An energy internet DERMS platform using a multi-level Stackelberg game

Realizing environmentally sustainable and socially resilient cities requires clean energy sources and controllable loads as part of the electricity distribution grid. We address the balance of supply and demand as a nexus between financial autonomy, service provision, and stakeholder participation. We consider an energy internet architecture of prosumers, aggregators and DSOs as transactive energy participants. To implement the distributed energy resource management system (DERMS), we develop a transparent decision support system to identify the fair allocation of financial resources. Using a reverse Stackelberg game theoretic approach, we map the multi-level architecture to sub-games interconnected through utility functions that describe realistic price response at each level. The existence and uniqueness of the Nash equilibrium (NE) is proven, and closed form solutions are given for the NE strategies (stakeholder energy contributions). Game dependence on very general parameters is illustrated through a noniterative algorithm. Numerical results shown in scenario assessments demonstrate game outcomes for DERMS operation in both stable and unstable NE situations, revealing stakeholder dependencies on the allocation of financial resources. Robustness and scalability, as necessary requirements for any transactive energy economic mechanism, are also demonstrated. Our approach is compatible with the IEEE2030.5 smart energy profile application protocol needed for DERMS implementation.