Call for Papers and Demos

2nd Workshop on Multi-agent Based Applications for Smart Grids and Sustainable Energy Systems (MASGES)

as part of

12th Conference on Practical Applications of Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (PAAMS)
Salamanca (Spain), 4th-6th June, 2014

Important dates
Submission date papers, 20th January, 2014
Submission date papers, 24th February, 2014
Notification of acceptance, 24th February, 2014
Camera-ready deadline, 10th March, 2014
Conference dates, 4th-6th June, 2014

Workshop motivation and topics
After the explicit commitment of many countries to support the installation and operation of (small) renewable energy production sources, energy grids need to become more intelligent and flexible. Such so called smart grids probably need to rely on decentralized control and a highly efficient, flexible and reliable management. Smart grids need to be capable of autonomously and intelligently configuring themselves to exploit available resources as efficiently as possible, to be robust to all kinds of failures and energy production deviations, and to be extendable and adaptable in the light of rapidly changing technologies and requirements. The distributed nature of the underlying control structure of such systems, and the autonomous behaviour expected from them points towards multi-agent systems as a possible underlying implementation platform for the management software of such grids. But not only energy production and provision have to change. The house as well as the transportation means of the future need to be smoothly integrated into such a smart grid concept, requiring houses and transportation means to be smart as well. On the economic side, the electrical power industry was traditionally intensively regulated with led to a lack of market-price mechanisms. After the introduction of new regulations it has evolved into a distributed and competitive industry in which market forces dictate electricity prices. Electricity markets (EMs) are an evolving new reality, meaning that researchers lack insight into numerous open problems associated with them, e.g. the technical difficulties to understand the internal dynamics of EMs and the additional complexity in coordinating economic and financial issues. Thus, the focus of this workshop is on applications of multi-agent systems technology in smart grids, smart homes and electricity markets.
Additionally, we are planning various “demo sessions” to give participants from academia an opportunity to present their latest developments on practical applications of agent technology. Project coordinators as well as PhD students are encouraged to submit the description of valuable demos resulting from their work.

List of Topics
The focus of this workshop is on the application of multi-agent systems in smart grids, smart homes, and electricity markets.

Examples of areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Agent-based prediction, adaption and optimization of energy use within homes, buildings, organisations and micro-grids
• Coalition formation strategies for coordinated energy use across multiple consumers, forming virtual power stations, and performing intelligent demand management
• Interactions and exchange between networks for electricity, gas and heat
• Multi-agent based simulations of energy grids and markets
• Multi-Agent based Smart Grids Testbeds
• Experiences with MAS-based Smart Grid implementations
• Applications of MAS-based Smart Grid technologies
• MAS-based real time adaptation of energy networks
• MAS-based self-configuration or self-healing of energy systems
• MAS-based load modelling and control
• MAS-based applications for electrical vehicles
• MAS-based control and management of electrical car fleets
• MAS-based smart home (building) applications and services
• MAS-based control and management of smart homes
• MAS-based control and management of appliances
• MAS-based commercial and industrial applications for smart homes
• Intelligent Monitoring, Protection, Communication, Control or Diagnosis in Smart Grids
• Agent-based Approaches in Energy Markets;
• Market Monitoring and Forecasting
• Novel Energy Markets and Trading Strategies
• Smart sensors and advanced metering infrastructure

Structure of MASGES
MASGES will be a full one or two day(s) workshop and demo presentation and discussion. It will include several presentation sessions for the accepted paper and possible demos as well as invited talks on topics of overall workshop interest in order to kick off intense and lively discussions. It is intended to end the workshop with a panel/discussion round in which the relevant results of the workshop will be discussed.

Submission of papers
All papers and demo descriptions must be formatted according to the LNCS/LNAI template (see PAAMS homepage – paper submission for templates etc.), with a maximum length of 8-12 pages, including figures and references for papers and 2-4 pages for demos. Both, accepted papers and demos, will be included in the PAAMS 2014 Proceedings, published by Springer. Papers must be formatted according to the Springer LNCS formatting instructions and must be submitted in electronic form (PDF format) using the Paper Submission System.

