A principled approach for smart microgrids simulation using MAS

Abstract

Energy management is, nowadays, a subject of uttermost importance. Indeed, we are facing growing concerns such as petroleum reserve depletion, earth global warming or power quality (e.g. avoiding blackouts during peak times). Smartgrids (SG) is an attempt to solve such problems, by adding to power grids bi-directionnal communications and ICT capabilities in order to provide an intelligent autonomic management for the grid. Microgrids are a possible implementation of SG. They are defined by rather small power systems, composed of power sources (some may be renewables) and loads, that can be connected or not to the main grid. In this context, simulation is an appropriate approach for studying the introduction of SG in existing systems. Indeed, it avoids the deployment of real, costly infrastructures and reduce experimental risks. This paper presents a microgrid simulator based on Multi-Agent Systems (MAS). © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.