The problem Decentralized Energy Network (DEN) solves

Nepal is facing an electricity shortage, especially during the winter months when river levels are low. The majority of domestic power plants rely on a run-of-the-river system, contributing to this challenge. Currently, Nepal's domestic electricity production stands at around 1,200 MW, while the demand ranges from 1,800 MW to 2,000 MW during this period. Additionally, Nepal pays a 29 percent higher tariff for electricity imports from India compared to its exports to its southern neighbor. This dependency on other countries for electricity is unsustainable. To address this issue, we propose a decentralized approach.

Energy Independence

People and communities can produce and trade their own electricity, reducing reliance on centralized grids and imported energy. This ensures a steady power supply, especially in remote areas.

Cost Savings

By directly buying and selling electricity among themselves, users can cut out middlemen and potentially lower their energy bills. Investing in renewable energy like solar power can further drive down costs over time.

Incentivized Renewable Energy Adoption

Rewarding users with energy tokens for every 1000 watts of renewable energy they produce encourages the use of sustainable energy sources like solar panels. This helps reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

Community Empowerment

Using peer-to-peer energy trading, communities can manage and distribute energy resources based on their specific needs, fostering a sense of ownership and unity.

Environmental Impact

Promoting renewable energy adoption and reducing energy waste. Working towards Zero Carbon emission policy. It's part of a global effort to build a more sustainable future.

Transparency and Efficiency

Using blockchain technology ensures transparent and secure energy transactions, increasing trust and accountability. Smart contracts streamline the trading process, making it smoother and more efficient.

Challenges we ran into

Hotspot Conflict with IoT Devices:

As our project relies on IoT technology, we encountered issues with hotspot conflicts. All routers were connected to the main router, extending the network, which caused conflicts with IP addresses for ESP32 devices. This made it challenging for the devices to function properly.

Solution: We addressed this issue by reconfiguring the network setup to minimize conflicts. By adjusting router settings and allocating specific IP ranges for IoT devices, we were able to resolve the conflicts and ensure smooth communication between devices.

Blockchain Implementation Challenges:

Integrating blockchain technology posed significant challenges, especially with conflicting libraries and dependencies. Despite these obstacles, we were determined to implement blockchain functionality, particularly in our smart contracts.

Solution: Through rigorous testing and collaboration with blockchain experts, we identified and resolved conflicts in library dependencies. By carefully managing versioning and ensuring compatibility, we successfully integrated blockchain features into our project, enhancing transparency and security in energy trading.

Hardware Limitations:

Limited availability of hardware components, such as current and voltage sensors, restricted the scope of our energy trading system. This limitation hindered our ability to facilitate energy trades among multiple houses as initially planned.

Solution: To overcome this challenge, we adapted our approach and focused on enabling energy trades between two houses initially. By prioritizing the functionality and scalability of our system, we ensured a solid foundation for future expansion as hardware constraints are addressed.