2 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Exploring smart grid possibilities: a complex systems modelling approach
Smart grid research has tended to be compartmentalised, with notable contributions from economics, electrical engineering and science and technology studies. However, there is an acknowledged and growing need for an integrated systems approach to the evaluation of smart grid initiatives. The capacity to simulate and explore smart grid possibilities on various scales is key to such an integrated approach but existing models – even if multidisciplinary – tend to have a limited focus. This paper describes an innovative and flexible framework that has been developed to facilitate the simulation of various smart grid scenarios and the interconnected social, technical and economic networks from a complex systems perspective. The architecture is described and related to realised examples of its use, both to model the electricity system as it is today and to model futures that have been envisioned in the literature. Potential future applications of the framework are explored, along with its utility as an analytic and decision support tool for smart grid stakeholders
Recommended from our members
CASCADE: An Agent Based Framework For Modeling The Dynamics Of Smart Electricity Systems
The Complex Adaptive Systems, Cognitive Agents and Distributed Energy
(CASCADE) project is developing a framework based on Agent Based Modelling
(ABM). The CASCADE Framework can be used both to gain policy and industry
relevant insights into the smart grid concept itself and as a platform to design and
test distributed ICT solutions for smart grid based business entities. ABM is used
to capture the behaviors of diff erent social, economic and technical actors, which
may be defi ned at various levels of abstraction. It is applied to understanding
their interactions and can be adapted to include learning processes and emergent
patterns. CASCADE models ‘prosumer’ agents (i.e., producers and/or consumers
of energy) and ‘aggregator’ agents (e.g., traders of energy in both wholesale
and retail markets) at various scales, from large generators and Energy Service
Companies down to individual people and devices. The CASCADE Framework
is formed of three main subdivisions that link models of electricity supply and
demand, the electricity market and power fl ow. It can also model the variability of
renewable energy generation caused by the weather, which is an important issue
for grid balancing and the profi tability of energy suppliers. The development
of CASCADE has already yielded some interesting early fi ndings, demonstrating
that it is possible for a mediating agent (aggregator) to achieve stable demandfl
attening across groups of domestic households fi tted with smart energy control
and communication devices, where direct wholesale price signals had previously
been found to produce characteristic complex system instability. In another
example, it has demonstrated how large changes in supply mix can be caused
even by small changes in demand profi le. Ongoing and planned refi nements to the Framework will support investigation of demand response at various
scales, the integration of the power sector with transport and heat sectors, novel
technology adoption and diffusion work, evolution of new smart grid business
models, and complex power grid engineering and market interactions