Harnessing Blockchain Technology for Promoting Distributed Photovoltaics Diffusion in the Post-Subsidy Era

This paper proposed a framework of blockchain peer to peer (P2P) energy sharing and several business models based on smart contracts to accelerate the market diffusion of distributed photovoltaics (DPV). To analyze the effects of business models, an evolutionary game theory based multi-agent model was developed and applied to simulate the evolution path of users’ strategy selection in a China’s case study. This paper first validates the robust promoting effects of blockchain technology on DPV diffusion. Then three smart contracts based business model focusing on sharing mechanism and information spreading were analyzed. The results showed that: (1) Any priority rights or restriction on participating in energy sharing will hinder the market diffusion of DPV, while fair sharing should be encouraged; (2) The sharing points redeeming system through smart contracts is a cost-efficient business model to further promote the DPV market diffusion; and (3) Controlling information spreading and emphasizing the potential risk on blockchain to the customers are necessary to avoid the irrational excessive installation at the early phase of the market