A Blockchain Community Solar Ecosystem for Qatar

The generation of distributed energy through residential and commercial photovoltaic applications erodes the traditional separation between energy producer and consumer challenging the role of utilities as energy providers and disrupting energy markets. Blockchain technology offers an equitable energy-trading solution to these challenges for consumers, prosumers and utilities alike that lowers costs, through the automation of direct energy transactions, and increases security through the adoption of a distributed ledger architecture rooted in cryptographic hashing and consensus-based verification. The goal of this project is to promote a culture of safe, fair and sustainable exchange of solar energy in Qatar through the development of a Community Solar ecosystem that integrates a transactive energy blockchain. The project team will achieve this goal by fostering the digital convergence of smart homes and the electricity grid through three main deliverables: (1) A hardware-in-the-loop computer model for local power networks in Qatar as Community Solar microgrids; (2) A blockchain application that enables energy trading within Community Solar microgrids, and is based on an Industrial Internet-of-Things Architecture that standardizes and secures the interconnection between different digital platforms within the energy blockchain, and (3) A policy framework aimed at regulating the exchange of solar energy for residential and commercial microgrids in Qatar through the blockchain. The Education City Community Housing compounds in Ar-Rayyan (Qatar) will provide the development and testing venue for the project. Association with the InterConnect project funded by the Horizon 2020 EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation will ensure interoperability with existing platforms linking smart building and power grids in real digital market environments over electrical systems. Ongoing collaborations by HBKU/QEERI, KAHRAMAA, the HBKU College of Islamic Studies, and Qatar Financial Center on the development of a Community Solar Initiative and the issue of a Greek Sukuk will provide further support. The main outcome of the project is an energy blockchain application that enables equitable and secure energy trade in Qatar within Community Solar ecosystems for energy consumers, producers and utilities. The expected impacts of the project include: • Secure and cost effective energy trade through the energy blockchain; • Increased efficiency in the delivery of electricity to consumers; • Carbon emissions reduction and natural gas savings through the promotion of distributed solar energy generation; • Diversification of the national economy through the creation of an energy innovation ecosystem that enables active public participation in novel business models for energy markets; • Curtailment of investments in power grid infrastructure needed to keep the national power system in lockstep with ongoing economic and population growth through the promotion of distributed solar energy generation, and • Greater power grid resiliency in outage emergencies through the promotion of local power systems that integrate independent energy generation capabilities.

Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU)