Agent-based power system management — Concept of grid restoration

After the blackout state, system operators must do all necessary action in order to restore the supply to disconnected loads. Grid restoration process can be formulated as optimization problem which encompasses status assessment, optimization of generation capability and load pickup. A specific restoration strategy is determined by a combination of the actions and operational constraints based on the actual system conditions. Since centralized approach requires intensive data processing and it may be time consuming, a new approach based on multi-agent systems has been presented. Due to inherent benefits of multi-agent systems such as increased autonomy, reactivity, proactivity and social abilities, it is possible to perform grid restoration processes in intelligent way on the one hand and ensure fulfillment of operational requirements of a system on the other hand. Through appropriate organization of data exchange, an efficient decision supporting tool for assessing the power system capabilities and the optimal grid restoration strategy can be proposed, which translates into improving the system reliability.