Cloud Based Scientific African

Scientific African 12 (2021) e00796
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Scientific African
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/sciaf
On cloud-based systems and distributed platforms for smart

grid integration: Challenges and prospects for Ghana’s Grid
Network ✩
Eric Tutu Tchao a,b,∗, David Ato Quansah a,c, Griffith Selorm Klogo b,
Francis Boafo-Effah d, Seth Kotei b, Clement Nartey b, Willie K. Ofosu e
a
The Brew-Hammond Energy Centre, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
b
Department of Computer Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
c
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
d
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
e
Department of Electrical Engineering Technology, Penn State University, Wilkes-Barre, Lehman, PA, United States
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: Advances in cloud computing and distributed systems are enhancing the advantages that
Received 8 January 2021 computing delivers to systems that can be integrated with computers due to their multi-
Revised 8 May 2021
tasking ability. This is already the case when discussing Smart Grid (SG). This enhancement
Accepted 17 May 2021
can be applied to drive efficiency in energy management systems in electricity generation,
transmission and distribution. As electricity has become the de facto main source of en-
Editor: DR B. Gyampoh ergy worldwide, it is to be expected that all nations, including developing nations such as
Ghana, seeks to constantly improve their electrical energy capabilities through the integra-
Keywords:
tion of computing and network infrastructure. The integration of SG with cloud computing
Cloud Computing
however presents some complexities which need to be addressed to ensure secure imple-
Distributed Energy Sources
Smart Grid mentation of the SG in the cloud. This paper presents important issues which need to be
Security addressed to ensure security in distributed cloud-based energy systems. The paper also
Blockchain discusses how cloud computing and blockchain could be leveraged to improve on Ghana’s
current inefficient distribution and transmission networks. An architecture for achieving
decentralization in Ghana’s grid network is subsequently proposed.
© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of African Institute of
Mathematical Sciences / Next Einstein Initiative.
This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Introduction
Energy plays a crucial role in improving the quality of life for humans. Energy production and consumption are key
activities of social life. This is no surprise considering that the need for energy in the modern society is important for almost
all activities [1]. The standard of living and the quality of life is proportional to the amount of reliable electricity available to
✩
Editor name DR B Gyampoh.
∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ettchao.coe@knust.edu.gh (E.T. Tchao).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sciaf.2021.e00796
2468-2276/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of African Institute of Mathematical Sciences / Next Einstein Initiative. This is an
open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
E.T. Tchao, D.A. Quansah, G.S. Klogo et al. Scientific African 12 (2021) e00796
Fig. 1. Potential hydroelectric power sites and capacity levels in Ghana [14].
society [2]. With reliable electricity, food could be prevented from going bad, vaccines for various infections can be stored
at safe temperatures, and students would have electricity to power the lights at home to do their homework. This therefore
solidifies the fact that availability of energy leads to a better life of people. The electricity sector also powers businesses and
creates jobs [3]. Therefore, the world will be a better place if all have access to reliable electricity. The International Energy
Agency’s (IEA) 2019 Africa Energy Outlook indicates that, in Africa, the number of people getting access to electricity doubled
from 9 million a year between 20 0 0 and 2013 to 20 million between 2014 and 2019, surpassing population growth [4]. As a
result, the number of people without electricity access which peaked at 610 million in 2013 steadily declined to around 580
million in 2019. Much of this recent dynamism has occurred in a small number of countries, including countries like Ghana,
Kenya, Ethiopia and Rwanda, and this accounts for nearly 50 percent of countries accessing reliable electricity. However, the
same report states that the 45 percent electrification rate of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in 2018 remains quite low compared
to other regions of the world. SSA still has roughly 48% of its population without access to electricity, representing more
than two-thirds of the global total.
Currently, three types of power generating systems supply most of the electricity needs in Ghana; these are thermal
power stations, hydroelectric power stations, and solar power stations. Of these three, hydroelectric has three stations that
are all operational and producing a total of 1598 Mega Watts of power. Thermal power has five stations of which three
are completed, and two are expected online soon with a projected total power output of 1556 Mega Watts. Solar has three
stations, two of which are operational, and one also expected to come online with a total power of 177.5 Mega Watts [5].
Of these, should there be a drought, the hydro system will produce at a reduced capacity and this leads to erratic power
outages locally referred to as “Dumsor1 ”. Likewise, if there is shortage of fuel, production at the thermal plants will be
affected, and the expected power generating capacity will be reduced. Solar is the only system that can have continual
generating capability through the year because of the position of Ghana, which is between 4° and 11° north of the equator
[6]. This suggests that solar systems have an advantage particularly in regions where insolation can be expected throughout
the year, or at least most of the year. This is the case with Ghana where through the year, sunlight can be experienced
from 6 h to 9 h each day across the whole country. Though there are torrential rainfall in parts of the country during the
rainy season, breaks in clouds occur with sunlight shining through, leading to some solar generation. The northern half of
the nation is mostly off-grid with very few small hydro sites as shown in Fig. 1, yet this is the area where Ghana has the
highest solar irradiation that ranges between 5.2 to 5.6 kWh/m2 /day. While solar power can be set up across the whole
nation, the northern region shows the most promise. This region is sparsely populated and not heavily wooded. This makes
the region appropriate for setting up solar power and wind farms. This also makes Ghana well positioned for an electric
power generation mix of Thermal, Hydro, Wind and Solar. However, affordability of the solar home system will be beyond
the earning power of most Ghanaians and government subsidies may be required to achieve the upgrade to solar power
generation. Income per capita is stated as US$ 4490 [6], and gross national income as US$ 1807.10 [7]. The minimum wage
is stated at GHS 11.82 which is equivalent to US$ 2.23 (where 1 US$ = GHS 5.29). The urban population is quoted as 54.2%
of a total population of 28,399,919 based on the latest United Nations estimates [8]. The point must be made however that
such figures are based on estimates of surveys, and the actual numbers may be different, particularly if one factored in
migration from rural to urban centers.
1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumsor
2
In an effort to reduce this widening energy deficit, many countries in SSA, Ghana included, are exploring the options
of incorporating renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar power generation technologies into their energy
mix to allow more people to get access to electricity. Ghana’s adopted policy of investing in energy innovations could help
build on the progress the country has made deploying current technologies like hydro which would help accelerate the
transition from relying on thermal plants which uses fossil fuels to a future of reliable and low carbon electricity. In order
for countries in SSA to successfully incorporate more Renewable Energy Sources (RES) into their energy mix, they must solve
two challenges; the first challenge will be for them to effectively harness the power of the sun and wind. Ghana has made
strides in investing in pilot renewable energy technologies like Concentrating Solar Power, solar thermal and wind turbines.
With the falling prices of solar panels, wind turbines, and other technologies, deploying renewable energy systems will be
more affordable than ever before and hence the first challenge could be easily solved. The second challenge, which is more
difficult, demands big breakthroughs in technologies that will allow us to supply the power grid at optimum efficiency.
This challenge also requires technologies, complex networks and smart integration solutions to produce clean energy even
during windless days, cloudy weather, and at night. In countries like Ghana, this challenge even becomes more difficult
because usually, renewable sources will have to be backed up with fossil fuels like natural gas that can quickly and reliably
provide power when it is needed. This would require an integration of a computing system which could predict, forecast
and reliably use data to create a seamless system with a flexible mix of energy solutions.
An approach to technological development that must be appreciated is how different energy sources must be combined
in operation to achieve better results. As more RES are incorporated into Ghana’s energy mix, it will get to a point where a
computer-based grid system will be needed to interconnect the legacy or traditional power grid and new external renewable
systems. New systems whose operations are based on computers will have to be designed with computing functionalities
such as the central processing unit (CPU) incorporated to interface between the different energy sources. An example of
this is the use of a CPU as a component in the central office (CO) of a telephone infrastructure [9], in conjunction with the
multitasking functionality which allows the computer to perform multiple tasks concurrently. A similar technology is used
in the smart grid (SG) [10]. The hierarchical structure of a SG [11] may present problems in some aspects of Ghana’s legacy
energy networks and for that matter, it would be necessary to resolve these issues to make applications seamlessly interop-
erable when the different systems are combined. Needless to say, all of these must be aligned with progress being made in
technology, and as a matter of fact, the Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming the state of the art. This makes it appropriate
to incorporate IoT with current energy generation, transmission and distribution systems [12]. Another advantage is the use
of the computer’s memory to store vast amounts of information [13]
The adoption of computer-based systems among other technologies could help solve the second challenge. For some years
now, there has been a tremendous move towards the adoption of cloud computing and professionals in the information
technology sector are leaning towards it [15]. Cloud computing provides a pool of computing resources on request by a
user via a network with little management by the user. The ability to employ cloud computing resources to process a large
amount of data reliably and on-demand is beneficial to the SG system. As discussed earlier, addressing Ghana’s electricity
problems would entail measures including but not limited to diversification of the electricity generation mixes by exploring
other hydroelectric power and RES that the country has tremendous potential for. Because distribution companies also need
to tackle a major energy theft problem, smart metering should be implemented and the existing prepaid metering programs
enhanced to ensure that utilities can recover their generation costs. The issue of transmission and distribution losses is also
an issue that has to be addressed. The integration of cloud computing with the grid in conjunction with enhanced machine
learning based anomaly detection schemes could help solve some of these issues [16,17].
However, the integration of computing infrastructure with the legacy networks of the transmission and distribution com-
panies will present challenges. There is therefore the need to analyze such integration issues before the implementation of
SG infrastructure with the cloud. The main aim of this paper is to present an architecture for a cloud-based implementation
of Ghana’s grid to ensure efficient distribution of electricity. The paper also seeks to present important issues which need
to be considered to ensure smooth operation of a cloud-based SG in Ghana. The paper further seeks to analyze the legacy
electricity grid network and subsequently present an integration solution. The contributions of this paper are as follows:
• Provide an overview of SG with an emphasis on the role of cloud-based integration solutions.

