摘要
Local energy markets are emerging as a tool for coordinating generation, storage, and consumption of energyfrom distributed resources. In combination with automation, they promise to provide an effective energymanagement framework that is fair and brings system-level savings. The cooperative–competitive natureof energy markets calls for multi-agent based automation with learning energy trading agents. However,depending on the dynamics of the agent–environment interaction, this approach may yield unintended behaviorof market participants. Thus, the design of market mechanisms suitable for reinforcement learning agentsmust take into account this interplay. This article introduces autonomous local energy exchange (ALEX) asan experimental framework that combines multi-agent learning and double auction mechanism. Participantsdetermine their internal price signals and make energy management decisions through market interactions,rather than relying on predetermined external price signals. The main contribution of this article is examinationof compatibility between specific market elements and independent learning agents. Effects of different marketproperties are evaluated through simulation experiments, and the results are used for determine a suitablemarket design. The results show that market truthfulness maintains demand-response functionality, while weakbudget balancing provides a strong reinforcement signal for the learning agents. The resulting agent behavioris compared with two baselines: net billing and time-of-use rates. The ALEX-based pricing is more responsiveto fluctuations in the community net load compared to the time-of-use. The more accurate accounting ofrenewable energy usage reduced bills by a median 38.8% compared to net billing, confirming the ability tobetter facilitate demand response.
