active network management; reinforcement learning; renewables; benchmark; distribution systems
Abstract :
[en] In order to operate an electrical distribution network in a secure and cost-efficient way, it is necessary, due to the rise of renewable energy-based distributed generation, to develop Active Network Management (ANM) strategies. These strategies rely on short-term policies that control the power injected by generators and/or taken of by loads in order to avoid congestion or voltage problems. While simple ANM strategies would curtail the production of generators, more advanced ones would move the consumption of loads to relevant time periods to maximize the potential of renewable energy sources. However, such advanced strategies imply solving large-scale optimal sequential decision-making problems under uncertainty, something that is understandably complicated. In order to promote the development of computational techniques for active network management, we detail a generic procedure for formulating ANM decision problems as Markov decision processes. We also specify it to a 75-bus distribution network. The resulting test instance is available at http://www.montefiore.ulg.ac.be/~anm/ . It can be used as a test bed for comparing existing computational techniques, as well as for developing new ones. A solution technique that consists in an approximate multistage program is also illustrated on the test instance.
Disciplines :
Computer science Energy Electrical & electronics engineering
Author, co-author :
Gemine, Quentin ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Dép. d'électric., électron. et informat. (Inst.Montefiore) > Smart grids
Language :
English
Title :
Active network management for electrical distribution systems: problem formulation and benchmark