• Succinctly provide an understanding of key SG concepts, cloud computing and block chain.
• Propose a technical taxonomy for the classification of cloud-based integration solutions for SG.
• Discuss the current challenges to cloud applications to the SG and future research directions.
• Propose an implementation of a cloud-based solution to the Ghanaian grid.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the review methodology. In Section 3, we provide an
overview of cloud computing. We discuss its benefits, different types of services and modes of deployment. Section 4 pro-
vides challenges facing the application of cloud computing to SG. Section 5 provides a comprehensive review on the appli-
cation of cloud computing to the SG. In this section, related works are discussed and a technical taxonomy is proposed to
classify them. Section 6 discusses blockchain technology. Section 7 discusses blockchain applications to the SG. Prospects of
cloud-based integration in the Ghanaian grid system is presented with a proposal of an implementation of a cloud-based
SG for Ghana. The proposed model can easily be adapted, extended or scaled to meet the needs of a different geographi-
cal setting and is discussed in Section 8. The paper discusses future research directions in Section 9 before concluding in
Section 10.
3
Fig. 2. The criteria and workflow used for the paper selection.
Methodology
This paper reviewed several literatures that look into the subject of cloud computing, Micro-Grids (MG), SG and power
generation system optimization. These literatures were selected based on scenarios and relevant implementations that can
be adapted to the Ghanaian power grid network as it is now.
Data sources
This review used literature from 4 electronic databases:

• Google Scholar
• IEEE Xplore
• Elsevier ScienceDirect
• Springer SpringerLink.
The review took into consideration literature from all the databases afore mentioned. The review looks at publications of
interest as at May 2021. A thorough search through the databases returned 10,423 results. A number of results were ignored
due to repetitions and less related inclusions.
A set of key words were used for the search through the databases. The following search strings were used:
(Smart Grid OR “Smart Grid”) AND
(blockchain OR “block chain”) AND
(Cloud Computing OR “Cloud Computing” OR Cloud-Computing) AND
(Micro Grid OR “Micro Grid” OR “Micro-Grid” OR Microgrid)
Selection process
Based on the results that were obtained for the search, a criteria and workflow was structured. This was used to select
the relevant literature to include in this review. This workflow is shown in Fig. 2.
Relevant questions that pertain to the adoption and incorporation of SG to the Ghanaian power grid network were for-
mulated and considered. This led to the selection of some sources which were then assessed for their quality and relevance
to current trending technologies as well as aspects that can be considered for future research. The findings from these
sources were then summarized and interpreted. The main goal of this review is to provide a good overview of how cloud-
based systems are being incorporated into SG. The Ghanaian grid network is then used as a case study to show which
solutions and prospects are most promising and implementable. This use case can serve as a model which can be used
and applied to grid networks in most African countries. There are a number of reviews on SG which show and talk about
promising enhancements and applications areas. For example, [18] reviewed how Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud comput-
ing is being integrated into SG to monitor and manage electricity power. Authors in [19] reviewed metaheuristics methods
that are being used in optimal power flow, scheduling and planning. The authors in [20] also reviewed interoperability of
the SG components during integration of associated modules like different software, data analytics functionalities and dif-
ferent communication tools and further looked at how mathematical modeling can be tied into all of this interoperability
challenge. Research work presented in [12] reviewed SG and how integration with IoTs can be put to practical use to create
the smart cities of the future and this was supported with some challenges that exist in the infrastructural development of
the IoT devices and their solutions. Finally, [21] surveyed SG with regards to Fog Computing and gave insights into how the
Fog Computing layer can be used as a bridge between Cloud Computing and SG to reduce latency in data processing. They
also sought to review how 5 G can also be used to reduce communication latency between devices in SG.
It can be noted that many of such reviews exist but none of these reviews have analyzed, studied and go further to
show how to integrate cloud and distributed technologies into legacy power grid networks such as can be found in Ghana
and most African countries. We provide an in-depth analysis as well as a framework which is best suitable for such grid
networks. In addition, we provide some future directions which consider the integration of optimization schemes into cloud-
based SG to improve their stability and reliability which would suggests to formulate SG components and energy sources
4
Fig. 3. Literature source selection breakdown with details about why some sources were excluded.
into Combined Economic and Emission Dispatch (CEED) problems. The breakdown of how the papers were selected is shown
in Fig. 3.
Cloud computing
Cloud computing is a concept that allows for convenient, ubiquitous, on-demand access to a pool of configurable com-
puter resources such as servers, networks, applications, storage and services. Resources can be provisioned and delivered
seamlessly with minimal management effort [22]. The benefits of using a cloud computing model include:
• On-demand self-service: Engineers and technicians can automatically provision computing resources as needed.
• Wide network access: capability is accessible throughout a network which can then be used by heterogeneous thin or
thick client networks. This capability could be accessed via standard frameworks.
• Resource pooling: A multi-tenant model supports multiple users from a computing resource pool. The user doesn’t have
control over the exact location of the resources provided.
• Fast elasticity: Cloud computing supports storage and memory devices with an elastic design. It can expand and decrease
itself as required according to user demand.
It is also possible to use virtualization technologies in cloud computing. This can make a variety of different types of
computing resources available to users as abstracted services. Those cloud services can be defined as follows [22]:
• Infrastructure-as-a-Service: IaaS deals with computer hardware (network storage, virtual server/machine, data center,
processor, and memory) as a service. IaaS supports the revolution in the business investment in IT infrastructure. The
elasticity of allocating physical or virtual resources helps provide the infrastructure in an abstract manner. It also provides
scalability and provisions (such as hypervisor) issues of infrastructure without the need of spending huge amount of
funds and time. IaaS also focuses on security areas like firewall, intrusion detection and prevention (IDS/IPS) and virtual
machine monitor. The access to the cloud is provided through various user interfaces such as web service application
programming interface (API), command-line interfaces (CLI) and graphical user interfaces (GUI). This provides different
levels of abstraction. The user will have control over operating systems, storage, and deployed applications but will not
be able to manage or control the cloud infrastructure.
• Platform-as-a-Service: PaaS is a service model middleware and provides applications across development tools, infras-
tructure, systems, and Unified Application Environments. In other words, the consumers can control the applications but
they do not have the way to manage the infrastructure that underlies them. In cases where several developers located in
different physical locations need to work together, it may be useful. PaaS provides a platform that helps engineers and
5
Fig. 4. Cloud computing models and benefits [22].
technicians to build and operate their applications or programs. Without downloading and upgrading necessary software,
they may create and deploy web apps as PaaS service. It is responsible for executing the users’ assigned function during
runtime.
• Software-as-a-Service: SaaS provides a set of applications in remote computing. SaaS runs at the top model in the
distribution models. It enables third party providers to install software remotely. It helps the user to use the program of
cloud service providers (CSPs) operating over the internet on cloud infrastructure. SaaS is the leading cloud market which
continues to grow rapidly. SaaS is responsible for delivering various kinds of application interfaces for Engineers and
Technicians. This feature of cloud computing is accessible through web browsers. SaaS offers device delivery frameworks
where consumers can operate their programs without having to install apps on their own machines.
According to Cloud Computing deployment models, a cloud can be classified as:
• Private Cloud: Private Cloud is a cloud network that is installed within an enterprise that is open to customers and
typically exists behind the corporate firewall. The cloud runs within and maintains the organization’s data center. Many
users of cloud infrastructure and business units need provisions for exclusive usage by a single organization. Identifying
the client and provider arrangements is much simpler in a private cloud because the network is owned and operated
by the same company. The security risks are therefore easier to detect. It is ideal for confidential information and key
applications which are protected. It may be at or off premises.
• Community cloud: Community cloud makes special provision of resources and platforms for the exclusive use of a
online community. Multiple organizations use and manage a Community Cloud. Community cloud is comparable to a
private cloud in the way that a community of organizations with similar types of specifications could be supported.
• Public cloud: Public cloud is a virtual environment which is open to any consumer. It is a cloud hosting solution where
the user and vendor have a clear Service Level Agreement (SLA) to establish trust in them. Open access to the public and
organization is offered in this cloud architecture. corporations, researchers, or governmental organizations usually make
use of public cloud solutions. The SLA ensures a decentralized cloud can be managed and run by several entities.
• Hybrid cloud: Two or more clouds are mixed to form a hybrid cloud. Hybrid cloud makes use of structured and pro-
prietary technology to tie data and programs together. Hybrid cloud provides the flexibility for various application. This
solution is well structured and more secure than the public cloud.
