Reinforcement learning-driven local transactive energy market for distributed energy resources

Local energy markets are emerging as a tool for coordinating generation, storage, and consumption of energy from distributed resources. In combination with automation, they promise to provide an effective energy management framework that is fair and brings system-level savings. The cooperative–compe...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Steven Zhang, Daniel May, Mustafa Gül, Petr Musilek
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2022-05-01
Series:Energy and AI
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666546822000118
_version_ 1818244873048817664
author Steven Zhang
Daniel May
Mustafa Gül
Petr Musilek
author_facet Steven Zhang
Daniel May
Mustafa Gül
Petr Musilek
author_sort Steven Zhang
collection DOAJ
description Local energy markets are emerging as a tool for coordinating generation, storage, and consumption of energy from distributed resources. In combination with automation, they promise to provide an effective energy management framework that is fair and brings system-level savings. The cooperative–competitive nature of energy markets calls for multi-agent based automation with learning energy trading agents. However, depending on the dynamics of the agent–environment interaction, this approach may yield unintended behavior of market participants. Thus, the design of market mechanisms suitable for reinforcement learning agents must take into account this interplay. This article introduces autonomous local energy exchange (ALEX) as an experimental framework that combines multi-agent learning and double auction mechanism. Participants determine their internal price signals and make energy management decisions through market interactions, rather than relying on predetermined external price signals. The main contribution of this article is examination of compatibility between specific market elements and independent learning agents. Effects of different market properties are evaluated through simulation experiments, and the results are used for determine a suitable market design. The results show that market truthfulness maintains demand-response functionality, while weak budget balancing provides a strong reinforcement signal for the learning agents. The resulting agent behavior is compared with two baselines: net billing and time-of-use rates. The ALEX-based pricing is more responsive to fluctuations in the community net load compared to the time-of-use. The more accurate accounting of renewable energy usage reduced bills by a median 38.8% compared to net billing, confirming the ability to better facilitate demand response.
first_indexed 2024-12-12T14:23:56Z
format Article
id doaj.art-408478d9110d4224878f12ff4b6c51be
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2666-5468
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-12T14:23:56Z
publishDate 2022-05-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Energy and AI
spelling doaj.art-408478d9110d4224878f12ff4b6c51be2022-12-22T00:21:45ZengElsevierEnergy and AI2666-54682022-05-018100150Reinforcement learning-driven local transactive energy market for distributed energy resourcesSteven Zhang0Daniel May1Mustafa Gül2Petr Musilek3Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, CanadaElectrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, CanadaCivil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, CanadaElectrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Canada; Corresponding author.Local energy markets are emerging as a tool for coordinating generation, storage, and consumption of energy from distributed resources. In combination with automation, they promise to provide an effective energy management framework that is fair and brings system-level savings. The cooperative–competitive nature of energy markets calls for multi-agent based automation with learning energy trading agents. However, depending on the dynamics of the agent–environment interaction, this approach may yield unintended behavior of market participants. Thus, the design of market mechanisms suitable for reinforcement learning agents must take into account this interplay. This article introduces autonomous local energy exchange (ALEX) as an experimental framework that combines multi-agent learning and double auction mechanism. Participants determine their internal price signals and make energy management decisions through market interactions, rather than relying on predetermined external price signals. The main contribution of this article is examination of compatibility between specific market elements and independent learning agents. Effects of different market properties are evaluated through simulation experiments, and the results are used for determine a suitable market design. The results show that market truthfulness maintains demand-response functionality, while weak budget balancing provides a strong reinforcement signal for the learning agents. The resulting agent behavior is compared with two baselines: net billing and time-of-use rates. The ALEX-based pricing is more responsive to fluctuations in the community net load compared to the time-of-use. The more accurate accounting of renewable energy usage reduced bills by a median 38.8% compared to net billing, confirming the ability to better facilitate demand response.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666546822000118Transactive energyDemand responseDistributed energy resources (DER)DER integrationLocal energy marketReinforcement learning
spellingShingle Steven Zhang
Daniel May
Mustafa Gül
Petr Musilek
Reinforcement learning-driven local transactive energy market for distributed energy resources
Energy and AI
Transactive energy
Demand response
Distributed energy resources (DER)
DER integration
Local energy market
Reinforcement learning
title Reinforcement learning-driven local transactive energy market for distributed energy resources
title_full Reinforcement learning-driven local transactive energy market for distributed energy resources
title_fullStr Reinforcement learning-driven local transactive energy market for distributed energy resources
title_full_unstemmed Reinforcement learning-driven local transactive energy market for distributed energy resources
title_short Reinforcement learning-driven local transactive energy market for distributed energy resources
title_sort reinforcement learning driven local transactive energy market for distributed energy resources
topic Transactive energy
Demand response
Distributed energy resources (DER)
DER integration
Local energy market
Reinforcement learning
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666546822000118
work_keys_str_mv AT stevenzhang reinforcementlearningdrivenlocaltransactiveenergymarketfordistributedenergyresources
AT danielmay reinforcementlearningdrivenlocaltransactiveenergymarketfordistributedenergyresources
AT mustafagul reinforcementlearningdrivenlocaltransactiveenergymarketfordistributedenergyresources
AT petrmusilek reinforcementlearningdrivenlocaltransactiveenergymarketfordistributedenergyresources