A-CPES: A Reference Framework for Agentic AI in Cyber-Physical Energy Systems

Abstract

Energy system operation contains a loop of work that automation has never taken over: posing the optimization problem the current cycle should solve, disposing of infeasibility, sequencing a solution into interlocked switching orders, assembling evidence no single model holds, negotiating adjustable capacity with many parties, and settling experience into practice. Licensed dispatchers carry all of it in person, and the rising share of variable renewable generation is making that loop turn faster than their number can grow. Agentic AI supplies the abilities it requires, but enters as the outer loop of control: it calls SCED and the other decision models rather than being called by them. We propose A-CPES, three nested rings, an authorization and accountability frame around an agentic control outer loop around a six-layer CPES core. We argue the loop is indivisible, tune where and how tightly it may close, state eight structural failure modes as falsifiable predictions, and specify six governance modules that rebuild the authorization frame until it covers the loop, before the loop starts turning.