A decentralized optimization approach for scalable agent-based energy dispatch and congestion management

Maximilian Kilthau, Vincent Henkel, Lukas Peter Wagner, Felix Gehlhoff and Alexander Fay

Applied Energy, 2025, vol. 377, issue PC, No S0306261924019895

Abstract: Due to the increasing number of renewable energy sources and the growing number of energy consumers such as electric vehicles and heat pumps, distribution system operators face growing challenges in managing the grid. A promising direction for future grid management is the decentralization of computing power to individual agents within the distribution network. In the proposed model, each household is equipped with an agent responsible for optimizing energy flow and negotiating surplus energy with neighbouring agents. However, the delivery of energy between households could lead to grid congestion, because the current distribution grid structure is not designed to handle the higher energy consumption of the increasing number of electrical consumers. This paper presents an agent-based approach for efficient energy dispatch and grid congestion management. The developed system operates in a decentralized manner, without the need for a central coordination unit. To incentivize the participation of prosumers in such decentralized approaches, a market-based energy dispatch is implemented using a game-theoretic method. In addition, to unbundle market and control related activities, the operation of grid congestion management is separated from market-based energy dispatch and implemented using the Alternating Method of Multipliers (ADMM). The feasibility and effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated through simulations involving 5 prosumers, as well as simulations on IEEE 33 and IEEE 119 bus networks, showing its potential to address the complexities of current and future grid management challenges.

Keywords: ADMM; Agent-based control; Decentralized grid control; Game theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261924019895
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:377:y:2025:i:pc:s0306261924019895

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.124606

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().