Blockchain technologies empowering peer‐to‐peer trading in multi‐energy systems: From advanced technologies towards applications

In efforts to decarbonise electricity, transport, and heating sectors, policy makers facilitate the integration of renewable energy sources and demand side management in multi-energy systems. With the support of the smart grid, an increasing number of consumers start to produce, store, and consume energy using zero-carbon electricity and heating sources, for example, solar panels, electric vehicles, and air source heat pumps, giving them the new role of multi-energy prosumers. A flexible local energy market structure and intelligent operations of smart grid are crucial factors for accommodating the role of multi-energy prosumers. The blockchain technologies, for example, smart contracts and hypothetical technology, pave the path for the peer-to-peer (P2P) energy markets, which are open and accessible to prosumers with enhanced automation, security, and privacy. The state-of-the-art research and scientific innovations bring these advanced blockchain technologies towards applications into multi-energy systems. This special issue aims to solicit the innovative research on the blockchain empowering peer-to-peer trading in multi-energy systems. The scope of the research includes a single (multiple) energy vector(s) (e.g., electricity, gas, or heat), technologies (e.g., blockchain, smart contracts, or machine learning), theories (e.g., P2P trading mechanisms, pricing schemes, communication protocols, or consensus mechanisms) and applications (e.g., blockchain platforms or prosumer-centric energy scheduling)