Transactive Energy Market for Energy Management in Microgrids: The Monash Microgrid Case Study

Abstract

Transactive energy is a novel approach for energy management and trading, which can be used in microgrids to facilitate the integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) in existing networks. The key feature in transactive energy is using market-based solutions for energy management. Hence, an appropriate transactive energy market (TEM) framework should be designed to enable and incentivize DER owners to participate in different markets. The efficient implementation of TEM for microgrid energy management encompasses the application of a variety of design principles. In this rapidly developing area, this paper presents a complete proposal of the TEM as a framework for the design, implementation, and deployment of transactive energy solutions for energy management in microgrids. In particular, we outline the requirements to design an effective market mechanism for the TEM. The applicability of this perspective is demonstrated through the introduction of the Monash Microgrid as a real-world implementation of a TEM solution, where a complete hardware and software foundation is presented as a platform to deploy a market-based solution for microgrid energy management. This is further illustrated through an example scenario, where the application of TEM is discussed to demonstrate the impact of considered design choices on achieving desired objectives.

Paving the Path for Two-Sided Energy Markets: An Overview of Different Approaches

“…The TE can be considered as a smart paradigm that sets market rules to manage the system with high reliability, while enabling active participation of end-users in the energy management process [29]. A TE system has the following attributes [100], [109]:…”

“…These components include network setup, grid connection, information system, regulation, market mechanism, pricing mechanism, and energy management system. In [100], DER integration, active grid management, and smart energy management are considered as three enablement layers for a TE market. Though the proposed frameworks in the literature consider various elements for a TE system, all of these elements can be mapped to the presented framework for a two-sided market in Section IV, as shown in Table 3.…”

“…The Monash microgrid TE market is a pilot project in Monash University, Australia, aiming to achieve net zero emissions by 2030 [100]. Through participating in a competitive market, a combination of DER including PVs, battery, EV chargers, and flexible buildings are managed to provide services for internal and external stakeholders.…”

New Methods for Improved Prosumer Trading and Energy Poverty Mitigation in Microgrids using Crowdsourcing Concepts and Blockchain Technologies

“…The maximization of social welfare in the prosumers trading using auction-based mechanism is used in [32]. The same first author considers that in a microgrid the energy flows in a transactive way and the transactions are based on bilateral contracts between peers [33]. Another concept of prosumer surplus trading based on the transactive energy concept is proposed in the literature [34][35][36][37].…”

“…In addition, the last column considers the type of settlement used in the market. [24,25], [44], [49] No No No Yes No Negotiated [26,27] Yes No No Yes No Negotiated [30][31][32], [35], [38], [42] No Yes No No No Negotiated, MCP [33,34], [36,37], [43], [45] Our vision is to enable an overlay social network of smart devices that facilitates communication and trading process between players from LEM, prosumers, consumers and microgrid. Indubitably in microgrid communities the peers might be from different geographical locations (and bounded by, for example, the DSO).…”