A multi-agent system architecture for electrical energy matching in a microgrid

This paper presents the design and operation of distributed multi-agent system (MAS) for the control of a microgrid. In the proposed architecture, the power supplying units are managed by a Resource Agent and power using units are controlled by a Power User Agent. The Resource Agent offer Power User Agents electrical energy with a certain price and quantity. The goal achieved by the power user agent is to buy the energy not only to meet its demand but also using the least money. BDI (believe-desire-intent) architecture is employed to implement the MAS software architecture. In order to avoid the internal complexity of a BDI agent, delegate ants are introduced. They are issued by the agents according to their different functions assumed in the MAS architecture. For instance, one kind of ant fulfills the function for building and maintaining the environment information. Conflict resolution mechanism employs the sealed-bid second-price auction to achieve the resource control, which correspond with characteristic of various power users in microgrid. An optimal energy exchange between the supplying units and the local users is realized in this MAS architecture. A distributed power matching architecture simulating a microgrid has been set up.