Design of multi-dimensional search queries for efficient discovery of suppliers in the smart grid

The smart grid uses bidirectional flows of electricity and information to automatically control generation, transmission, and consumption of electricity. Users in the grid are able to exchange information with the grid or other users and to sell their excess energy to those in need. In addition, the smart grid enables the extensive deployment of renewable energy sources, which was impossible in the traditional power system due to their instability of renewable generation. Because the generation capability will no longer be limited to the large-scale power companies, the number of suppliers in the electricity market is expected to grow dramatically in the future. However, the increase in the number of suppliers in the market means that consumers need an efficient way to find the suppliers who can satisfy their preferences. Previously, the authors have proposed the P2P multi-dimensional search overlay network on which consumers can efficiently find ideal suppliers according to the multi-dimensional conditions. In this paper, the authors improve the proposed overlay network and reduce the calculation time for searching for suppliers. Experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively reduce the calculation time.