Fig. 4 shows a visual summary of the models of cloud computing and its essential benefits.
Security concerns associated with cloud-based solutions for the smart grid
With the expected increase in the sophistication of the grid system and their integration, safe monitoring of interactions
between business systems would be difficult. The design of an intelligent grid is more complicated than the conventional
or legacy power grid. Implementing a smart sensor network, wireless communication, and smart metering increases the
complexity of protecting intelligent systems [23]. One of the factors affecting the security and privacy problems is the cloud
delivery paradigm. For example, a private cloud system would be better but most of the advantages of associated with
the cloud would be missed. Another aspect that would impact the benefits of cloud-based smart grids is the cloud service
model. An important consideration for integrating smart grids with cloud computing is the need to evaluate whether the
6
integration architecture adds new issues to the grid or worsens network security and privacy [24]. Potential issues that need
to be tackled to align cloud-based systems smoothly with traditional power grids include:
Data privacy
Some cloud computing security concerns are posed with regard to pooled and distributed infrastructure, limited user
control over data storage, uncertainty in cloud provider concept of application security and privacy, and lack of data security
standards. Preserving anonymity is one of the most significant issues of SG technology. Because of the absence of privacy
policies, personal data of consumers may be exposed to the company as well as to third party vendors [25]. System and
service companies also collect knowledge regarding user’s electrical consumption behavior through smart meters at regular
intervals. This is done in order to give customers information on efficient energy use. This fine-grained information is able
to reveal several things about the customers, for example, their sleeping habits, office hours, socializing timing, locations,
etc. Several intruders and third-party vendors might get interested in this knowledge. For example, from the standpoint of
selling their appliances to the target audience, vendors could view this information as very strategic. By contrast, intruders
may find this information useful to launch more severe attacks. This disclosure of information will result from eavesdropping
and sniffing attacks that contribute to violations of consumer privacy [26,27].
Power theft
Another major issue is consumer power theft. This can be achieved by manipulating a smart meter by altering the
channel of communication to change the recorded use of energy [28]. Furthermore, data manipulation is also one of the SG’s
biggest security issues. In this threat, the data sent to the server application from the application portion on the user-side
heading is modified to indicate incorrect power usage and charges. Use of SQL injection, command injection, for example,
crosses web scripting and vulnerable direct object connection. This is attributed to SaaS Interfaces vulnerabilities [29] and
application programming interfaces [30]. End-user security functionality has to be improved further when migrating to the
cloud.
Cloud storage related issues
Cloud computing and its integration with smart grids is a revolutionary idea which presents limitless advantages to the
grid. These integrations are however saddled with several security and privacy concerns such as data loss, account hijack-
ing, insecure Application programming interfaces (APIs) and hostile outsiders. These issues could occur when data is handled
incorrectly or incompetently while being transmitted, analyzed, preserved, or audited. In all three cloud-based services men-
tioned earlier, this usually happens for the following reasons; (a) when collocating data with a bad isolation, (b) inadequate
deletion of data, (c) data retention by untrusted third-party vendors, and (d) data stored in plain text. These issues partic-
ularly affect IaaS due to weaknesses correlated with Virtual Machines (VMs), unregulated allocation and resource allocation
[31].
Unregulated migration could equally pose serious security threats to cloud-based systems. Vulnerabilities due to fault
tolerance and load balancing, unregulated snapshots and transparent VM IPs [32] could be exploited.
Problems of availability
The whole cloud and SG network runs on the Internet Protocol (IP) and TCP/IP stack. It is therefore susceptible to Denial
of Service (DOS) attacks, Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks, and other underlying TCP / IP stack threat vulnerabil-
ities [33]. DOS and DDOS attacks essentially deny legitimate users access to records, infrastructure, network or vital services
[34]. These attacks may be aimed against control centers, essential systems installed on cloud infrastructure, and the cloud
service provider as a whole. Such attempts will conflict with the timely response of the relevant applications to legitimate
service companies, utility providers and consumers, placing the whole grid operations at risk. Affected applications can ei-
ther answer with pause or can completely stop responding. This could cause huge financial losses. Such malicious intent
or attacks are conceived by exploiting or absorbing the resources available or the relevant medium of communication [35].
This threat is attributed to vulnerabilities within APIs and unrestricted resource allocation [36]. The scope of these challenges
impacts all three cloud-based services, namely IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS.
Cloud applications to the grid
SG is a network that can intelligently integrate electricity generators and users to enable the efficient supply of electricity
as opposed to the traditional power grid [37,38]. A SG is a complex infrastructure made up of seven components namely; the
customers, service providers, the market, the operations, the bulk generation, transmission and distribution. This intelligent
grid is capable of monitoring the use of power, as well as adjust power consumption to match the system load and power
costs. This capability is generally not present in the traditional grid which operates on one-way power distribution and
7
Fig. 5. Traditional power grid [39].
Fig. 6. The architecture of a conventional SG smart grid [37].
little to no communication to enable power regulation based on the system load. Figs. 5,6 show the architectures of the
traditional grid and SG respectively.
The digitally-controlled system of SG enables integration of different sources of generated power for transmission and
distribution to power consumers [40]. Conventional SGs are based on the Demand Response (DR) model. DR applies to ad-
justments in end-use consumers’ electricity needs to determine their regular consumption patterns in response to changes
in electricity prices over time. With DR, it is possible to design reward payments geared at inducing lower electricity con-
sumption during times of high wholesale market rates or when grid efficiency is compromised [18,41]. DR is accomplished
by adding a number of resource forms including distributed generation, dispatchable load, storage, and other services that
may lead to changing the main grid power supply. Several problems can be faced in traditional SG design (without cloud)
as summarized below:
• The master-slave architecture (without clouds) could trigger cyber-attacks (Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS))[42].
• Any Master-Slave design failure may result in system failure which does not occur in cloud computing [36].
• Only a small number of users (customers) can be supported due to limited server capacity.
• Due to its limited capacity and power, servicing a vast number of customers will be difficult.
• Management as well as stability problems are common.
Researchers have been developing different technology models for DR and micro-grid management for several years. Kim
et al. [43] proposed a Cloud-based Demand Response (CDR) model for rapid response times in large-scale delivery. Energy
Management Systems (EMS) and smart meters are the slaves in the CDR definition while the service provider is the master.
The proposed CDR uses data-centered contact publisher or client. This splits CDR into two cloud-based demand models
namely; (a) data-centered communication, and (b) topic-based group communication. These two models significantly differ
from the traditional IP-centered communication. Overhead issues such as cost of implementation, and selection of suitable
strategies could arise in a DR model implemented on a private cloud if the network size is small.
Simmhan et al. [44] propose a cloud-based platform for SG. Their platform is scalable and manages power demand using
Dynamic Demand Response (D2R). This helps reduce peak load. In addition to allowing for dynamic data handling, process-
8
ing of massive datasets and demand forecasting, their platform could provide a portal that enables visualization of con-
sumer usage patterns. The platform was subsequently provided as a portal for engineers, researchers and other stakeholders
to securely access the data pooled by the system. Ming Chen et al. [45] also studied the importance and viability of cloud
