The transparency challenge of blockchain in organizations

in Electronic Markets (2022), 32(3), 1779--1794

This position paper discusses the challenges of blockchain applications in businesses and the public sector related to an excessive degree of transparency. We first point out the types of sensitive data ... [more ▼]

This position paper discusses the challenges of blockchain applications in businesses and the public sector related to an excessive degree of transparency. We first point out the types of sensitive data involved in different patterns of blockchain use cases. We then argue that the implications of blockchains’ information exposure caused by replicated transaction storage and execution go well beyond the often-mentioned conflicts with the GDPR’s “right to be forgotten” and may be more problematic than anticipated. In particular, we illustrate the trade-off between protecting sensitive information and increasing process efficiency through smart contracts. We also explore to which extent permissioned blockchains and novel applications of cryptographic technologies such as self-sovereign identities and zero-knowledge proofs can help overcome the transparency challenge and thus act as catalysts for blockchain adoption and diffusion in organizations. [less ▲]

How different electricity pricing systems affect the energy trilemma: Assessing Indonesia's electricity market transition

in Energy Economics (2022), 107

Indonesia's current energy policy, which relies on cheap fossil fuels and focuses on two out of the three horns of the energy trilemma, namely, energy security and energy equity, may impede its efforts to ... [more ▼]

Indonesia's current energy policy, which relies on cheap fossil fuels and focuses on two out of the three horns of the energy trilemma, namely, energy security and energy equity, may impede its efforts to higher shares of renewable energy sources. This paper develops three generic models that allow policymakers to analyze the impact of introducing a wholesale electricity market managed under either a nodal, a zonal, or a uniform pricing system on the three horns of the energy trilemma. It evaluates the models using a simplified network representation of the Indonesian electricity sector. The results indicate that under the model assumptions made, and given the used input parameters as well as the used metrics for the three horns of the energy trilemma, a uniform pricing system might help Indonesia to balance its energy trilemma. [less ▲]

Energy flexibility scheduling optimization considering aggregated and non-aggregated industrial electrical loads

Scientific Conference (2022)

Benchmarking building energy performance: Accuracy by involving occupants in collecting data - A case study in Germany

in Journal of Cleaner Production (2022), 379

Energy performance certificates (EPC) aim to provide transparency about building energy performance (BEP) and benchmark buildings. Despite having qualified auditors examining buildings through on-site ... [more ▼]

Energy performance certificates (EPC) aim to provide transparency about building energy performance (BEP) and benchmark buildings. Despite having qualified auditors examining buildings through on-site visits, BEP accuracy in EPCs is frequently criticized. Qualified auditors are often bound to engineering-based energy quantification methods. However, recent studies have revealed data-driven methods to be more accurate regarding benchmarking. Unlike engineering methods, data-driven methods can learn from data that non-experts might collect. This raises the question of whether data-driven methods allow for simplified data collection while still achieving the same accuracy as prescribed engineering-based methods. This study presents a method for selecting building variables, which even occupants can reliably collect and which at the same time contribute most to a data-driven method's predictive power. The method is tested and validated in a case study on a real-world data set containing 25,000 German single-family houses. Having all data collected by non-experts, results show that the data-driven method achieves about 35% higher accuracy than the currently used engineering method by qualified auditors. Our study proposes a stepwise method to design data-driven EPCs, outlines design recommendations, and derives policy implications. [less ▲]

With or Without Blockchain? Towards a Decentralized, SSI-based eRoaming Architecture

in Proceedings of the 55th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) (2022)

Fragmentation and limited accessibility of charging infrastructure impede the adoption of electric vehicles. To improve the availability of charging infrastructure independent of providers, eRoaming ... [more ▼]

