IoT+Blockchain: An Ongoing Project in Production

Power flows and operational procedures in electricity distribution grids are controlled by tried-and-tested Industrial Control Systems (ICS) that are connected to a wide array of sensors and electrica …

Power flows and operational procedures in electricity distribution grids are controlled by tried-and-tested Industrial Control Systems (ICS) that are connected to a wide array of sensors and electrical machines. The critical operation of these assets is generally managed by Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), which send and receive data to the machines operating the grid, and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, in charge of the monitorization and data management of all events occurring during day-to-day operation of the grid.SCADA systems generate a vast amount of information to be processed by a team of operators around the clock, providing invaluable insight on the state of the network and possible alerts to be looked out.At everis we have developed and deployed a Blockchain project for a Spanish utilities company, in which SCADA systems send all data related to incidents in the grid to be processed by the Blockchain. Registering and timestamping incidents in a decentralized network can solve these intrinsic problems when it comes to network operation, for multiple companies are involved in the management of electrical grids. In this project we have leveraged the power of raw data proceeding from ICS combined with a trustless, transparent decentralized application in a Hyperledger Fabric environment.To that effect, we have deployed a multi-node, multi-organization Fabric production environment, in which data stream directly from SCADA systems to the Blockchain through REST APIs without the need for any human intervention whatsoever. This production network can easily handle the flow of SCADA messages at a rate of 5000+ transactions per minute in an actual, operational environment.