Intelligent agents for the smart grid

The Intelligent Decentralised Energy-Aware Systems (iDEaS) project at the University of Southampton (see www.ideasproject.info) is developing and demonstrating the application of intelligent agents within the smart grid; a future vision of an electricity distribution network capable of autonomous and intelligent configuration, robust and flexible operation, and two-way information flow between consumers and suppliers. In this demonstration, we show how agent technologies can assist in realising three key components of this vision, specifically: (i) how a home energy management agent is capable of monitoring, visualising and coordinating energy use within the home, (ii) how micro-storage of electricity, coordinated by intelligent agents, can flattern demand across the grid and reduce both costs and carbon emissions, and (iii) how trading agents operating within a novel market mechanism can effectively and robustly distribute energy within the smart grid whilst explicitly accounting for the capacity constraints of the transmission lines.