Electric Power Systems Research 69 (2004) 259265

Real-time optimal reactive power dispatch using multi-agent technique

Yong-jun Zhang , Zhen Ren
Electrical Power College, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China Received 2 May 2003; received in revised form 12 August 2003; accepted 3 October 2003

Abstract This paper presents a multi-agent systems (MAS) based approach and adopts a coordinative optimization method to realize real-time global optimal reactive power dispatch (ORPD) for large-scale power systems. The ORPD problem is one of the combinatorial optimization problems with characteristics of multi-objective, -uncertainty, -restriction, -extremum and non-linear property. It becomes more and more complicated with the increasing of power system scale. Distributed solving method is promising to this problem. The main idea of MAS is to generate approximate solutions to very complex problems, such as ORPD, by distributing them to autonomous problem solvers, namely agents. These agents solve local ORPD problems by themselves asynchronously and localize dispatch and control. By coordinating in a communication environment, a solution could be found to the global ORPD problem rapidly. Test results show that the proposed MAS based approach performed well in real-time global ORPD of large-scale power systems. 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Optimal reactive power dispatch; Multi-agent systems; Coordination; Real-time

1. Introduction Recently, reactive power dispatch has received an ever-increasing interest from electric utilities because of its signicant inuence on secure and economic operation of power systems. In order to improve the voltage prole and to decrease the active power losses along the transmission lines under various operating conditions, power system operators can select a number of control tools such as switching reactive power compensators, changing generator voltages and adjusting transformer tap settings. The objective of ORPD is to allocate reactive power generation so that the active power transmission loss is to be minimized and the voltage stability margin is to be maximized, while satisfying numbers of constraints. The problem is one of the combinatorial optimization problems with characteristics of multi-objective, multi-uncertainty, multi-restriction, multi-extremum and non-linear property. Under real-time circumstance, ORPD algorithms are faced with the challenges of solution quality, response speed, robustness of start point, infeasibility detection and handling, and discreteness of control variables.

Corresponding author. E-mail address: 87112526@21cn.com (Y.-j. Zhang).

Extensive computational experience indicates that nonlinear programming technique is very demanding task, especially for large-scale power systems [1]. An articial neural network-based approach is used in a 62-bus network for the reactive power optimization [1]; a hybrid stochastic search technique is tested on IEEE 30-bus [2]; a hybrid approach combining heuristic and numerical techniques is applied to the Algerian 220/60 kV system with 68 buses [3]. It is not easy to nd the global optimum within a limited time not only by using the deterministic optimization methods but also by using heuristic search approaches, so that the technique of real-time ORPD is applied popularly to nothing more than small-scale local electric networks up to now. In view of the fact that the power dispatch systems are distributed geographically, distributed solving is more suitable for reactive power optimization because it can enhance the solving efciency and reliability greatly. Distributed articial intelligence (DAI) is concerned with situations in which several computer systems interact in order to solve a common problem. Multi-agent system is an advanced branch of DAI. A new technique based on MAS for large-scale real-time ORPD problem is presented in this paper, and a coordinative optimization method with a built-in Cataclysmic Genetic Algorithm is adopted to solve the problem. The numeric simulation results demonstrate that the proposed

0378-7796/$ see front matter 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.epsr.2003.10.009

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approach is effective and efcient for solving the ORPD problem of large-scale power systems in real-time mode.

2. Problem formulation The main objective of optimal reactive power dispatch is to improve the voltage prole and to minimize the network power losses while satisfying numerous operating constraints. This objective can be achieved by properly adjusting reactive power distribution of the network. Thus, the multi-objective function can be formulated as follows: minfQ =
kNe Nb

transformer, T , and the amount of reactive power source installations QC , are self-constrained. Voltages of PQ-buses, V PQ , and reactive power generation, QG , are constrained by adding them as penalty terms to the integrative objective function. Furthermore, the voltage quality is good enough when a solution of ORPD satises the restriction (7), so the objective (2) may not be involved in the integrative objective function as follows: minFQ =
kNe