computing technologies in power dispatching and proposed a power dispatching delivery approach for cloud computing de-
pendent automation system. The authors produced a simple standard for power dispatch procedures, quick deployment of
advanced functions and significant improvements in IT.
Research work in literature have also reiterated the fact that efficient infrastructures are important for the successful
implementation of cloud network technologies. They reduce administrative cost and address the conflict between hierar-
chical management and integrated energy sector development. Zhang Liang [46] proposed a cloud-based smart dispatch
center system. Their distributed design includes a physical resource layering, network infrastructure and application struc-
tures such as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), Enterprise Mobility Pack, Digital Resource Layer which
transforms physical resources into digital resources of different types, Cloud Service platform that integrates computing
infrastructure into cloud-posting facilities, web storage layer, and cloud access tiers. The proposed architecture could also
consolidate current resource demands from various dispatching centers, minimize system building and increase costs, and
improve the overall business dispatch capacity. For a successful implementation of their proposed solution, one would have
to implement a broad scale architecture in order to meet the infrastructural needs of SG. Furthermore, one would also need
a flexible software platform that can provide fast convergence and analysis of information to be able to balance the real-
time demand and supply curves This could prove quite expensive if it has to be integrated with legacy networks. Yang et al.
[47] indicated that, cloud systems should be well-suited to support massive data and computationally-intensive, always-on
software. The cloud apps must provide flexible resource requirements to construct a computing infrastructure to support
these complex and always-on applications. They indicated that low-cost cloud-based infrastructure solution could help rev-
olutionize legacy. This is vital because; (1) Cloud works elastically to avoid expensive capital investment by the service at
peak hours, (2) Through exchanging the real-time energy use and price information, consumers will profit from the details
in real-time, (3) Upon following the data privacy requirements for designing smart apps to suit consumer needs, any data
can be exchanged with a third party by using cloud services, and (4) Implementation of specialized system abstraction for
data streams created from the various components is necessary for real-time monitoring to take decisions at different in-
stances. Third-party vendors could be allowed to participate in such real-time monitoring system and this would require
the definition of an effective privacy policy as a security mechanism.
Big data analysis and decision making are core aspects of SG technology and must therefore be seriously considered
in any implementation. Mayilvaganan et al. [48] propose a design for a cloud-based SG that uses big-data analytics for
decision making in response to varied consumer power demand. Data sources exploited by their solution include power
usage patterns of customers, historic weather data of the location, the current demand and supply details. Kaneriya et al.
also [49] proposed weather-based method of load forecasting in the SG. The proposed model analyzes power consumption
based on weather conditions to predict load and provision power.
Efficiency and cost are also important considerations in the design on cloud-based SGs. To this regard, Fang et al.
[50] propose an optimization technique for leveraging the cloud domain to reduce the cost of information management
in the SG. The paper presents a cloud and network resource optimization framework to solve the cost reduction problem
in cloud-based SG information storage and computation. To foster resource allocation of cloud compute resources in the
SG, Cao et al. also [51] propose a cost-oriented optimization model for a cloud-based ICT infrastructure to allocate cloud
computing resources in a flexible and cost-efficient way. Their optimization algorithm makes use of a priority list. Virtual-
ization has also been proposed as one of the most cost-efficient resource optimization and server management technique.
The authors in [47] predict that, the use of a virtualization middleware would enrich the capabilities and opportunities
related to the use of SG devices. Meloni et al. [52] have therefore proposed key features for an interoperable, re-usable,
elastic and secure SG architecture which is cloud-based and relies on REST APIs. Yufeng et al. [53] propose a cloud based
virtual Smart Grid (vSG) architecture alongside with its design. The paper systematically designs a virtualization mechanism
for the SG along three levels, namely; sensors, substation and inter-substation. Meloni et al. [52] proposal further validated
a Cloud-IoT-based architectural solution for state estimation in the SG. Their proposed method combines cloud-capabilities
and edge-computing and further uses virtualization technologies to decouple the handling of measurement data from the
underlying physical devices.
Security is also a very key concept for the success of the SG. In this regard, Xie et al. [54] proposed a hierarchical key
management system. Their proposed scheme focuses mainly on ensuring that users with legal authority are the only ones
with access to sensitive data while restricting access to illegal users. Their proposed model is quite suitable for the cloud
computing-based SG paradigm. Li et al. [55] also proposed a game assessment model to improve security in cloud-based SGs.
The model assesses security risk of the SG by analyzing the mutual game process between the SG defense and malicious
attackers. Based on this analysis, the risk value of the SG is determined and the optimal defense strategy is obtained and
applied. This method proved very efficient
Furthermore, the grid deployment model has been seen to have a causal relationship on the performance of cloud-based
systems. Cloud-based SG may take the form of different micro-grid strategies. Rajeev and Ashok [56] suggested a system
for combining micro-grid technology and cloud computing systems in the form of different modules, such as storage, power
management and operation. The systems for the network and power control are used for managing activities and regulation
of micro-grid power, respectively. The authors realized that numerous operators use the service module to publish their
9
Table 1
Comparison of Different Proposed Cloud-based Integration Solutions.
Service Service
composition Serviceregistry discovery Adaptation Scalability
and stan- andpublish- and and Auto- and Reliabilityand QoS re-
dardization ing integration Heterogeneity nomicity efficiency security quirements
√ √ √ √ √
X. Fang et al ✗ ✗ ✗
[50]
√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
Y. Simmhan
et al. [44]
√ √ √ √
A. Meloni ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
et al. [52]
√ √ √ √ √
Y. Xin et al ✗ ✗ ✗
[53]
√ √ √
Mayilvaganan ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
et al. [48]
√ √ √ √ √ √
H. Kim et al ✗ ✗
[43]
√ √
B. Bitzer et ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
al [61]
√ √ √ √ √ √
F. Luo et al ✗ ✗
[62]
√ √
Y. Xie et al ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
[54]
√ √ √ √
J. Baek et al ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
[58]
√ √ √ √
L. Ji et al ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
[57]
√ √ √ √
X. Jin et al ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
[63]
service summary and as such, external computer tools could be combined with the internal ones through the introduction
of cloud computing. As indicated by Rajeev and Ashok, the number of customers sponsored therefore rises. To satisfy the
energy requirements of customers, the incorporation of virtual energy sources with the existing energy storage devices and
the system for energy exchange could be accomplished among the micro-grids using the approach in [56].
Cloud-based systems have also been shown to be successful in implementing connectivity and control schemes, thus de-
livering power tracking and early warning to network transmission facilities as presented in Ji et al’s proposed SG architec-
ture [57]. In such a case, assistance in real time is given through the use of enterprise service bus (ESB) and service-oriented
architecture (SOA). This methodology can be used to create on-demand, secure, modular and scalable SG power surveillance
system. Traditional web services, domain discovery, database registration, databases, and web connectivity could be imple-
mented using SOA. This possible because, SOA focuses on delivering software as a service in a single cloud environment.
Intelligent grid energy control could be carried out using the ESB design using cloud applications implementing. Most tech-
niques proposed in literature seek to add value to the existing grid network through one or more of the following ways:
• Service composition and standardization which basically refers to making services offered by these cloud-based so-
