Modelling Electricity Consumption in Irish Dairy Farms Using Agent-Based Modelling

TL;DR

This paper presents an agent-based model to accurately estimate electricity consumption in Irish dairy farms by considering various operational factors, offering an explainable alternative to AI methods.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel agent-based modeling approach for dairy farm electricity consumption, incorporating multiple farm-specific factors and validated against existing frameworks.

Findings

Model accurately predicts electricity demand based on herd size and season.

Agent-based model is fully explainable, unlike some AI techniques.

Validated against state-of-the-art dairy farm models.

Abstract

Dairy farming can be an energy intensive form of farming. Understanding the factors affecting electricity consumption on dairy farms is crucial for farm owners and energy providers. In order to accurately estimate electricity demands in dairy farms, it is necessary to develop a model. In this research paper, an agent-based model is proposed to model the electricity consumption of Irish dairy farms. The model takes into account various factors that affect the energy consumption of dairy farms, including herd size, number of milking machines, and time of year. The outputs are validated using existing state-of-the-art dairy farm modelling frameworks. The proposed agent-based model is fully explainable, which is an advantage over other Artificial Intelligence techniques, e.g. deep learning.