A Transdisciplinary Blueprint for Energy Markets Modelled after Mycorrhizal Networks

Abstract

The resource distribution strategies of trees and plants in the forest are applied here as inspiration for the development of a blueprint for transactive, hybrid solar and storage microgrids. We used the Biomimicry Institute’s Biomimicry Spiral and their toolbox as a design methodology to inform the structural and functional characteristics of this peer-to-peer microgrid energy market and propose its utility in addressing some of the challenges associated with grid integration of distributed energy resources (DERs). We reviewed literature from the ecological domain on mycorrhizal networks and biological market theory to extract key insights into the possible structure and function of a transactive energy market modeled after the mutualism between trees and mycorrhizae. Our process revealed insights into how overlapping, virtual energy markets might grow, contract, adapt, and evolve through a dynamic network-based protocol to compete and survive in rapidly changing environments. We conclude with a discussion of the promise and limitations involved in translating the derived conceptual blueprints into a cyber-physical system and its potential for deployment in the real world as a novel energy market infrastructure.

A Mycorrhizal Model for Transactive Solar Energy Markets with Battery Storage

“…The structure of the proposed mycorrhizal energy market model, as displayed in Figure 1, was simplified from the structural blueprint presented in Gould et al 2023 [35]. The current work was simulated using Grid Singularity Engine (GSyE), a transactive energy modeling platform formerly known as D3A (decentralized autonomous area agents) and developed by the Grid Singularity company based in Berlin, Germany.…”