lutions standards to enable interoperability between different systems. Composition involves the collection of multiple
small services to form a single larger service.
• Service registry and publishing involves making services public and accessible for use by other services or applications.
• Service discovery and integration is the automatic detection of devices and services offered by these devices on a
computer network. After discovering the services, they can be integrated and used by(with) other services [48].
• Heterogeneity: The applications, devices, power sources and several other elements in the SG vary significantly. There-
fore, there is the need to ensure that these can be put together to function seamlessly [58].
• Integration transparency to client applications which defines the ease with which client applications can interface
with the architected cloud-based solutions.
• Adaptation and Autonomicity: Adaptation refers to the ability to adjust to changes in load demand while autonomicity
implies doing this with minimal human intervention [59].
• Scalability and efficiency: Scalability ensures that the SG can continue functioning even as the number of consumers or
nodes increases, meanwhile efficiency entails the effective use of power within the SG [44].
• Reliability and security: These are critical to the operation of system and multiple critical processes depend on it. Fur-
thermore, security is of key importance as any compromise to the system can lead to severe problems [60].
• QoS requirements are technical specifications outlining the quality of features expected from the system such as perfor-
mance, message latency time or CPU usage thresholds [46].
Table 1 provides a comparative analysis of different cloud-based approaches to SG networks. For each solution, we ana-
lyzed the extent to which it fulfills the above-mentioned criteria.
10
Fig. 7. Architectural framework for DR Management in SG.
A Management Architectural Framework for Smart Grids
Edge computing is a distributed platform which has been used to solve many large-scale problems. Edge computing
brings computation closer to the location where it is needed, thereby reducing the need to always transmit data to the
cloud for processing. This helps to improve the performance of near real-time applications. Several authors have therefore
proposed management models based on edge computing to both increase performance and security of the SG. Chen et al.
[64] proposed an edge computing system for IoT-based SGs. The proposed system has hardware and software components
with five layers: the device layer, network layer, data layer, application layer and the cloud computing layer. The hardware
platform of the edge computing devices houses the network, data and application layers. The network layer provides rapid
responses to devices and users to ensure real-time connection with the grid. The data layer is responsible for data analy-
sis, security and privacy whilst the application layer manages the edge computing applications, security and services. The
proposed model increases the performance of the SG by reducing latency associated with transmitting data to the cloud
for processing, as well as decentralizing the SG to reduce the burden on the core nodes of the cloud. Cai et al. [65] also
proposed an edge-computing model to detect false data injection attacks on cloud-based smart metering systems. The pro-
posed model detects attacks by randomly comparing data collected from meters with data on the edge computing servers.
The data selected for comparison is selected based on rules to determine whether it is abnormal. The comparison gives a
final indication of whether the data from the meter is abnormal.
As mentioned earlier, DR has also been used in the management of conventional SG. DR enforces efficient energy man-
agement and, in most cases, helps energy conservation. There has been the need to automate the DR model with cutting
edge technologies such as IoT and cloud computing, An model framework for the architecture for automating the DR model
is presented in [18]. It is made up of 5 blocks, namely:
1 Application Layer
2 Cloud Analytics
3 IoT-Based communication
4 Energy Control Unit (ECU)
5 Energy Monitoring (EM)
The application layer is an essential part of this modern architectural stack for SG. This layer consists of a user appli-
cation which maybe a mobile or web application. There is a particular importance for this due to the high mobile phone
and mobile internet usage and penetration that has engulfed the world especially in country such as Ghana. With this ar-
chitecture, field technicians and engineers could use mobile phones to perform control functionalities. A visualization of the
model is presented in Fig. 7.
The Cloud Analytics layer uses the data stored in the cloud about users to provide useful insights, like power consumption
behaviours. This can be extended by the application and execution of DR algorithms. The IoT-Based communication layer
uses state-of-the-art protocols such as Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) [66] to help devices communicate
with smart meters and smart meters in turn would communicate with the cloud; thereby making it possible for a two-
way communication for data transfer and command transfer to devices. The ECU layer collects data about the current and
voltages of load and devices connected to it. It is also connected to relays and smart switches which makes it possible to
send signals directly to devices, appliances and load. The ECU makes it possible to automatically apply responses to reflect
11
Fig. 8. Hardware implementation of the Energy Control Unit.
changes in electricity prices over time. The ECU also implements pricing incentives and rewards that the DR model provides
for users. A hardware implementation of the ECU is shown in Fig. 8. Communication of the ECU with the cloud can currently
be done via Wi-Fi, 3 G and 4 G wireless technologies. Future developments and implementations must consider 5 G for ECUs
which are used in SGs which have artificial intelligence-enabled Cloud-Edge-IoT network infrastructure to ensure faster data
transfers. The way and manner in which the ECU fits into the broader picture of the management architecture is shown
in Fig. 8. The Energy Monitoring layer further works by implementing sensing and data collection functionalities which is
useful for the SG operators and users alike.
Blockchain technology
Blockchain as the name suggests is a chain consisting of several information blocks [67]. Blockchain is able to monitor
all changes made to any of its blocks and as such it is not possible to tamper with or delete any of its blocks. This feature
of blockchain makes it very suitable for use in decentralized transactions without requiring the oversight of financial insti-
tutions or governments. More succinctly, blockchain is a secure and tamper aware system. Every block chain begins with an
initial block known as a genesis block, every other block is connected to the preceding blocks and hence the genesis block
[68]. Each block contains information as well as a hash which uniquely identifies it alongside with its contents. Each block
keeps its hash as well as the hashes of previous blocks [69]. This makes blockchain quite a secure and impenetrable tech-
nology. In the event where the contents of a block are changed, its hash changes because its hash depends on its contents.
The hash in subsequent blocks does not however change and this invalidates the block [70].
Before a transaction is added to the chain, a request has to be initiated by the user. After this is done, a block is created
to represent the transaction. The block is then broadcasted to every node on the chain. Each node in the chain validates
and verifies the transaction block and the status of the user by using one out of a possible number of consensus algorithms.
Once the transaction has been vetted and authorized, it is attached to all the previous blocks in the block chain. Fig. 9
illustrates how blockchain works.
Consensus algorithms are important when adding a block to the chain because recent advances in computing speed
allowing hashes to be computed quick and can make the chain vulnerable if the only verification that takes place is the one
that is done before the blocks are added. The most used Consensus algorithms are [71]:
• Proof of Work (PoW): Accounts for more than 90% of the total market capitalization of existing digital cryptocurrencies
[72]. In this algorithm, miners compete with each other to complete transactions in exchange for rewards.
• Proof of Stake (PoS): There are no miners and validation is done based on the stake of each node in the transaction
[73].
• Proof of Authority (PoA): In this consensus algorithm, a small number of actors are given the power to validate trans-
actions and to update the registry [74].
• Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT): Here, a primary and a secondary replica are utilized in the consensus pro-
cess. The secondary monitors the primary and takes any necessary actions if the primary is compromised [68].
12
Fig. 9. How Blockchain Works [75].
Based on the different levels of permissions given to the users of the block chain network, we can have the following
different permission models:
• The public blockchain is open to everyone as the name suggests.

