Modelling "Delegated Autonomy" in Cognitive Household Digital Twins

The concepts of Cognitive Household Digital Twin (CHDT) and Collaborative Virtual Power Plant Ecosystem (CVPP-E) was put forth to facilitate the effective management and organization of households within Renewable Energy Communities (RECs). A CVPP-E can be thought of as a complete digital representation of a REC. In the same vein, CHDTs can be perceived as digital twin depictions of each constituent household of a CVPP-E. Furthermore, CHDTs can be modelled as software agents that have intelligence or cognition, allowing them to perform complementary functions as independent decision-making entities that execute "delegated autonomy" instructions on behalf of their physical twin. Their decisions are expected to encourage collaborative behaviors that can help the energy ecosystem become more resilient and sustainable. In this study, we consider a CVPP-E with prosumer CHDTs who can choose to (a) consume energy directly from a locally installed photovoltaic system, (b) a locally installed energy storage system, (c) a community storage, or (d) from the grid. We also consider consumer CHDTs, whose consumption options are limited to (a) the grid and (b) community storage. All the considered CHDTs are "instructed," to consume energy from a specified source based on some "delegated autonomy" given to them by the corresponding Physical Twin (owner), which might reflect the owner’s contribution to a shared objective, enabling sustainable consumption in the ecosystem. The study's findings, which were obtained using a multi-method simulation technique, demonstrate the viability and potential utility of the hypothesis that these proposed CHDTs have complementing decision-making abilities.