Electricity agents in smart grid markets

This paper presents a novel architecture of electricity agents in smart grid markets. The architecture implements a middleware that allows standard agent plug-ins representing “smart grid” elements in a two-way power flow. Agent operations are automated to allow demand variations and exploring a wider spectrum of trade opportunities in an efficient manner, while coordinating with the system operator for reliability, security, and stability. We give trade and operation computational models of power grid components and their interaction protocols and authentication in a multi-agent framework. Trade models are both pool and multilateral based. Operation models respect power dispatch limits, generation and transmission constraints, and spinning reserve requirements. The models are coded as part of the agent software. The protocols are KQML (Knowledge Query Manipulation Language) based communication. An IEEE 5-bus grid system is used for illustration. The testing results for different load profiles show better distribution of market sales and a market clearing price convergence very close to the marginal cost of generation supply, thus an implication of economic efficiency of energy resources, as well as security and power quality compared to traditional electricity trade models based on Cournot and Bertrand estimated clearing prices