Multiagent-Based Transactive Energy Management Systems for Residential Buildings with Distributed Energy Resources

Abstract

Proper management of building loads and distributed energy resources (DER) can offer grid assistance services in transactive energy (TE) frameworks besides providing cost savings for the consumer. However, most TE models require building loads and DER units to be managed by external entities (e.g., aggregators), and in some cases, consumers need to provide critical information related to their electricity demand and usage, which hampers their privacy. This article introduces a transactive energy management framework for the buildings in a residential neighborhood to address grid overloading and cost optimization of the buildings. The decentralized coordination for the energy management system is realized by using a multiagent system architecture, which provides the consumers with full decision-making authority and preserves their privacy. A new event-triggered transactive market algorithm is developed, where the buildings trade energy to maximize profits, while the regional grid operator procures energy-supply flexibility of active consumers to prevent transformer overloading. A two-stage energy management system is developed for the residential buildings that schedules building loads and DER units in day-ahead stage to minimize cost and inconveniences for the consumer while participating in the real-time transactive market to maximize profits. An optimal bidding model is developed for the buildings that incorporates the degradation of residential storage devices for energy trading. Case studies and analyses with actual Australian building data and electricity tariff structures indicate the efficacy of the proposed methodology for effective mitigation of transformer overloading at a negligible cost compared to transformer replacement cost. Results also indicate that the proposed system can provide 15-20% cost savings for the consumers while minimizing their inconveniences and degradation of storage devices.