Elia Group explores the use of decentralized identifier for e-mobility integration
Electric Vehicle (EV) sales in Europe are growing rapidly, presenting grid operators with challenges and opportunities. If charging processes can be adapted to the availability of fluctuating renewable energy or respond to steering signals from grid operators, EVs will support the integration of a large share of renewable energy into the grid, so contributing to grid stability and preventing congestion. However, integrating this flexibility into the grid in a secure way is a complex task: electric vehicles are non-stationary assets which connect to the grid at different locations and charging stations (at home, at work, in public spaces, etc.). This creates multiple hurdles for grid operators conflicting with existing regulations made for stationary assets. Moreover, enabling any type of flexibility requires coordination among different parties, from those responsible for the charging processes through energy market actors like grid operators and balancing responsible parties to aggregators and flexibility service provider.
Elia Group and Energy Web Foundation are testing the potential for decentralized identifiers (DID) to address the challenges that market and software silos are presenting to grid operators seeking to integrate EVs and charging stations (CS) into their operations. The Electric Vehicle Market Integration (EVMI) project is one of the first initiatives being undertaken by Elia Group and the Energy Web Foundation as part of our multi-year strategic partnership.
The project aims to tackle the above challenges by working on the following three areas:
- Promoting EV and CS visibility for all market parties through decentralized identifiers on a public ledger.
- Facilitating data availability and trust in data through the use of verifiable credentials.
- Encouraging cost efficiency and the scalability of processes covering authentication, authorization and settlement procedures.
In its essence, the EVMI is an identity and trust management project. Instead of using a centralized approach characterized by multiple data silos, individual ‘know your customer’ (KYC) processes and multiple verification protocols, blockchain technology and decentralized public key management are used to make asset interaction possible across industries. With this decentralized approach, we create one source of truth, reduce KYC processes and create an ecosystem of cooperation and competition for the benefit of all.
What has blockchain got to do with identity management?
Identity management is a central part of any interaction between different parties across the internet. To trust a counterparty, we usually rely on intermediaries (e.g. platform operators like Airbnb) or use complex and time-consuming identity verification processes. Blockchain technology revolutionizes these verification processes and enables trust between anyone on the internet, without the need for intermediaries. A so-called decentralized identifier (DID) is a “self-sovereign”, global identifier rooted in a decentralized system (e.g. on a blockchain). “Self-sovereign” means that anyone can create their own unique DID and present this to anyone else across the network. Hence, a DID is created and owned by the user who stays in control of their identity.
After the DID has been created, it needs to be enriched with information in order to create trust. Evidence is required to prove that the identity is not fake. This evidence is known as verifiable credentials (VC). These allow the independent verification of information related to the subject (e.g. the electric vehicle), the issuing authority (e.g. the vehicle fleet operator) as well as of the type and attribute of credential.
As a result, there is no need for centralized infrastructures or databases for verification. This does not mean that each piece of data is stored on-chain. Sensitive data is stored off-chain and the location of this data can be referenced in DID documents, which are simple JSON objects which describe how to use a DID. They express cryptographic material, verification methods, and/or service endpoints.
Creating a sandbox for power and mobility interaction
In order to allow electric vehicles and charging stations to be made visible, we set up a decentralized registry and a dashboard where charging stations as well as electric vehicles can be enrolled with their DID. The registry serves as a sandbox to test and validate the following decentralized functionalities:
- Decentralized identification and self-sovereign identity concepts related to EVs and CSs.
- Data access management (e.g. technical asset specification, location information and charging records) compliant with customer privacy rules.
- proof of flexibility delivery at the device level that serve as a verification for activated flexibility;
- Legal frameworks relating to the asset owner, flexibility aggregators and grid operators for pooling and aggregation.
- Transactions, billing and settlement processes.
The Open Charge Network provides an interoperable communication layer to connect power and mobility actors
Our solution uses the Open Charge Network (OCN) as a decentralized roaming network that securely connects e-mobility service providers (eMSPs) with charge point operators (CPOs). The network leverages the Open Charge Point Interface (OCPI) to establish a standardized connection between anyone with an OCPI API. Moreover, it allows the implementation of third-party services (like billing, settlement, location data enrichment and many more) to offer their products to the OCPI community. The EVMI Registry is one of these applications and is accessible by anyone in the network.
The E-Mobility Dashboard and EVMI Registry are designed primarily for enterprise users. It enables market actors that might ordinarily be averse to sharing data with one another to selectively disclose and access information about mobility assets. This builds the foundation for service agreements between parties to achieve effective sector coupling which preserves users’ full privacy.
Authorizing electric vehicles to participate in balancing markets through verifiable credentials
The EVMI Registry already runs on Energy Web’s Volta test network. Interested parties can use the dashboard client to enroll their assets through the OCN. As part of our first use case, we demonstrated the use of an authentication and authorization process (which can serve as a pre-qualification process for balancing market access) for electric vehicles to participate in flexibility markets.
The process starts with the EV sending a participation request to the TSO. In return, the TSO is granted access to technical EV information through a service endpoint listed in the DID document. Based on this information, the TSO can give this EV (or type of EV) an authorization claim, which allows it to participate in flexibility markets. The vehicle owner is free to accept this claim and to add it to its DID. When this has been accomplished, the owner is now able to show this authorization claim to any TSO, aggregator or flexibility service provider who can independently verify the claim based on its signature.
This use case demonstrates the potential of this technology. However, this is only the first step; our roadmap covers many others, including use cases such as green charging (in combination with granular certificates of origin), smart charging, balancing power, congestion management, electricity supplier switching, etc.
If you would like to work with us on this, or would like a demonstration of how our front end works, please contact us.
