Applications of Agent-Based Methods in Multi-Energy Systems—A Systematic Literature Review

The need for a greener and more sustainable energy system evokes a need for more extensive energy system transition research. The penetration of distributed energy resources and Internet of Things technologies facilitate energy system transition towards the next generation of energy system concepts. The next generation of energy system concepts include “integrated energy system”, “multi-energy system”, or “smart energy system”. These concepts reveal that future energy systems can integrate multiple energy carriers with autonomous intelligent decision making. There are noticeable trends in using the agent-based method in research of energy systems, including multi-energy system transition simulation with agent-based modeling (ABM) and multi-energy system management with multi-agent system (MAS) modeling. The need for a comprehensive review of the applications of the agent-based method motivates this review article. Thus, this article aims to systematically review the ABM and MAS applications in multi-energy systems with publications from 2007 to the end of 2021. The articles were sorted into MAS and ABM applications based on the details of agent implementations. MAS application papers in building energy systems, district energy systems, and regional energy systems are reviewed with regard to energy carriers, agent control architecture, optimization algorithms, and agent development environments. ABM application papers in behavior simulation and policy-making are reviewed with regard to the agent decision-making details and model objectives. In addition, the potential future research directions in reinforcement learning implementation and agent control synchronization are highlighted. The review shows that the agent-based method has great potential to contribute to energy transition studies with its plug-and-play ability and distributed decision-making process

Microgrid Energy Management with Flexibility Constraints: A Data-Driven Solution Method

Microgrid energy management is a challenging and important problem in modern power systems. Several deterministic and stochastic models have been proposed in the literature for the microgrid energy management problem. However, more accurate models are required to enhance flexibility of the microgrids when accounting for renewable energy and load uncertainties. This thesis proposes key contributions to solve the energy management problem for smart building (or small-scale microgrid). In Chapter 3, a deterministic energy management model is presented taking into account system flexibility requirements. Energy storage systems are deployed to enhance the grid flexibility and ramping capability. The objective function of the formulated optimization is to minimize the operation cost. Combined heat and power (CHP) units, which interconnect heat and electricity, are modeled. Thus, electricity and thermal generation and load constraints are formulated. To account for uncertainties of load and renewable energy resources (e.g., solar generation), a stochastic energy management model is proposed in Chapter 4. A data-driven chance-constrained optimization is based method is formulated. The proposed model is nonparametric that imposes no assumption on probability distribution functions (PDFs) of the random variables (i.e., load and renewable generation). Adaptive kernel density estimation is deployed to estimate a nonparametric PDF for each random variable. Confidence levels (risk levels) of the chance constraints are modified according to estimation errors. Several cases are simulated to analyze the deterministic and stochastic optimization models. The simulation results show that the proposed data-driven chance-constrained optimization with the flexibility constraints enhance reliability, resiliency, and economics of the microgrid energy systems. Note that these flexibility constraints avoid propagating solar and load fluctuations to the distribution feeder. That is smart building (microgrid) is capable of capturing fluctuations locally

Towards realization of an Energy Internet: Designing distributed energy systems using game-theoretic approach

Distributed energy systems play a significant role in the integration of renewable energy technologies. The Energy Internet links a fleet of distributed energy systems to each other and with the grid. Interactions between the distributed energy systems via information sharing could significantly enhance the efficiency of their real-time operation. However, privacy and security concerns hinder such interactions. A game-theoretic approach can help in this regard, and enable consideration of some of these factors when maintaining interactions between energy systems. Although a game-theoretic approach is used to understand energy systems\u27 operation, such complex interactions between the energy systems are not considered at the early design phase, leading to many practical problems, and often leading to suboptimal designs. The present study introduces a game-theoretic approach that enables consideration of complex interactions among energy systems at the early design phase. Three different architectures are considered in the study, i.e., energy eystem prior to grid (ESPG), fully cooperative (FCS), and non-cooperative (NCS) scenarios, in which each distributed energy system is taken as an agent. A novel distributed optimization algorithm is developed for both FCS and NCS. The study reveals that FCS and NCS reduce the cost, respectively, by 30% and 15% compared to ESPG. In addition to cost reduction, there is a significant change in the energy system design when moving from FCS to NCS scenarios, clearly indicating the requirement for a scenario that lies between NCS and FCS. This will lead to reducing design costs while maintaining privacy