A self-organizing multi-agent system for distributed voltage regulation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a distributed, self-organizing multi-agent system for voltage regulation in large distribution networks, enabling autonomous grouping, simplified optimization, and adaptive control to maintain stability under changing conditions.

Contribution

It proposes a novel self-organizing multi-agent control method based on network decomposition, enhancing autonomous and adaptive voltage regulation in complex distribution systems.

Findings

Effective voltage regulation demonstrated in simulations

Subnetworks autonomously adapt to network changes

Improved stability and reduced optimization complexity

Abstract

This paper presents a distributed voltage regulation method based on multi-agent system control and network self-organization for a large distribution network. The network autonomously organizes itself into small subnetworks through the epsilon decomposition of the sensitivity matrix, and agents group themselves into these subnetworks with the communication links being autonomously determined. Each subnetwork controls its voltage by locating the closest local distributed generation and optimizing their outputs. This simplifies and reduces the size of the optimization problem and the interaction requirements. This approach also facilitates adaptive grouping of the network by self-reorganizing to maintain a stable state in response to time-varying network requirements and changes. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is validated through simulations on a model of a real heavily-meshed secondary distribution network. Simulation results and comparisons with other methods demonstrate the ability of the subnetworks to autonomously and independently regulate the voltage and to adapt to unpredictable network conditions over time, thereby enabling autonomous and flexible distribution networks.