A price-based online energy management framework for heterogeneous prosumers without prediction

With the rapid proliferation of distributed energy resources (DERs), energy end-users are transforming from energy consumers to prosumers. The net energy of different prosumers is influenced by factors such as energy consumption plans and profit objectives, leading to stochastic patterns that are challenging for the power grid to control directly. Furthermore, due to the limited capacity, computational, and predictive capabilities of individual prosumers, direct participation in the wholesale electricity market is sometimes infeasible. In this context, it is necessary to investigate effective management strategies tailored for heterogeneous power prosumers to reduce the impact of their stochastic electricity loads on the grid. This paper introduces a price-based energy aggregation framework that allows retailers to aggregate prosumers for participation in the electricity markets with energy deviation in control. The framework includes an asynchronous communication mechanism and a pricing strategy: the asynchronous communication mechanism can mitigate the communication and computational burden associated with aggregating numerous prosumers; the pricing strategy obtains appropriate incentives to maximize prosumer benefits. In addition, based on the Lyapunov optimization algorithm, this strategy only requires current rather than accurate forecast information from prosumers while ensuring that the energy deviation remains within an acceptable range. The algorithm’s optimality and convergence are proven. Extensive case studies are conducted. The experiment results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms other benchmark algorithms in terms of energy deviation control and economic efficiency.