Intelligent Agents for the Smart Grid

Description/Abstract

Meeting the challenge of cutting global greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2050, and ensuring energy security in the face of dwindling oil and gas reserves, requires a radical change in the way energy (and particularly electricity) is generated, distributed and consumed. Central to delivering this change, is the vision of a smart electrical distribution network (the Smart Grid) within which micro-generation and storage capabilities are ubiquitous, where intelligent sensing devices allow users to make informed choices about the control of devices in their home, and where producers and consumers are connected via a series of dynamically negotiated supply contracts. In this article, we describe why we believe intelligent agents are essential to delivering on the vision of a Smart Grid, and describe some results applying agents to the problem of coordinating micro-storage within a model of the smart grid.