Title: Negotiation and Coalition Management in Multi-Agent Energy Markets (for Master or PhD candidates)

Objectives and description:

From the times of Leibniz and Babbage until the late 1950s, computation was understood as calculation, or the manipulation of numbers. Throughout the next decade (and still perhaps for many people), computation came to be understood as information processing, or the manipulation of data. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and expert systems, the idea arose of computation as cognition, or the manipulation of concepts. With the growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web, a new metaphor is appropriate: computation as interaction, or the joint manipulation of concepts and actions by discrete entities, called software agents.

Multi-agent systems (MAS) are systems composed of software agents that interact to solve problems that are beyond the individual capabilities of each agent. MAS represent a relatively new and rapidly expanding area of research and development. The major motivations for the increasing interest in MAS research include the ability to solve problems in which data, expertise, or control is distributed, the ability to allow inter-operation of existing legacy systems, and the ability to enhance performance along the dimensions of computational efficiency, reliability, and robustness. Agent technology has been used to solve real-world problems in a range of industrial and commercial applications.

The electrical power industry provides the production and delivery of electricity to consumers through a power grid. Electricity is most often produced at power stations, transmitted at high-voltages to multiple substations near populated areas, and distributed at medium and low-voltages to consumers. Clearly, the complexity of the power grid and the potential cascading events combining natural and human causes can lead to catastrophic failures.

Furthermore, the deregulation of the electricity industry has basically separated the contestable functions of electricity generation and retail from the natural monopoly functions of transmission and distribution. This, in turn, has led to the establishment of several complex markets, where competing generators can offer their electricity output to retailers, and a retail market for electricity retailing, where end-use customers can choose their supplier from competing electricity retailers. These competitive markets and new renewable energy sources have further complicated the already complex power industry.

   Intelligent software agents are a potentially powerful computational tool to provide new solutions to practical power systems engineering and energy market problems.

Accordingly, this work will be divided into four parts

  *  The first aims at modeling an energy market as a multi-agent system.
  * Part two aims at developing a new negotiation model for autonomous agents. The model will be based on two-party multi-issue negotiation. Customers will be able to interact with different retailers, analyze and comment their offers, and eventually submit counter-offers.
  * Part three aims at developing autonomous agents able to form coalitions to better achieve their objectives. In practice, coalitions of customers involving a whole building, or even a district, are desirable to achieve better energy prices.
  * Part four aims at developing a (simplified) energy management tool, i.e., a multi-agent energy market system, using JAVA and the JADE framework (http://jade.tilab.com).

Note: In case of interest, the work could be done at LNEG (www.lneg.pt). The institution could provide computer facilities and office. Also, a dynamic and interdisciplinary team will provide any necessary help. Furthermore, the team is working on FCT funded project: PTDC/EEA-EEL/122988

Orientadores: Profs. Nuno David e Fernando Lopes

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