Applicability of coordinated power flow control based on multi-agent systems

An overall increase in power demand together with the liberalization of the power markets and the integration of high capacity unpredictable renewable resources (e.g. wind power) pose a challenge to transmission networks. Network operators have to guarantee a stable and efficient operating of the grid. A way to improve the stability and efficiency of the existing network — aside from expensive reconstruction — is the integration of fast power flow controllers in order to dynamically redirect power flows away from critically loaded resources that may be threatened by an overload. In this paper we present a multi-agent based algorithm that allows for an autonomous distributed coordination of fast power flow controllers without the need for global information.