Robustness Analysis for an Online Decentralized Descent Power allocation algorithm

TL;DR

This paper introduces an online decentralized power allocation algorithm designed for renewable energy systems, analyzing its robustness and performance amidst fluctuating supply and demand in large-scale power networks.

Contribution

The paper proposes the OD3 algorithm for real-time decentralized power allocation and provides theoretical analysis of its convergence and robustness under supply-demand fluctuations.

Findings

The OD3 algorithm effectively manages power distribution with proven convergence guarantees.

Numerical experiments validate the theoretical robustness of the OD3 algorithm.

The approach addresses real-time challenges in renewable energy power systems.

Abstract

As independent service providers shift from conventional energy to renewable energy sources, the power distribution system will likely experience increasingly significant fluctuation in supply, given the uncertain and intermittent nature of renewable sources like wind and solar energy. These fluctuations in power generation, coupled with time-varying consumer demands of electricity and the massive scale of power distribution networks present the need to not only design real-time decentralized power allocation algorithms, but also characterize how effective they are given fast-changing consumer demands and power generation capacities. In this paper, we present an Online Decentralized Dual Descent (OD3) power allocation algorithm and determine (in the worst case) how much of observed social welfare and price volatility can be explained by fluctuations in generation capacity and consumer demand. Convergence properties and performance guarantees of the OD3 algorithm are analyzed by characterizing the difference between the online decision and the optimal decision. The theoretical results in the paper are validated and illustrated by numerical experiments using real data.