Open source, agent-based energy market simulation with python

Increasingly, the electric energy transmitted and distributed by national power systems is traded competitively in free markets. Long-term decisions must be made by authorities as to the structure of energy markets and the regulations that govern interactions between participants. It is not practical to experiment with real energy markets and in order to establish the potential effects of making these decisions there are few options but to simulate the markets computationally. This paper proposes that the complexity of power systems and the associated energy markets necessitates an open approach in their modelling and simulation. It presents an open source software package for simulating electric energy markets using the Python programming language. Power systems and their associated constraints are modelled using traditional steady-state analysis techniques. While market participants are represented by reactive agents that learn through reinforcement. The software and all of its dependencies are open and freely available to the scientific community.