Pk + C T
kNT

uTk Vi |Vi Sat(Vi )|

iNPQ

+ CS
iNC

uCi +

Pk Vi Vis Vi max Vi min

2

(1) +

Gi |QGi Sat(QGi )|

(8)

iNG

minfV =
i=1

(2) uCi
iNC

minfO = cu u = CT
kNT

uTk + CS

(3)

where k is the number of branches in the network; Ne the set of numbers of network branches; Pk the power losses of the kth branch; Nb the set of numbers of total buses; Vi the nodal voltage magnitude at bus i; Vis the expectation of Vi ; u the increment vector of the control variables, including that of the tap position of transformer k, uTk (k NT ), and that of the size of compensator i, uCi (i NC ); cu the readjustment cost vector of the control variables per unit; CT the readjustment cost of a transformer and CS the readjustment cost of a break for a compensator. So, fQ , fV and fO represent the total network power losses, the total deviations of bus voltages and the total readjustment cost, respectively. Apparently, the introducing of readjustment cost to the objective function can avoid immoderate frequent change of control variables under real-time dynamic conditions. The above functions are subjected to power ow equations and the following operating constraints: QCi min QCi QCi max QGi min QGi QGi max Tk min Tk Tk max Vi min Vi Vi max i NC i NG (4) (5) (6) (7)

where Vi and Gi are the penalty factors, is the cost factor of power loss, and Sat(x) is dened as: xmin if x < xmin if xmin x xmax Sat(x) = x (9) xmax if xmax < x Non-linear programming is used for solving the ORPD problem. The application of non-linear techniques, however, may become cumbersome and require comprehensive computation as the size of the network and the number of available VAR-control variables increase. GA is also an excellent algorithm for these global optimization problems but simulation results based on IEEE 30-bus system [4] cannot evaluate its performance for large-scale power systems. The methods presented in [14] have a common drawback for the real-time global optimal reactive power dispatch, which is severe conict between the solving efciency and the optimizing quality. As a result, the technique of real-time ORPD is difcult to be applied to large-scale systems. Interior point method (IPM) is also a ne one for solving various optimization problems for its excellent convergence speed and its insensitiveness to the scale of the problem. A modied IPM [5] for optimal reactive power control is tested on IEEE 14-bus system and is validated of its better performance than linear programming. In order to solve the problem of reactive power optimization of large-scale power systems, an extended non-linear primal-dual interior point method is presented in [6]. Despite its good convergence, centralized dispatch of large-scale multi-voltage-level power systems is not practical.

k NT i Nb

where QCi is the reactive power compensation at bus i; QGi the reactive power generation at bus i; Tk the tap position of transformer k; NC , NG and NT are the set of numbers of reactive power source installation buses, the set of numbers of generator buses and the set of numbers of transformer branches, respectively. In the most of non-linear optimization problems, the constraints are considered by generalizing the objective function using penalty terms. The control variables, including the generator bus voltages, V PV and V slack , the tap position of

3. Multi-agent systems Multi-agent systems provide a novel approach to address complex problems, as ORPD, where decisions should be based on processing of information from various sources of diverse nature. Each of these sources can be viewed as an agent and the whole system as a community of agents.

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An agent is anything that is viewed as perceiving its environment through sensors and acting upon that environment through effectors, and is believed to be a system component capable of: (a) perceiving and acting at a certain level; (b) communicating in some fashion with other agents; (c) attempting to achieve particular goals or perform particular tasks; and (d) maintaining an implicit or explicit model of its own state and the state of its world [7]. For example, ORPD software for local power systems can be seen as an agent, which goal is the optimization of the local power systems but not that of the global networks. A multi-agent system could be dened as a looselycoupled network of [asynchronous] problem solvers that work together to solve problems that are beyond their individual capabilities [8]. A MAS consists of a set of non-centralized mutually cooperating elements namely agents, each of which acts autonomously. The problem solvers operate in parallel. Both control and data are logically and often geographically scattered among different units. In order to solve problems coherently, the agents must communicate, coordinate, and negotiate with each other once they nd themselves in conict. MAS provides a series of advantages, in that [9]: (a) MAS constitutes a natural way to handle logically and physically distributed problems. (b) They need neither direct global control nor global data storage. (c) They enhance the overall reliability and robustness. (d) The modularity of such systems allows their extensibility. (e) Even complicated problems can be solved rapidly. (f) Their architecture is simple and the way they work is transparent. The organizational perspective leads to a general characterization of MAS as depicted in Fig. 1 [10]. To accomplish their role in the organization, agents typically need to exchange knowledge with each other and to coordinate their activities. System architecture of MAS based on real-time knowledge (named Knowledge Data Manager) is shown in Fig. 2 [11]. The main components in the architecture are: Intelligent communication manager (ICM); Knowledge data manager (KDM);

ICM Reader

ICM Writer

Expert Process Agent 1

Timer

TMM RMS KDM

Agent 2

Control

Agent N

RTOS Extensions

Fig. 2. MAS architecture.

