Distributed Intelligent Microgrid Control Using Mul- ti-Agent Systems

In the future, the individual entities of microgrids such as distributed generators and smart loads may need to determine their power generation or consumption in more economic ways. Intelligent agents can help the decision-making procedure of the entities by intelligent algorithms and state-of-the-art communication with central controller and other local agents. This paper presents the development of atable-top microgrid control system using multi-agent systems and also the demonstration of demand response programs during power shortage. In our table-top system, agents are implemented using microcontrollers and Zigbee wireless communication technology is applied for efficient data communication in the multi-agent system. The power system models of distributed generators and loads are implemented in the real-time simulator using Opal-RT system. The whole test system that includes real-time system simulation and agent hardware is implemented in the hardware-in-the-loop simulation framework. The performance of the developed system is tested for emergency demand response cases.