Agent-Based Modelling of Cost Efficient and Stable Transmission Grid Expansion Planning

Due to politically defined goals to raise the share of renewable energy, the landscape of electricity production has changed in recent years. Normally, a decision to invest in new generation capacity by generation companies is often based on profit maximization criteria. Criteria considering the costs resulting from the required expansion or construction of new transmission capacity are only playing a minor role, if any. This paper introduces an integrated model based on a multi-agent system to simulate the investment and decision behavior of the relevant entities in the liberalized energy market and their impact on social welfare. The interaction between the modelled market entities is based on a non-cooperative game theoretic approach. Its functionality is demonstrated within a small application example.