Time map manager (TMM); Reason maintenance system (RMS); Agents; Control; Timer; Real-time operating system extensions (RTOSE).

4. MAS based approach In view of the fact that the dispatch of power systems is decentralized in light of regions rather than controlled as a whole, the ORPD system of the whole network is decomposed some interacting sub-systems accordingly to process distributed problem solving, as shown in Fig. 3. A network control structure (NCS) is adopted for the global dispatch system and a layer control structure (LCS) for each sub-system. The NCS is an absolute distributed system with communication media, in which each agent exists as a crunode, as shown in Fig. 4. Through communication among the agents MASi (i = 0, 1, 2, . . . ), i.e. the local ORPD sub-systems, the global optimization is achieved in phase. 4.1. Layer control structure Local sub-system MASi (i = 0, 1, 2, . . . ) employs layer control structure as shown in Fig. 5. There are three layers of agents: the reaction layer; the coordination layer; and the organization layer. The reaction layer at the bottom responsible for the processing of local data and for the adjustment of the local control variables is represented as: LR = {AS , AD , AE , AM } (10)

Fig. 1. Characterization of MAS.

where AS is the sampling agent to collect the operating data; AD the distinguishing agent to estimate the bus voltages and to determine whether a control instruction should be given; AE the executing agent to perform control or dispatch instructions; and AM is the mobil agent to transmit data and to share resource with other agents.

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Communication Bus

Evaluation Agent

ORGANIZATION

System Agent

Mobile Agent

GA Agent

COORDINATION

Modeling Agent

Mobile Agent

Sampling Agent Input

Mobile Agent

REACTION Instruction

Distinguishing Agent

Executing Agent

Fig. 5. Layer control structure of sub-system of ORPD.

where ARM is the real-time modeling agent to update the world (exterior power systems) model and its operating parameters online, and AGA is the GA agent to process local ORPD of sub-networks by means of genetic algorithms (GAs). AGA , aiming at a local optimal goal, is the pith of MAS method for ORPD. The organization layer on the top, which is to recognize the disturbance and change of the global system and to establish corresponding strategy to supervise the coordination layer, is described as: Lo = {ASY , AEV , AM } (12)

Fig. 3. Hierarchical model of ORPD.

The coordination layer in the middle, which is to fulll the ORPD computation of the local power network, is represented as: LC = {ARM , AGA , AM } (11)

where ASY is the system agent to ltrate power systems data and to distinguish their disturbances, and AEV the evaluating agent to evaluate the global performance and to modify its corresponding strategy when the global performance is not proper. On the basis of local ORPD of sub-networks, which is small-scale and easy to solve by using the improved genetic algorithms or something, the real-time global ORPD of power systems can be achieved by using multi-agent intelligent cooperation technique. The proposed MAS-based approach for ORPD problem, which characteristic is distributed on space and time, has an advantage over a concentrative problem solver because (a) distributed computation matches the solution to ORPD problem of large-scale power systems; (b) MAS manages the knowledge, the data, and the other resource in a distributed manner, hence it avoids transmission of a great deal of data; (c) parallel computation is highly efcient; and (d) MAS has satisfactory dynamic adaptation and reliability.

COMMUNICATION BUS

MAS0 Goal: optimization for the higher voltage network

MAS1

MAS2 MASi

Goal: optimization for the lower voltage network

Fig. 4. Network control structure of global ORPD.

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4.2. Coordination optimization The key for MAS is the coordination mechanism for the sake of sound cooperation among the agents. Thus the key for the reactive power dispatch of large-scale power systems is coordination optimization among sub-systems. Concretely, there are two kinds of sub-systems of ORPD: one for the higher voltage network, as shown in Fig. 3(b), named MAS0 here; and one for the lower voltage network, as shown in Fig. 3(c), named MASi here (i = 1, 2, . . . ). For MAS0 , the loads and reactive power generations of lower voltage networks, both in operation and out of operation, should be transformed into equivalent ones of lower-voltage buses of the transformer. As shown in Fig. 3(c), supposing there are l 110 kV lines connecting m 110 kV substations and g power plants at the 110 kV side of a 220 kV substation, the equivalent loads PLe + jQLe at the 110 kV bus of a 220 kV substation are formulated as follows: m l g PLi + Ploss i=1 PGi = PLe = PBi i=1 i=1 g m QLe = QLi + Qloss QGi (13) i=1 i=1 k1 l QBi + Qi
i=1 i=1

