P2P Transactions with Demand Flexibility for Increasing Solar Utilization

As installations of solar photovoltaics continue to soar, addressing the integration challenges that arise from high penetrations of solar will be paramount to achieving the SunShot Initiative 2030 goals of $0.03/kWh to $0.05/kWh levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). Specific challenges related to system ramping and over-generation tend to degrade the value of PV, and solutions are needed to address these issues. Harnessing load flexibility can create “virtual storage,” that can be intelligently dispatched to increase the utilization of solar energy by better aligning demand with solar supply and reducing peak system capacity needs. This project develops smart, automated contracts to orchestrate advanced operation of distributed energy resources and flexible loads through peer-to-peer energy transactions. In Phase I, a subset of smart contracts will be defined that represent meaningful peer-to-peer transactions. Contracts will be implemented via blockchain interface/application for automated execution and recording. An intelligent control engine will be adapted to inform smart peer-to- peer contracts. Simulation case studies will provide preliminary data to assess the performance benefits anticipated from the peer-to-peer technology. It is anticipated that dispatching advanced load flexibility through peer-to-peer transactions will increase the economy and reliability of the electric grid while permitting greater utilization of solar energy resources. In addition, the implementation of peer-to-peer transactions on blockchain technology promotes distributed, transparent, secure, and automated accounting that can lower the cost of managing advanced distributed resources. The blockchain-enabled flexible load control platform should be widely applicable as a control retrofit to numerous existing buildings. Although the initial application will focus on enabling load flexibility for greater utilization of solar energy, it is anticipated that the platform will be extensible to other DERs and microgrid applications.