The use of multi-agent systems in an automated restoration process for power distribution networks

Abstract

The capacity of future smart grids to automatically detect problems, isolate them, and restore service is a key feature. Traditional mathematical programming techniques and heuristic approaches become computationally highly expensive when used for the restoration issue, which is a comprehensive nonlinear optimization challenge. Distributed control must offer comfortable and safe power system operation and improve consumer supply quality. In this article, we suggest the multi-agent system (MAS) as the creative process that applies to the existing power distribution network. The MAS agents are installed in "Intelligent electronic devices (IEDs)" and interact with one another using open protocols from the "Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIAP)." A Java-based distribution system simulator was built to test how well MAS works. In-lab experiments were conducted with the simulator connected to the MAS. The test findings demonstrated that the MAS effectively restored healthy divides by changing them to their original configuration following a predetermined sequence, notwithstanding the system's operating limits. The suggested MAS has shown the efficacy of a distributed control method that uses in the absence of the technologies currently employed in IEDs for control and protection.