(a) The GA agent of MAS0 processes ORPD computation (within 2 s). And, then the voltage magnitudes of 220 kV buses Vi (i = 1, 2, . . . ) are to be provided to MASi via communication. (b) The GA agent of MASi (i = 1, 2, . . . ) process ORPD computation simultaneously (within 2 s). It should be taken notes of that their slack bus voltages equal Vi (i = 1, 2, . . . ) from the rst step. And, then the tap settings and the inject powers of 110 and 10 kV buses of the main transformer are to be provided to MAS0 via communication. (c) The GA agent of MAS0 processes load ow computation. And then the new voltage magnitudes of 220 kV buses V i (i = 1, 2, . . . ) are to be provided to MASi via communication. (d) The GA agent of MASi (i = 1, 2, . . . ) process ORPD computation (within 2 s). It should be taken notes of that their slack bus voltages equal Vi (i = 1, 2, . . . ) from the third step. Obviously, those 220 kV substations presented both in the higher and lower voltage equivalent networks concurrently is helpful to the coordination computation of each other. By the above iteration, the ORPD results of each MAS will lead to the global optimization. One second is set apart for communication and data- updating between the anterior step and the posterior one. The total time of global ORPD computation is less than 10 s even the size of the power system is hundreds of buses. Hence, the proposed approach has a well performance for real-time controlling.

where PBi + jQBi (i = 1, 2, . . . , l) are the power outputs of the ith 110 kV feeder; PLi + jQLi (i = 1, 2, . . . , m) are the loads of the ith 110 kV substation; PGi + jQGi (i = 1, 2, . . . , g) are the power outputs of the ith power plant; Ploss + jQloss are the total power losses of 110 kV networks; Qi (i = 1, 2, . . . , k1 ) and Qj (j = k1 +1, k1 +2, . . . , k1 +k2 ) are the reactive power generation of the ith compensator in operation and that of the jth compensator out of operation, respectively, in all 110 kV substations. On the other hand, all reactive power compensator banks are shifted to the 110 kV bus of the 220 kV substation. The equivalent size QC , therefore, includes Qi (i = 1, 2, . . . , k1 ) and Qj (j = k1 + 1, k1 + 2, . . . , k1 + k2 ). As a result, the rough equivalent higher voltage network includes several 220 kV substations, several lines, and several power plants possibly. The 220 kV bus of the 500 kV substations is usually regarded as a slack bus. The networks size does not exceed 40 buses. For MASi , the higher-voltage buses (220 kV) of the transformer should be regarded as slack buses, which voltages are determined by the higher voltage network. The size of any lower voltage network does not exceed 40 buses likewise. Thus, the ORPD computation of every MAS can be done through a modied genetic algorithm or other approach autonomously and a satisfying optimization result can be obtained within 2 s. The process of distributed real-time global ORPD computation can be described as follows:

5. Simulation results The proposed approach is tested on two power systems: one 125-bus system with 13 generation plants, 83 VAR compensation buses, and 51 transformers; and another 199-bus system with 14 generation plants, 97 VAR compensation buses, and 1 1 1 transformers. Test results under certain load levels have been compared with those of by Cataclysmic Genetic Algorithm (CGA) presented in [12], and shown in Table 1. It is obvious that optimization by MAS approach has less loss saving and consumes less time than that by CGA.
Table 1 ORPD simulation results: comparison between CGA and MAS approach System 125-Bus system Method Ploss (MW) Ploss (%) Vavg MSD of Voltage Time (s) CGA 14.561 7.72 1.0293 0.01357 55 MAS 14.037 11.04 1.0371 0.01254 10 199-Bus system CGA 18.017 10.63 1.0147 0.01797 124 MAS 16.724 17.04 1.0389 0.01655 10

Notes: MSD means mean square deviation.

