Towards Stakeholder-Aware Demand-Side management assessment in heterogeneous residential Microgrids: A Multi-Agent approach

Expanding renewable energy sources is essential for a sustainable energy supply but challenges grid stability, as the volatility of solar and wind causes periods of over- and undersupply. Private households are central to this transition, combining dynamic consumption with decentralised generation. This paper presents a multi-agent microgrid simulation built on the Mesa framework, focusing on the heterogeneous objectives and technological capabilities of residential participants. Households are modelled as autonomous agents with individual strategies, while a dedicated “grid agent” represents the distribution system operator and regulates the microgrid in a grid-supportive manner. The emission factor serves as the key indicator for grid-friendly behaviour. Results show that in summer, unmanaged PV feed-in from heterogeneous households causes substantial grid stress and balancing effort for the distribution system operator. Dynamic electricity prices can incentivise grid-friendly dispatch, but their effectiveness depends on the correlation between price signals and renewable availability and cannot guarantee grid-supportive behaviour alone. The grid agent reliably improves the grid-supportive coefficient, yet its operating strategy, for instance additional peak-reduction objectives, can interfere with price-based incentives. Effective demand-side management therefore requires careful analysis of stakeholder interactions. Building on this insight, thepaper provides a basic framework for the design, implementation, and assessment of both integrated and individual energy management strategies within a microgrid environment. By simulating the dynamic interactions among system participants and strategies, it enables comprehensive evaluation of their collective impact on the grid, supporting the development of robust solutions for future electricity networks.