A lightweight smart contracts framework for blockchain‐based secure communication in smart grid applications

Abstract

Abstract Energy is a crucial need in today's world for powering homes, businesses, transportation, and industrial processes. Fossil fuels, such as oil, coal, and natural gas, have been the primary sources of energy for decades. However, there is growing recognition of the negative environmental impact of fossil fuels and the need to transition to cleaner and more sustainable sources of energy. Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), such as wind and solar offer several benefits including, reducing energy costs, increasing resiliency, and decreasing carbon emissions. However, the integration of (DERs) into the grid requires advanced communication and secure control strategies to ensure a stable and reliable grid operations. In this regard, a blockchain‐based industrial wireless sensor network (BCWSN) can provide secure and resilience data transmission to facilitate intelligent integration, monitoring, and control of DERs in the smart grid. In this research, a smart contracts framework in Solana BCWSN called Advanced Solana Blockchain (ABC) is proposed for DERs in the smart grid. The proposed ABC scheme enables resilient and secure real‐time control and monitoring of DERs in smart grids. The performance evaluations and security analysis illustrated that this ABC scheme is secure, reliable, and suitable in terms of lightweight data sharing between DERs in smart grids.

Keywords

• blockchain
• cybersecurity
• renewable energy resources
• smart contracts
• smart grid
• Solana