• The private blockchain restricts permissions to add and verify only to a few users but every other user can view the state
of the system.
• The consortium allows permission to view, verify, and add new transactions only to a single group of users.
Blockchain applications to the grid
There is tremendous potential for the application of blockchain in the SG and a number of works have already set out to
do this. The following section reviews some of the applications of blockchain to the SG.
1 Smart Metering: Smart meters allow utility companies, consumer and producers to communicate atomically and in a
bidirectional fashion. This allows the exchange of usage data, production, status and diagnostic information which can
help in monitoring, control and troubleshooting. This large-scale data sharing introduces serious privacy and security
risks as previously discussed in Section 5. To mitigate this, several studies have proposed to use of blockchain in de-
centralizing such systems and providing enhanced security. M. Mylrea et al. [76] approach this problem by combining
SG with smart contracts. The smart contracts act as middle-men, improving transactions and security between the en-
ergy producers and the consumers. C. Pop et al. [77] followed a similar decentralization approach that makes use of
blockchain. Information about energy consumption is stored in blocks in the smart meters. This information is tamper-
proof. This scheme requires that the smart meters would act as nodes on the blockchain and this can be quite dis-
advantageous to the smart meter due to the high computational and storage resources needed to do so. K. Gai et al.
[78] therefore combined blockchain and edge computing to solve this problem. In the proposed approach presented in
[78], blockchain was used to ensure decentralization, privacy and security while the edge devices act as typical nodes
in a blockchain system. S. Tan et al. [79] also introduced the concept of Privacy-Preserving Energy Scheduling built on
blockchain and targeting primarily energy service companies.
2 Energy Trading: The SG allows both consumers and producers to trade energy. Producers can deal directly with con-
sumers without third parties while consumers can trade their surplus energy to meet overall power objectives. This
necessitates a form of decentralized transaction dealing that makes blockchain such a valuable tool to be applied here.
In [80] Li et al. proposed a multi-scenario energy coin and peer-to-peer system for trading energy that ensures security
and decentralization. PriWatt is also a decentralized token-based energy trading system that ensures privacy and secu-
rity of users and was introduced by N. Aitzhan et al. [81]. It fosters bidding and negotiation by allowing anonymous
messaging. D. Zheng et al. in [82] use PoS in place of PoW so as to improve the scalability and increase the number of
transactions per second thereby serving more users. They also encrypt user data to ensure security and pseudonyms are
used to ensure privacy.
3 Monitoring and Control: Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems are mostly used for monitoring and
control of current grid systems. These systems are highly centralized and hierarchical. This single-point-of-failure nature
of SCADA creates vulnerability especially via cyberattacks. This leaves room for blockchain to be used for monitoring,
measurement and control of the newer SG systems. J. Goa et al. [83] introduced ICS-BlockOpS, a blockchain-based archi-
tecture that enhances data security in industrial control systems. Its two key underlying concepts are data immutability
13
Fig. 10. Forecasted installed capacity of various renewable energy technologies by 2030.
and data redundancy. These are both achieved or assisted by blockchain technology. In [84], J. Wan et al. proposed a
blockchain-assisted architecture to address the shortcomings of the traditional cloud-based architectures. They demon-
strated that, blockchain could out performs traditional cloud-based methods in terms of provision of decentralization,
privacy and security.
Cloud integration prospects for Ghana
Electricity is a staple commodity that people everywhere depend on in their daily lives. Poor nations as well as rich
nations find different means to generate electricity and over time, people everywhere are refining the process of generation.
The basis for the refinery is to ensure among other factors, that the byproducts are not harmful to life, and the environment.
For the same reason, nuclear power plants by their nature, provide byproducts that have to be carefully managed. As such,
interest in new ones being built as was the case a few years back, has subsided. This has pushed generation more and more
towards the use of renewables, and away from fossil fuels.
Ghana Energy Commission currently estimates its total installed renewable power generation capacity at around 78 MW
(excluding large hydro), even though this is questionable, as there is no reliable means of collecting data on small distributed
installations which do not require government licenses. In the medium- to long-term, however, managers of the energy
sector expect the installed capacity to rise to almost 1400 MW (by 2030). This represents a rise of more than 17-fold
compared with the 2019 estimate of 78 MW from the country’s Energy Commission. The technologies and applications that
Ghana is counting on to make this quantum leap include solar PV (including utility-scale and mall distributed systems),
wind energy, biomass, waste-to-energy, hydropower, wave and hybrid mini/MG. The various anticipated installed capacities
are shown in Fig. 10.
It is worth noting, that, over three-quarters of the anticipated capacity in 2030 is expected to come from solar and wind-
based technologies. Given the well-known spatio-temporal variability of these resources (solar and wind), SG techniques are
expected to play a vital enabling role in the attainment of these renewable energy targets. Technology is constantly being
upgraded and with that, systems that have been functioning over decades will have to be improved in various ways. One of
the enhancements will be to improve the efficiency of operation. In the context of the electricity generation, transmission
and distribution systems in Ghana, one such development which could be adopted is the SG which has the potential to
revolutionize the grid network infrastructure.
Despite the challenges discussed in the previous sections with SG, the integration of SG with a supporting cloud in-
frastructure presents interesting prospects and several benefits to the energy sector of Ghana which include, wide area
situational awareness, advanced and efficient metering and billing infrastructure, efficient transmission and distribution sys-
tems, and reliable grid network. However, the integration of these new energy sources would come with pressing economic
as well as environmental arguments for the overhaul of the current traditional power grid, and its replacement with a SG
that integrates new kinds of green power generating systems. The proposed SG solution should also be able to monitor
power use and adapts consumption to match power costs and system load. All these functionalities are currently missing in
Ghana’s grid network.
There is therefore the need to identify some of the computing needs for building this new “smart” grid and assess the
current computing infrastructure of the legacy system to see whether it can address these needs. Because of the added
financial burden an overhaul of the existing structure would bring, the country might not be in a position to develop its
own internet or create its own computing platforms from scratch, and hence there will be the need to work with generally
accepted standards and commercially successful hardware and software platforms which has its own associated security
14
Fig. 11. Computer Cloud Infrastructure with Generator Sites.
risks. There is also the need to study the extent to which existing options can be used to address the security requirements
of the SG.
Furthermore, considering the fact that not all generated power will be used as the power is generated, storage facilities
can be set up for the excess. The stored power can then be transmitted to areas that need it. Hence power can be shared
across the nation as per the need through a smart network. Power storage can be achieved using specific systems that are
appropriate for the technology. For the hydro for instance, a commercially acceptable utility scale electricity storage will
be appropriate. For solar and thermal generators, rechargeable battery, ultra-battery, or supercapacitor may be used. All of
the generators will have to be connected to a smart national grid which will be connected to a network operations center
(NOC) on the cloud computer platform as shown in Fig. 11. This will be the point of management for the whole system, and
should be constructed on a geologically stable stretch of land.
The computers at the generation plants could be combined to form a computer cloud, and its operational capabilities can
be applied to electricity generation, storage, and distribution. The computer cloud will be a platform that will have various
functionalities such as memory, monitoring, and database residing in it. From the Network Operation Center (NOC), control
and supervisory commands could be sent to any of the sites connecting to the cloud to manage generation, distribution,
and maintenance schedule. Sensors could be incorporated in the system to monitor all aspects of generation, storage, and
distribution. Smart phone applications could be developed as part of a DR solution to enable engineers and technicians to
have oversight of the system. Since a catastrophic failure will result in a major shut down of the system, hence redundancy
will have to be built into the system and managed with an ECU solution.
With the projected high penetration of renewable energy resources in the energy mix of Ghana, the planning and oper-