Grants
The BISITE research group (http://bisite.usal.es) of the University of Salamanca, organiser of PAAMS 2014, offers 40 grants to facilitate the attendance to doctoral and young doctors both to the event itself (including Workshops and Special Sessions) and to the parallel collocated events. More information can be found here: http://www.paams.net/grants

Review Process
Submissions will be peer-reviewed by at least 3 Program Committee members. Selection criteria will include: relevance, significance, impact, originality, technical soundness, quality of presentation, practical applicability. Some preference may also be given to papers which address emergent trends or important common themes. In general, papers to be acceptable, must be of substantial relevance for the multi-agent systems research community.
Demo applications will be reviewed by the PC chairs.

Journal publication of excellent papers
It is intended to invite authors of excellent papers to submit an extended version of their paper to the IOS Multiagent and Grid Systems journal (MAGS). This journal has a high reputation and is often classified as a B-class journal. If enough high quality papers will be submitted it is planned to publish them as a special issue, otherwise as regular papers.

PC Chairs
Fernando Lopes, LNEG National Research Institute, Portugal, fernando.lopes@lneg.pt
Rainer Unland, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, rainer.unland@icb.uni-due.de

Program Committee
Alberto Fernández, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain
Alberto Sardinha, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal
Andreas Symeonidis, University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Anke Weidlich, Hochschule Offenburg, Germany
Benjamin Hirsch, Etisalat BT Innovation Centre (EBTIC), UAE
Bernhard Bauer, Universität Augsburg, Germany
Bo Nørregaard Jørgensen , Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Instituttet, Denmark
Carlos Ramos, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Portugal
Christian Derksen, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Christoph Weber, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Costin Bădică, University of Craiova, Craiova, Romania
David Sislak, Gerstner Laboratory, Czech Republic
Fabrice Saffre, British Telecom, UK
Frank Allgöwer, Universität Stuttgart, Germany
Georg Frey, Universität des Saarlandes, Germany
Hanno Hildmann, NEC Germany, Germany
Huib Aldewereld, Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
Ingo J. Timm, JW Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany
Jan Sudeikat, Hamburg Energie GmbH, Germany
Jan Treur, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
John Collins, University of Minnesota, USA
Joseph Barjis, TU Delft, The Netherlands
Juan A. Rodríguez-Aguilar, IIIA, CSIC, Spain
Koen Hindriks, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
Lars Braubach, University of Hamburg, Germany
Lars Mönch, Fernuniversität Hagen, Germany
Laurent Vercouter, Graduate School of engineering - Saint-Étienne, France
Marcin Paprzycki, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Maria Ganzha, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Massimiliano Giacomin, University of Brescia, Italy
Mathijs de Weerdt, TU Delft, The Netherlands
Matteo Vasirani, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain
Matthias Klusch, DFKI, Germany
Miguel Ángel López Carmona, University of Alcalá de Henares, Spain
Nir Oren, University of Aberdeen, UK
Olivier Boissier, ENS Mines Saint-Etienne, France
Ori Marom, Rotterdam School of Management, The Netherlands
Paolo Torroni, University of Bologna, Italy
Paulo Leitão, Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Portugal
Paulo Novais, Universidade do Minho, Portugal
Peter Palensky, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Austria
Sascha Ossowski, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain
Sebastian Lehnhoff, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Germany
Stamatis Karnouskos, SAP, Germany
Steven Guan, Xian Jiatong-Liverpool University, China
Sudip Bhattacharjee, University of Connecticut, USA
Tiago Pinto, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Portugal
Wamberto Vasconcelos, University of Aberdeen, UK
Wolfgang Ketter, Rotterdam School of Management, The Netherlands
Zakaria Maamar, Zayed University, UAE

Steering Committee
Fernando Lopes, LNEG National Research Institute , Portugal
Giancarlo Fortino, Università della Calabria, Italy
Hugo Morais, Denmark Technical University, Denmark
Rainer Unland, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Ryszard Kowalczyk, Swinburne University of Technology
Zita Vale, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Po