the use of the internet of things.
Automated marketing factors, which are an integral part of smart devices, are able to determine ideal pricing
strategies for energy trading through the blockchain platform based on the preferences and willingness of
the user. These devices can be programmed to achieve predetermined goals, such as automatically increasing
energy efficiency or minimizing energy purchases from the main network. The rules and suggestions
made by each device are kept invalid and reliable databases, and certainly, they depend on the kind of
registered information; some of them such as the privacy and anonymity of individual domestic and

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industrial consumers can be a key issue for implementation of internet of thing system. As it is evident in
Figure 1, traditional power system consists of generation, transmission, and distribution layers which are
vertically integrated.
Existing Grid Blockchain-based Smart Grids
Power lines
Communication lines
Figure 1. The structure of traditional power systems versus blockchain-based smart grids
The generation sources are usually far from consumption centers. The loads have no interaction with
the upstream grids, and the generation sources are usually installed in large-scale. On the contrary, in smart
grids, particularly in modern blockchain-based secure grids, the power system is highly interconnected, and
the demand-side virtual power plants satisfy part of demand locally. The loads can be served through local
sources, and the energy exchange can be started after verification of the financial transaction. This measure
must be done automatically and instantaneously. Thus, the validation of purchasers and sellers must be
distinguished through the secure platform of blockchain. A load at a local level may be served by many
energy providers in microgrids, virtual power plants, or demand response capacities nearby. Hence,
a complicated financial accounting system must exist to handle such a massive number of high-frequency
transactions fairly and accurately. This hurdle can be overcome by enjoying the technology of blockchain
incorporating cloud computing techniques and IoT-oriented infrastructures.
Future power systems will be highly complicated and interconnected, in which a massive body of
data will be generated and must be processed. A massive amount of microtransactions at a local scale for
power trade between microsources and end-users must be handled so that the current structure and
mechanisms of the banking systems are unable to deal with and process them. In such a condition,
the employment of cryptocurrencies is indispensable. The massive body of data produced by IoT instruments
and devices necessitates the incorporation of artificial intelligence techniques such as data mining, machine
learning, big data analytics through a cloud-based environment for cloud computing. After the advent of
power markets and restructuring and deregulation of traditional power systems, the incorporation of IoT in
power systems, as the central core of the energy ecosystem, along with modernization, digitalization, and
smartization of grids can be counted as the next revolution in power systems. In smart grids, the loads are
more elastic, which means they are more responsive and price sensitive. The loads can be informed about
the real-time prices through different IoT-based interfaces and can make better decisions, which indicate how
should they participate in demand response programs. Figure 2 illustrates the paradigm of a blockchain-based
smart grid with the integration of EVs, rooftop solar panels, small-scale wind turbines on a local scale.
The loads have also informatic data exchange with the network to acquire real-time data of the grid’s
electricity price through smart meters. The loads have also remote controlling and intelligent automatic
control over many equipment and devices that it helps to maximize the efficiency of the grid’s operation and
to optimize their consumption through secure informatic interfaces and platforms.

