Renewable Energy Trading in Real Time Using Simulated Clients and Energy Markets

Abstract

Renewable energy has long been seen as a way to alleviate reliance on fossil fuels, this has become even more imperative as the frequency of natural disasters has increased, and the consequences of climate change have become more abundant. However, renewable integration is not a straightforward process as many factors, such as geography, resource availability, cost, legislation, climate, and the stochastic nature of renewables play a factor in what sources can be utilized and in what quantities. Regions cannot go to 100% renewables overnight; a more realistic approach would be to blend already existing grid infrastructure with sustainable energy sources. Because the current grid infrastructure was not initially designed to handle renewable integration, it is important to understand how sustainable sources can work with existing infrastructure. This research proposes a potential testbed to study the effects of how homes can become prosumers to not only lower costs and integrate renewable energy, but to also provide resilience to the power grid. A real-time model is examined to show the potential for a home to produce and sell energy in the current grid as well as how this idea can be integrated into the current grid infrastructure. In addition, a renewable energy marketplace is explored to understand how energy vendors and consumers can interact in real time.