Fragmentation and limited accessibility of charging infrastructure impede the adoption of electric vehicles. To improve the availability of charging infrastructure independent of providers, eRoaming offers a promising solution. Yet, current eRoaming systems are typically centralized, which raises concerns of market power concentration. While the use of blockchain technology can obviate such concerns, it comes with significant privacy challenges. To address these challenges, we explore a combination of blockchain with self-sovereign identity. Specifically, we apply a design science research approach, which helps us to identify requirements, derive a conceptual architecture, and deduce design principles for decentralized eRoaming and beyond. We find that blockchain may best leverage its benefits when it takes a backseat as a public registry for legal entities. Moreover, we find that the use of self-sovereign identities could improve compliance with privacy regulations, but they should not be overused. [less ▲]

Obstacles to demand response: Why industrial companies do not adapt their power consumption to volatile power generation

in Energy Policy (2022), 165

Various flexibility options in power systems, such as storage, grid expansion, and demand flexibility, gain increasing importance to balance the intermittent power supply of renewables. On the demand side ... [more ▼]

Various flexibility options in power systems, such as storage, grid expansion, and demand flexibility, gain increasing importance to balance the intermittent power supply of renewables. On the demand side, especially the industrial sector represents promising potential for Demand Response, i.e., the alignment of its power demand with the current power supply of renewables. However, there exist various obstacles that currently prevent companies from investing in new or (fully) exploiting existing flexibility potentials. In this paper, we investigate how economic, regulatory, technological, organizational, behavioral, informational, and competence obstacles pose barriers for companies to adjust their power consumption flexibly. For this purpose, we combine both a structured literature analysis and a case study. For the case study, we conduct 16 interviews with energy experts from companies from different industries. Our findings reveal that due to technical risk of disrupting the production process, lacking revenues, and too low cost savings, companies do not flexibilize their power consumption. Moreover, in particular, contradictory legislative incentives and missing IT standardization and interoperability represent key obstacles. Therefore, our results constitute a basis for targeted policy making in order to foster the exploitation of (existing) flexibility potential of industrial companies on the demand side. [less ▲]

Artificial Intelligence in Energy Demand Response : A Taxonomy of Input Data Requirements

in Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI) (2022)

The ongoing energy transition increases the share of renewable energy sources. To combat inherent intermittency of RES, increasing system flexibility forms a major opportunity. One way to provide ... [more ▼]

The ongoing energy transition increases the share of renewable energy sources. To combat inherent intermittency of RES, increasing system flexibility forms a major opportunity. One way to provide flexibility is demand response (DR). Research already reflects several approaches of artificial intelligence (AI) for DR. However, these approaches often lack considerations concerning their applicability, i.e., necessary input data. To help putting these algorithms into practice, the objective of this paper is to analyze, how input data requirements of AI approaches in the field of DR can be systematized from a practice-oriented information systems perspective. Therefore, we develop a taxonomy consisting of eight dimensions encompassing 30 characteristics. Our taxonomy contributes to research by illustrating how future AI approaches in the field of DR should represent their input data requirements. For practitioners, our developed taxonomy adds value as a structuring tool, e.g., to verify applicability with respect to input data requirements. [less ▲]

Aggregating Energy Flexibility for Demand-Side Management in Manufacturing Companies – A Two-Step Method

in Production at the Leading Edge of Technology (2022)

Towards greener production, manufacturing companies face several challenges, for example peak load shaving or flexible production planning as parts of demand-side management (DSM). DSM uses processes that ... [more ▼]

Towards greener production, manufacturing companies face several challenges, for example peak load shaving or flexible production planning as parts of demand-side management (DSM). DSM uses processes that can be shut down, shifted, or controlled. Advances in digitalization in the energy sector and manufacturing systems create transparency which in turn offers new opportunities to commercialize energy flexibility potentials as optimally and automatically as possible. The variety of flexibilities in manufacturing systems and various dependencies of different kinds of complex manufacturing processes complicate the modelling and aggregation of flexibility. To overcome this challenge, we developed a method for the aggregation of energy flexibilities that is based on a generic energy flexibility data model. The method proposes a two-step approach to aggregate flexibilities cost efficiently and considers manufacturing specific limitations. For cost-efficient aggregation, we use in the first step the merit-order model known from the energy industry and in the second step the bin-packing problem originating from combinatorial optimization, adapted according to the generic data model. The two-step approach allows energy flexibilities to be aggregated across industries, facilities, and systems, thus ensuring broad applicability. [less ▲]

