Stackelberg game theory based model to guide users’ energy use behavior, with the consideration of flexible resources and consumer psychology, for an integrated energy system

Users' energy use behavior has great impact on the economic and efficient operation of integrated energy systems (IES). This paper proposes energy usage strategies based on integrated demand response (IDR) by developing a Stackelberg game based simulation model, in which the user-side flexible resources (FRs) and comfort cost are considered. In the paper, a framework of community integrated energy system (CIES) and an IDR model considering the consumer psychology were established first, in which the community users were viewed as a user aggregator (UA). A Stackelberg game simulation model was then developed for studying the energy interactions between community integrated energy service provider (CIESP) as the leader and UA as the follower based on the proposed IDR model. The benefit gain and energy use behavior of the UA were analyzed, by using the model developed, in six scenarios. The study found the strategy developed with the consideration of FRs and consumer psychology could make the UA's cost of purchasing energy reduced by 17.14 %. Meanwhile, the consumer surplus could increase by 11.58 %. The results also showed that by introducing user-side gas boilers and distributed energy storage more benefit gain for users and improved load regulation capabilities for CIES could be achieved.