Anand Menon

Peer-to-peer (P2P) trading in a local energy market (LEM) offers various participants the opportunity to negotiate and strike energy deals among themselves using a distributed ledger technology called blockchain. In this paper, a new local model is presented using a layer-2 scalability solution for second-generation (Gen2) blockchain technology to enable P2P trading among four types of participants: consumers, prosumers with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, prosumers with solar PV systems and battery energy storage systems (BESSs), and electric vehicles (EVs). The proposed LEM trading platform involves several critical steps, including the creation of typical forecasting profiles for load consumption, solar generation, and battery state-of-charge (SOC) through a forecasting solution. Next, the LEM participants place their pricing bids using a trading agent service, and the trading engine collects the profiles data and bid prices, which performs matchmaking in a forward-facing market. The output of the trading engine consists of dispatch signals for prices and energy values that are sent to each participant to execute actual trading. Furthermore, the trading engines store the accepted and past bidding data and energy values of P2P trades for each participant in blockchain technology, which can be retrieved and displayed on the LEM user interface screens of participants and administrators using their blockchain addresses at any time during the trading process. This study focuses on simulating proposed LEM models, incorporating functional limitations and market rules. These rules aim to reduce energy costs, enhance margins for utilities and retailers, and mitigate grid congestion through BESSs, resulting in reduced operational and capital expenditure. LEM outcomes are analysed and compared with a Business-as-usual (BAU) model. Participants’ energy trading behaviour, cost-revenue dynamics, grid impact, and blockchain implementation costs are explored. The study highlights LEM benefits in terms of reduced CO2 emissions by 984 kg CO2, increased self-sufficiency by 2.2%, and improved financial benefits of all participants by 21.6%. The use of modern blockchain technology guarantees secure data storage and rapid, cost-effective energy trading, thereby making the proposed LEM platform a viable solution in the distribution market.

This paper focuses on performing peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading in a grid-tied multi-microgrid system (MMS). To do so, three microgrids, each consisting of distributed energy resources (DERs) such as wind turbines (WTs), solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, and battery storage systems, are considered. A game theory-based structure, supported by the Nash equilibrium, is then formulated to derive, and solve the multi-objective function (MoF) with the intention of allocating the correct sizing of each DER and finding out the optimum payoff values. The proposed optimisation model is also integrated with reliability index (IR) and levelised cost of energy (LCOE) in order to cut down the energy costs during intermittent periods of DERs. The developed framework is analysed and compared with other benchmark techniques on particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm-facilitated MATLAB environment to conduct both P2P and peer-to-grid (P2G) energy trading. The simulation results: 1) verify the proposed MOF against various constant coefficients' combination, and 2) determine the most financially viable model for each DER through sensitivity analysis.

Whether sovereignty is a ‘real’ or an ‘imagined’ concept, it is fair to say that it captured the public imagination in a very real way during the 2016 referendum on European Union (EU) membership. A commonly cited reason for leaving the EU was ‘the principle that decisions about the UK should be made in the UK’. It is unpacking the potency of sovereignty – as a longstanding form of ‘democratic nostalgia’ within UK politics in opposition to a ‘failure of democratic internationalism’, and as a proxy for the rational desire for political control in a changing world – on which the present authors feel they can add some reflections to Professor John Agnew’s valedictory lecture.

No one knows what Brexit will mean for the UK. And for several reasons. We don’t know what Brexit will look like—will our relations with the EU be like those of Norway, Canada, Switzerland, or none of the above? And no one—not even, apparently, the government—knows how we will adapt as a country to leaving the EU. What is the plan for health, for education, or for immigration?

Rationalization of the state is, as the editors to this volume point out, a common response to policy failures. And policy failure characterizes many of the European responses to security threats. Europeans states confront significant security threats—including new challenges such as cyber threats—that will continue to demand the deployment of armed force, albeit in ‘risk transfer wars’: limited conflicts that do not presuppose mass popular consent and which, consequently, are less likely to spawn major legitimacy challenges for states. Yet rationalization by means of greater integration has not occurred. This chapter explains this apparent paradox via a comparative analysis of Europe and the United States that draws on the insights provided by the literature on American Political Development.

In June 2016, the United Kingdom shocked the world by voting to leave the European Union. As this book reveals, the historic vote for Brexit marked the culmination of trends in domestic politics and in the UK's relationship with the EU that have been building over many years. Drawing on a wealth of survey evidence collected over more than ten years, this book explains why most people decided to ignore much of the national and international community and vote for Brexit. Drawing on past research on voting in major referendums in Europe and elsewhere, a team of leading academic experts analyse changes in the UK's party system that were catalysts for the referendum vote, including the rise of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), the dynamics of public opinion during an unforgettable and divisive referendum campaign, the factors that influenced how people voted and the likely economic and political impact of this historic decision.

The British people voted for Brexit for a variety of reasons. A literature is emerging that seeks to explain the outcome using the increasing amount of aggregate and individual data being generated. Less often considered is the impact those factors that shaped the referendum outcome might continue to exert on the debate about the UK's future relationship with the EU. We argue that they will continue to weigh on political debates. The continued resonance of the Leave message militates against anything but what has come to be known as a ‘hard Brexit’.

How much influence does the UK have in Europe? How has this changed? We argue that the UK has tended to view its relationship with the EU in transactional terms, and that this has led to a dominant understanding framed in terms of ‘costs’ and ‘benefits.’ However, thinking more broadly gives a more nuanced picture of British influence. Thus, we approach this question from two directions: examining the historical record of the UK's role in the development of the EU and the single market; and looking at the ways in which British politicians and officials exert influence in the current political structure. We argue that although the UK has generally had a good track record of success, this has often been threatened by domestic political difficulties – as the current referendum debate shows.