Electricity Market Design 2030-2050: Moving Towards Implementation

Report (2021)

Climate change and ambitious emission-reduction targets call for an extensive decarbonization of electricity systems, with increasing levels of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and demand flexibility to ... [more ▼]

Climate change and ambitious emission-reduction targets call for an extensive decarbonization of electricity systems, with increasing levels of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and demand flexibility to balance the variable and intermittent electricity supply. A successful energy transition will lead to an economically and ecologically sustainable future with an affordable, reliable, and carbon-neutral supply of electricity. In order to achieve these objectives, a consistent and enabling market design is required. The Kopernikus Project SynErgie investigates how demand flexibility of the German industry can be leveraged and how a future-proof electricity market design should be organized, with more than 80 project partners from academia, industry, governmental and non-governmental organizations, energy suppliers, and network operators. In our SynErgie Whitepaper Electricity Spot Market Design 2030-2050 [1], we argued for a transition towards Locational Marginal Prices (LMPs) (aka. nodal prices) in Germany in a single step as a core element of a sustainable German energy policy. We motivated a well-designed transition towards LMPs, discussed various challenges, and provided a new perspective on electricity market design in terms of technological opportunities, bid languages, and strategic implications. This second SynErgie Whitepaper Electricity Market Design 2030-2050: Moving Towards Implementation aims at further concretizing the future German market design and provides first guidelines for an implementation of LMPs in Germany. Numerical studies –while not being free of abstractions –give evidence that LMPs generate efficient locational price signals and contribute to manage the complex coordination challenge in (long-term) electricity markets, ultimately reducing price differences between nodes. Spot and derivatives markets require adjustments in order to enable an efficient dispatch and price discovery, while maintaining high liquidity and low transaction costs. Moreover, a successful LMP implementation requires an integration into European market coupling and appropriate interfaces for distribution grids as well as sector coupling. Strategic implications with regard to long-term investments need to be considered, along with mechanisms to support RES investments. As a facilitator for an LMP system, digital technologies should be considered jointly with the market design transition under an enabling regulatory framework. Additional policies can address distributional effects of an LMP system and further prevent market power abuse. Overall, we argue for a well-designed electricity spot market with LMPs, composed of various auctions at different time frames, delivering an efficient market clearing, considering grid constraints, co-optimizing ancillary services, and providing locational prices according to a carefully designed pricing scheme. The spot market is tightly integrated with liquid and accessible derivatives markets, embedded into European market coupling mechanisms, and allows for functional interfaces to distribution systems and other energy sectors. Long-term resource adequacy is ensured and existing RES policies transition properly to the new market design. Mechanisms to mitigate market power and distributional effects are in place and the market design leverages the potential of modern information technologies. Arapid expansion of wind andsolar capacity will be needed to decarbonize the integrated energy system but will most likely also increase the scarcity of the infrastructure. Therefore, an efficient use of the resource "grid" will be a key factor of a successful energy transition. The implementation of an LMPs system of prices with finer space and time granularity promises many upsides and can be a cornerstone for a futureproof electricity system, economic competitiveness, and a decarbonized economy and society. Among the upsides, demand response (and other market participants with opportunity costs) can be efficiently and coherently incentivized to address network constraints, a task zonal systems with redispatch fail at. The transition to LMPs requires a thorough consideration of all the details and specifications involved in the new market design. With this whitepaper, we provide relevant perspectives and first practical guidelines for this crucial milestone of the energy transition. [less ▲]

Energy Efficiency of Blockchain Technologies

Report (2021)

The purpose of this thematic report is to present an updated view of the aspects related to the energy efficiency of blockchain technologies. The topic of energy consumption of blockchains and especially ... [more ▼]

The purpose of this thematic report is to present an updated view of the aspects related to the energy efficiency of blockchain technologies. The topic of energy consumption of blockchains and especially of the Bitcoin blockchain has recently triggered a lot of discussions and a debate has started on the topic of making Bitcoin a sustainable ecosystem. [less ▲]