  Decentralized management and coordination of energy systems are emerging
trends facilitated by the uptake of the Internet of Things and Blockchain
offering new opportunities for more secure, resilient, and efficient energy
distribution. Even though the use of distributed ledger technology in the
energy domain is promising, the development of decentralized smart grid
management solutions is in the early stages. In this paper, we define a layered
architecture of a blockchain-based smart grid management platform featuring
energy data metering and tamper-proof registration, business enforcement via
smart contracts, and Oracle-based integration of high computational services
supporting the implementation of future grid management scenarios. Three such
scenarios are discussed from the perspective of their implementation using the
proposed blockchain platform and associated challenges: peer to peer energy
trading, decentralized management, and aggregation of energy flexibility and
operation of community oriented Virtual Power Plants.
