Multi-Agent Hierarchical Fuzzy Reinforcement Learning for Cooperative-Competitive Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading With Privacy Preservation
Sima Hamedifar, Shichao Liu, Mo–Yuen Chow · IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications · 2025
The growing integration of distributed energy resources and advancements in communication and information technology have necessitated the development of smart grids with advanced demand response capabilities. This paper proposes a hierarchical reinforcement learning framework integrating intelligent home energy management and a peer-to-peer energy trading community. The low-level policy optimizes home energy management by leveraging a fuzzy actor-critic reinforcement learning algorithm with a centralized-training-decentralized-execution structure. It regulates energy consumption based on Time-of-Use tariffs while considering user dissatisfaction levels. Then, the low-level policy communicates surplus or deficit energy to the high-level policy. The high-level policy employs the fuzzy actor-critic reinforcement learning algorithm under the decentralized-training-decentralized-execution structure, with value decomposition networks to generate a privacy-preserving cooperative-competitive strategy for pricing in a dynamic continuous double auction market. While optimizing individual agent benefits, the high-level policy also fosters cooperation to enhance energy trade within the community. The simulations using the real-world data demonstrate the effectiveness of the low-level policy in managing the energy consumption and determining the required/excessive energy in the market. The comparisons with the purely cooperative and purely competitive markets represent the superiority of the proposed approach in terms of increased load transactions, buyers' cost savings, and sellers' revenue.