Integrating Agent-Based Control for Normal Operation in Interconnected Power and Communication Systems Simulation

Power grids must be stable and reliable, but the growing importance of intelligent control in smart grids creates new challenges due to the increasing dependence on communication networks. This paper investigates the influence of communication on power systems in a future scenario. The simulation environment contains a power grid of a medium-sized city in northwest Germany, in the year 2035, where the normal operation of the power system is disturbed by increased communication traffic. The power and communication networks are integrated into a co-simulation environment, that implements smart grid services in an agent-based control structure. In a case study, multiple scenarios are compared that differ in the configuration of the communication network, to show how the simulation environment can be used to study the interactions between power and communication networks.