Permissioned Blockchain-based Trustworthy Edge Storage Scheme for Smart Grid

Background: With the development of technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud/edge computing, a large number of edge devices in the smart grid accomplish information interconnection and generate massive amounts of data. On the one hand, smart grids need to obtain a large amount of grid data from edge terminal devices. On the other hand, edge computing also brings some security threats. Therefore, edge data security faces major challenges. Objective: In order to ensure the security of data in the edge computing environment of the smart grid, we propose an edge data storage scheme (BlockSE) for the smart grid edge computing environment. Methods: BlockSE combines permissioned blockchain and smart contract technology to achieve secure storage of data on edge. We adapted ring signature technology to achieve privacy preserving of participating nodes. To allocate the storage resources of edge servers fairly and transparently, we designed a storage resource allocation algorithm based on the smart contract, whereby edge devices can obtain storage resources fairly according to demand. Results: Simulation experiments were performed; the results show the effectiveness of the proposed BlockSE scheme. Conclusion: This paper focused on data security in the smart grid's edge computing environment and proposed a secure storage scheme for edge data based on permissioned blockchain. The evaluation shows the safety, effectiveness, and practicability of the proposed BlockSE scheme.