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5. IoE IN SMART BUILDINGS AND SMART HOMES
The concepts of smart buildings and smart homes are viable solutions to perform efficient energy
audit measures in demand-side. This matter will be materialized using the internet of energy (IoE) concept to
manage various contributors corresponded with different energy consumptions for end-users such as
electricity, gas, and heat. IoE is defined as a specific field of IoT that delineates the applications of IoT in
the energy sector. The authors in [17] have presented an automated local market for a smart residential
building in order to merge blockchain and internet of things in distributed generation.
Blockchain-based Network
Storage
Photovoltaics Wind
Conventional
generation
Residential user
Smart
Meters
Smart
Meters
Smart
Meters
Industrial userCommercial user V2G
Figure 2. The structure of a smart grid with the integration of demand-side microsources
In this scheme, the roof of the building is covered by solar panels and all the smart home appliances
are intelligent and flexible, and they are measured by bidirectional smart power flow meters. In such
a building, blockchain can detect the power produced by each device and make it possible to exchange
energy between different vendors and customers. In smart commercial buildings, IoE enhances the capability
of building management system to boost autonomy and improve the controlling functions and optimize
consumption in an efficient way. The connectivity provided by the IoE allows for the integration of
automated systems and intelligent devices. Sensors for detecting motion, noise, moisture, temperature,
humidity, fire and smoke, carbon dioxide and hazardous gases, security and access control systems all supply
data and analytics in real-time.
The fast responsiveness of this system allows buildings to adapt to changing conditions and make
real-time alterations that result in increased efficiency and reduced operating costs. Enjoying this
information, building managers are able to anticipate the needs and consumption patterns of tenants, their
preferences for lighting, heating or ventilation and have supervision on security systems, utility meters or
water and waste disposal, to name but a few. Smart homes and buildings are addressed as a subcategory of
smart cities. Regard to the proliferation of electric vehicles, particularly with V2G capability,
the management of an extensive number of EVs which has highly volatile and stochastic consumption
patterns is highly challenging. These are regarded as non-static mobile loads that can absorb or inject power
to the grid everywhere in a power system. They can exchange power with the grid through public parking
lots or residential EV supply equipment. Due to their highly unpredictable nature, it is recommended to
monitor EVs in real-time in order to preserve the stability of the distribution grid. Thus, a cloud network must
be accessible in a certain vicinity of the city to cover all EVs which are monitored by an operator enjoying
IoT technology. The residential EV supply equipment is also in communication with an energy hub
controller, which is responsible for optimizing all kinds of energy consumption and generation in a building
or home while proper storage devices for electricity and heat are integrated. The energy hub controller
gathers the instantaneous data of all equipment, loads, and the network through smart meters and IoT-based
sensors [48]. To sum up, the integration of IoT technology in the residential section brings decisive
advantages in terms of efficiency.

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As it is portrayed in Figure 3, an IoT-equipped smart home encompasses various parts such as
a smart door lock system, security system, smart air conditioning, lighting control system, energy
management system, appliance control system, smart thermostat, smart bathroom appliance, garage door
opener, etc. One of the main parts of these subsystems is correlated with home appliances. Nowadays, home
appliance manufacturers are equipping their products with modern devices which enable the device to be
monitored and controlled remotely through a central controlling system and can have self-management
capability to make decision how to deal with the upstream grid for the absorption of electricity at specific
times, which leads to considerable cost reduction and energy saving. For instance, Zigbee protocol can be
used in washing machines and dishwashers to start the machine automatically at the hours, when the grid’s
electricity price is at the lowest level.
Lighting Control
System
Smart Air Conditioner Energy Management Appliance Control Smart Thermostat
Security System Smart Bathroom Appliance
Garage Door
Opener
Smart Door
Lock
Figure 3. The various applications of IoT in a smart home
6. CONCLUSION
Blockchain technology is a modern innovation that has the ability to be deployed in different
sections of power systems, particularly for integrating small-scale distributed generation sources and making
them smart to increase the observability, controllability, and the level of autonomy of distribution networks
and microgrids. Currently, the most popular point of blockchain in the energy field is its secure environment
for establishing peer-to-peer marketplace and bilateral trades. Hence, various scenarios have been proposed
in this domain. These scenarios include establishing local energy markets in such a way that residents of
neighborhoods exchange energy. In this paper, in addition to investigating the basic concepts of this
technology, a variety of consensus algorithms have been investigated, and generally, there is a discussion
about the public, private, and consortium blockchain. In the following, some of the existing startups which
currently use this infrastructure are introduced in order to produce power through distributed generation and
to trade energy. In the last section, in addition to introducing the technology of the internet of things,
the collaboration of this technology with blockchain application is studied. Introducing these two
technologies are inevitable in the energy field. The world is propelling into a smarter world with more
intelligent systems, and the implementation of these infrastructures toward global progress and sustainable
development is inevitable. With respect to the novelty of these technologies, future projects in research,
simulation, and operation sectors will be more comprehensive and elaborated. For further studies in
the future, some startups (SolarCoin, Bankymoon, Electron, PonTon, GridSingularity, these exchange, Dajie,
LO3 Energy, NRGcoin, and Share & Charge) are proposed which are all active in the domain of blockchain’s
applications in the energy section, and can be analysed in detail for the employment for specific goals in
power industry.
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