Alternative Energy Systems Consulting, Inc. (AESC) has been developing and applying intelligent agent technology since 1997. During that time AESC has either collaborated on, or served as the prime contractor on five (5) projects exploring application of intelligent agent technology in the energy industry.


In early projects AESC worked closely with Reticular Systems Incorporated, a developer of intelligent software agent systems, to identify and develop utility industry applications for intelligent software agents. AESC and Reticular collaborated on three projects in this area. In the process, AESC staff members applied their considerable knowledge of the electric utility industry as well as their background in advanced computing technologies to assist Reticular in these efforts.

AESC and Reticular collaborated on a two research projects that laid the groundwork for later efforts. One such collaborative effort was DOE SBIR Project 0686. In this DOE Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant, AESC acting as the primary subcontractor for Reticular, developed ideas and concepts for the use of intelligent agent technology in the energy industry.

In another project, for the Electric Power Research Institute, AESC and Reticular investigated issues related to the implementation of an agent-based energy market in California and elsewhere. AESC identified the structure of the agent-based market as well as the goals and actions necessary for the various agents to successfully operate in this environment.


In anticipation of the dynamic electric markets that was to be the key feature of the newly deregulated California electric marketplace; the California Energy Commission (CEC) awarded AESC a contract in 1998 to explore using intelligent agent technology to control distributed generation (DG) assets. The resulting project, CEC-PIER 500-098-040, "Intelligent Software Agents for Control and Scheduling of Distributed Generation" was successful in demonstrating that agent technology could be used to schedule DG assets in response to market price signals. Demonstration software, developed as part of the project, showed how an agency of Smart*DER agents could collaborate to routinely collect the necessary inputs (i.e., pricing, weather data, etc.) and generate operating schedules that maximized the benefit of DG operation. Unfortunately, the "birth" of Smart*DER technology coincided with the demise of the California "deregulation" experiment.

The deregulated California electric marketplace was subsequently replaced by a newly regulated market with a strong emphasis on customer demand response and on efficient energy use. Understanding that Smart*DER technology could be useful in this new marketplace, the CEC awarded AESC a follow-on contract, CEC-PIER 500-00-016 "Demonstration of Intelligent Software Agents for Control & Scheduling of Distributed Energy Resources", in 2000 to demonstrate Smart*DER technology in a "real-world" environment. During this project AESC updated and refined the Smart*DER agents in response to the evolving California marketplace and installed a Smart*DER system at the Los Angeles County Sanitation District's Calabasas landfill. The Smart*DER based control operated successfully to schedule DER asset operation in response to a Critical Peak Pricing (CPP) further demonstrating the utility of Smart*DER technology. As a result of this successful effort, AESC is moving forward with commercialization Smart*DER technology.


In addition to the CEC-PIER sponsored efforts, AESC also received a 2003 DOE SBIR grant to study application of agent technology to integration of distributed generation into the distribution system. The project, SBIR DG02-03ER83604 "Distributed Intelligent Agents for Decision Making at Local DER Levels". During this effort AESC worked closely with the Center for Networked Distributed Energy at Colorado State University to identify a hierarchy of intelligent agents needed for electric grid system control. At the distribution system level this hierarchy of collaborating agents was termed a Power Neighborhood. AESC developed demonstration software that showed how a hierarchy of agents, working via a web-based auction process could routinely schedule operation of their DER assets in response to market prices or, if needed quickly reconfigure operation of their DER assets in response to a signal indicating eminent loss of power to their distribution feeder. Patents are pending for the resulting "Power Neighborhood" concept.