Multi-agent systems in a distributed smart grid: Design and implementation

The objective of this paper is to discuss the design and implementation of a multi-agent system that provides intelligence to a distributed smart grid – a smart grid located at a distribution level. A multi-agent application development will be discussed that involves agent specification, application analysis, application design and application realization. The message exchange in the proposed multi-agent system is designed to be compatible with an IP-based network (IP = Internet Protocol) which is based on the IEEE standard on Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agent (FIPA). The paper demonstrates the use of multi-agent systems to control a distributed smart grid in a simulated environment. The simulation results indicate that the proposed multi-agent system can facilitate the seamless transition from grid connected to an island mode when upstream outages are detected. This denotes the capability of a multi-agent system as a technology for managing the microgrid operation.