Implementation of a Two-tier Double Auction for On-line Power Purchasing in the Simulation of a Distributed Intelligent Cyber-Physical System

The increasing penetration of distributed renewable generation brings new power producers to the market [2]. Rooftop photovoltaic (PV) panels allow home owners to generate more power than personally needed and this excess production could be voluntarily sold to nearby homes, alleviating additional transmission costs especially in rural areas [24]. Power is sold as a continuous quantity and power markets involve pricing that may change on a minute-to-minute basis. Forward markets assist with scheduling power in advance [25]. The speed and complexity of the calculations needed to support online distributed auctions is a good fit for intelligent agents [14]. This paper describes the simulation of a two-tier double auction for short-term forward power exchanges between participants at the outer edges of a power distribution system (PDS). The paper describes the double auction algorithms and demonstrates online auction execution in a simulated distributed system of intelligent agents assisting with voltage/var control near distributed renewable generation [15]. The agents were enhanced to autonomously create local power market organizations and execute the series of online power auctions using Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP).