Novel Multiagent Based Load Restoration Algorithm for Microgrids

Once a fault in microgrids has been cleared, it is necessary to restore the unfaulted but out-of-service loads as much as possible in a timely manner. This paper proposes a novel fully distributed multiagent based load restoration algorithm. According to the algorithm, each agent makes synchronized load restoration decision according to discovered information. During the information discovery process, agents only communicate with their direct neighbors, and the global information is discovered based on the Average-Consensus Theorem. In this way, total net power, indexes and demands of loads that are ready for restoration can be obtained. Then the load restoration problem can be modeled and solved using existing algorithms for the 0–1 Knapsack problem. To achieve adaptivity and stability, a distributed algorithm for coefficient setting is proposed and compared against existing algorithms and a particle swarm optimization based algorithm. Theoretically, the proposed load restoration algorithm can be applied to systems of any size and structure. Simulation studies with power systems of different scale demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.