ation of legacy power systems with an integrated cloud-based system would face a lot of challenges. One major challenge
to be solved is how to build a flexible power system to cope with the variation and uncertainty of the expected high-
penetration of renewables [85]. This problem is an important issue that must be solved to guarantee a successful imple-
mentation of the integration solution in Fig. 11. Approaches such as the Combined Economic and Emission Dispatch (CEED)
[86,87] can be applied on the Ghanaian power grid, and thus, enhanced optimization schemes can be used to determine
how the energy from the various sources should be combined. Integrating Blockchain-based systems and Software Defined
Networks (SDN) could further help solve this problem. Blockchain-based systems employ the use of encryption, asymmetric
key infrastructure, and economic modeling which are applied to peer-to-peer networking and decentralized consensus to
achieve distributed database synchronization [88]. The data structure of blockchain is distributed and its application in the
power grid could ensure auditability [89] and decentralization [90]. Furthermore, payment of electricity bills can be made
electronic through the use of cryptocurrencies. SDN is a new approach which makes the control of communication globally
visible and directly programmable. SDN transfers the network control logic from switches in a network to a logical controller
[91]. The controller performs a major function of guiding the controlling switches to handle data communication through
the OpenFlow communication protocol [92].
We therefore use a combination of the technologies discussed above to propose an architecture that could work with the
legacy grid network of Ghana. The proposed architecture is shown in Fig. 12. Our solution proposes the a virtual controller
15
Fig. 12. Architecture of an Integrated Grid Infrastructure.
to control the communication between the infrastructure of the Distributed Energy Resources (DERs). This virtual control
would help overcome the limitations of the legacy communication infrastructure whiles blockchain technology is proposed
to be used to achieve decentralization. In the proposed architecture presented in Fig. 12, the computing infrastructure of
all the DERs are connected to a microgrid master controller (MGMC). The MGMC could be networked in a decentralized
architecture based on blockchain. The MGMCs of the various energy resources could then collaborate through sharing of
non-critical information for aligning their local energy management decisions. Decision making among the MGMCs could
then be recorded using blockchain automatically and immutably. The monitoring and sensing functionality could be done
with IoT devices. The sensing systems could help create data for decision making. Blockchain would be responsible for
storing all the data aggregated during the monitoring and sensing, and other transactions conducted in the network. The
over-the-top applications will then be responsible for mining the data in order to make critical decisions. This simplified
architecture could help integrate the legacy grid infrastructure of Ghana.
Future research directions
Renewable Energy Sources (RES) present interesting prospects and alternatives for diversifying the energy mix of Ghana
and could help wean the country off its dependency on hydro-electric power as discussed early on. With the current push
for RES and its associated advantages, there are still some challenges that needs to be solved to ensure stability and scala-
bility. In the Ghanaian context, there exist a legacy grid network with some isolated measurement systems, such as SCADA
and some isolated wide-area measurement capabilities. With the advantages cloud computing offer, the proposed solution in
Fig. 11 could be used to connect these isolated systems to the DERs. However, the solution proposed in Fig. 11 could compli-
cate the grid distribution and transmission environment when the share of RES on the grid increases. An alternative to solve
this complexity has been discussed and shown in Fig. 12 by leveraging blockchain and SDNs to provide decentralization to
ensure grid reliability and stability.
There are still a number of issues that have to be considered with regards to implementing Cloud Computing solutions
for the SG. One major factor which could prevent the adoption of the proposed solution in Fig. 12 will be whether the
electricity flexibility will be sufficient to stimulate economic integration of RES and maintain a reliable grid system. In the
Ghanaian context, cost of developing the system will be a major driver and as such there will be the need to research and
develop low-cost and highly efficient SDN-based decentralized IoT intelligent integrators for DERs.
Research opportunities also exist in the use and application of optimization schemes such as Particle Swarm Optimization
and other variants of Evolutionary Optimization Algorithms on the forecasted data of the Ghanaian Electricity Grid. This
would require the formulation of the forecasted installed capacities (such as the forecast stated for the year 2030 in this
paper) to be formulated into a CEED problem which can be solved using the afore-mentioned algorithms. This would aid in
the development and implementation of efficient DR solutions. This is critical since there is the need to maintain a reliable
grid when more RES is added to the energy mix.
16
There is tremendous room for research in security for Cloud Computing applied to the SG as this is a very key require-
ment. Several aspects to strengthening security can be explored including; use of private clouds, hybrid clouds, encryption
and access strategies. Studies could also be conducted on developing low-cost blockchain-based utility services and applica-
tions platform for management, monitoring and control for the grid since proprietary applications could be expensive.
In addition, research opportunities exist in the area of ensuring real-time performance of these systems. It is critical to
ensure that the integration leads to low latency performance of the SG as well. The huge amount of data processing should
be done in real-time and should be scalable as well. Also, data transfer between smart meters and stations should be done
in real-time as this will allow the loads to be dynamically managed with ease.
Conclusion
Electricity is needed by everyone. Its generation and distribution are of major concern to governments and providers.
In Ghana, the generation and distribution are the responsibility of the national government. The economy of nations such
as Ghana, puts a constraint on how much money can be generated upfront to finance the deployment of the cloud infras-
tructure. Increased solar power and wind turbine generation added to the hydro, and thermal electricity generation would
however help close the energy gap. With cloud computing gaining a lot of prominence in the technological space, it is very
beneficial to incorporate cloud computing in many sectors of life. One such sector is the energy sector, specifically SG sys-
tems. Data collection, analysis, transmission, distribution, maintenance schedule, and all other pertinent details in such a
heterogeneous mix of energy sources can be centralized, and managed in a cloud network supporting a SG infrastructure.
The abilities and conveniences the cloud provides are very beneficial to the SG. One such ability is processing of a large
amount of data. These very useful abilities however introduce some security issues in the SG. To ensure smooth implemen-
tation of the cloud-based SG, it is imperative that these issues are addressed. This paper has discussed important security
issues which need to be addressed prior to implementing a cloud-based SG. An architecture which leverages blockchain and
SDN has been proposed to help solve the likely challenges integrating a legacy network to a computer cloud could present.
Tackling these issues will effectively ensure secure and smooth operation of the SG in the cloud. Adopting IoTs, SDN and
Blockchain technologies in DERs could help ensure sufficient generation of electricity to match the demand at any given
time.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Funding
This research received no external funding.
Acknowledgements
Not Applicable.
Author’s Contribution
ETT, DAQ and WKO conceived and designed the study. ETT, GSK, FBE and WKO performed the review and wrote the
paper. ET, GSK, SK and FBE revised the manuscript. ET and CN took charge of all the work of paper submission. CN, SK
and WKO gave several proposals for the experiments and interpretation of the summarized results. All authors read and
approved the final manuscript.
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Scientiﬁc African 12 (2021) e00796

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

On cloud-based systems and distributed platforms for smart

• Provide an overview of SG with an emphasis on the role of cloud-based integration solutions.

This review used literature from 4 electronic databases:

Fig. 4. Cloud computing models and beneﬁts [22].

According to Cloud Computing deployment models, a cloud can be classiﬁed as:

Cloud storage related issues

Cloud applications to the grid

Fig. 5. Traditional power grid [39].

Fig. 6. The architecture of a conventional SG smart grid [37].

Fig. 7. Architectural framework for DR Management in SG.

A Management Architectural Framework for Smart Grids

Fig. 8. Hardware implementation of the Energy Control Unit.

Fig. 9. How Blockchain Works [75].

• The public blockchain is open to everyone as the name suggests.

Blockchain applications to the grid

Cloud integration prospects for Ghana

Fig. 11. Computer Cloud Infrastructure with Generator Sites.

Fig. 12. Architecture of an Integrated Grid Infrastructure.

Future research directions

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare no conﬂict of interest.

This research received no external funding.

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