With the development of electric vehicle (EV) technology, EV has become a key component in the future smart grid. Due to the sheer large number of EVs on the road, the emerging vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, which allows for two-way electrical flows between EVs and the power grid, is gaining traction. However, establishing a fair and private electricity exchange scheme has gradually become a critical challenge. The emergence of blockchain technology offers a novel approach for resolving this issue. In this study, we overview the opportunities and challenges of blockchain in the smart grid. Then, we provide a privacy-preserving blockchain-based electricity auction scheme for V2G networks in smart grid. In particular, we exploit PS group signatures to keep the privacy of EVs or charging stations and leverage blockchain to provide automated auction execution. With our mechanism, the identity of EV/charging station is conditionally protected. In case of an emergency, the trusted authority (i.e., the group manager) can open the identity. Meanwhile, we present the security analysis to prove our scheme’s security. Finally, we implement the experiment to evaluate efficiency. The experimental results show that our proposal is efficient and suitable for V2G networks.

The integrated terminal provides the bi-directional communication between master station in power grid and the edge-side equipment in micro-grid. Thus, it is vital to guarantee the safety of the integrated terminal. This paper firstly investigates the micro-grid scenario to analysis the potential vulnerabilities of the integrated terminal. Then, a penetration test is implemented to clarify these vulnerabilities and evaluating the severity of these vulnerabilities. Finally, this paper offers some state-of-art protection techniques to enhance the safety of the micro-grid.