Multi agent system for cooperative energy management in microgrids

In the last years the microgrid are emerged as the key component able to increase the efficiency, reliability, and sustainability of traditional electrical infrastructures. Micro distribution systems aggregate small, modular renewable power source, distributed storage and local loads as autonomous entities that can exchange power with the traditional electricity if operating in connected mode. A prime task in microgrid operation is the dynamic balance of local supply and power demand due to the intermittent nature of renewable energy resource and the variability of load demand during the day. However the power transfer among each microgrid and the main grid is always associated with a cost due to the loss of power over the distribution line. In this paper, a multi-agent systems (MAS) for the optimal coordination of multiple distributed energy resources is presented. The agents, associated with each microgrid, implement a cooperative strategy to minimise the power loss over the distribution lines and to maximise the economic income by sharing the surplus of the generated power between the microgrids belonging to the same coalition. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy demonstrating that the MGs payoff increases up to 30% when microgrids cooperate to gain the power balance.