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distributed, decentralized one that has an advantage over traditional centralized algorithms. 1. Global optimization capability. Every sub-system of ORPD in the large-scale power systems can pursue its local optimization autonomously, at the same time, it can also negotiate with other agents to realize the global optimization. 2. Real-time processing efciency. By using distributed computation and coordination control, the MAS-based method can solve complex problems in a short time. Due to the complexity of ORPD of large-scale power systems, it is necessary for using MAS technique to enhance the capability and efciency of the global optimization. The application of MAS method brings the decentralized control to success and turns the real-time application of ORPD to large-scale power systems into realizable.
Fig. 6. Nodal voltages comparison of the 125-bus system.

Appendix A The Cataclysmic Genetic Algorithm is one of the modied GAs with the following characteristics: 1. The cataclysm operator is adopted to improve the diversity of the small size populations and to avoid the premature convergence. Mimicking the cataclysm of the evolution course of eco-systems, in which most species extinct but very few surviving, the cataclysm operator

Cataclysmic Number CN=0 Generation Number GN=0; Initialize Population Initialize Max Generation Number MGN GN ++; Update population & keep the best solution of the previous generation GN < MGN ? MGN = MGN +20 No The best solution satisfies all constraints ?

Fig. 7. The 10 kV bus voltages comparison of the 199-bus system.

Yes

The nodal voltages of the two systems are gured in Figs. 6 and 7, respectively. It is clear that the voltage proles have been improved after optimization calculations by CGA but improved further by MAS approach.

No

Yes CN++ CN = MaxCN?

Keep the best solution

No

6. Conclusions This paper presents a multi-agent based method for the problem of large-scale ORPD. The proposed system is a

Yes Output results and stop

Fig. 8. The ow chart of CGA.

Y.-j. Zhang, Z. Ren / Electric Power Systems Research 69 (2004) 259265 Table A.1 ORPD simulation results: comparison between CGA, MGA and IPA tested on three power systems Test system IEEE14 Algorithm MGA CGA IPA MGA CGA IPA MGA CGA IPA Ploss (p.u.) 0.1391 0.1387 0.1389 0.07208 0.07095 0.07123 1.249 1.1527 1.1688 Times (s) 0.54 0.83 0.11 0.89 1.52 0.45 7.91 16.1 3.80

265

has the best solutions at the cost of more time consumption. Generally, these three algorithms are suitable for real-time ORPD of small-scale power systems. The ORPD system employing CGA and integrating some expert knowledge has been applied to Hainan Province Power Systems, China.

IEEE 30

References
[1] M.A. El-Sayed, Articial neural network for re-active power optimization, Neurocomputing 23 (1998) 255263. [2] D.B. Das, C. Patvardhan, Reactive power dispatch with a hybrid stochastic search technique, Electrical Power Energy Syst. 24 (9) (2002) 731736. [3] M. Khiat, A. Chaker, et al., Reactive power optimization and voltage control in the Western Algerian transmission system: a hybrid approach, Electric Power Syst. Res. 64 (2003) 310. [4] Q.H. Wu, Y.J. Cao, J.Y. Wen, Optimal reactive power dispatch using an adaptive genetic algorithm, Electrical Power Energy Syst. 20 (8) (1998) 563569. [5] J.Z. Zhu, X.F. Xiong, Optimal reactive power control using modied interior point method, Electric Power Syst. Res. 66 (2003) 187192. [6] M. Liu, S.K. Tso, Y. Cheng, An extended non-linear primal-dual interior-point algorithm for reactive-power optimization of large-scale power systems with discrete control variables, IEEE Trans. Power Syst. 17 (4) (2002) 982991. [7] H. Liu, M.X. Tang, J.H. Frazer, Supporting evolution in a multi-agent cooperative design environment, Adv. Eng. Software 33 (2002) 319 328. [8] G. OHare, N. Jennings, Foundations of Distributed Articial Intelligence, Wiley, New York, 1996. [9] B. Armando, B. Alessandro, P.S. Alberto, A multi-agent approach for the capacity allocation problem, Int. J. Product. Econ. 66 (2000) 269285. [10] N.R. Jennings, Agent-based computing: promises and perils, in: Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Articial Intelligence, 1999, pp. 14291436. [11] V. Botti, F. Barber, A. Crespo, et al., A temporal blackboard for a multi-agent environment, Data Knowledge Eng. 15 (3) (1995) 189 211. [12] Y.J. Zhang, Z. Ren, et al., Cataclysmic Genetic Algorithms based optimal reactive power planning, Automat. Electric Power Syst. 26 (23) (2002) 2932.

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updates all individuals randomly except for the current optimum after tens of generations. 2. Adjacent mutation operator integrating with grouping integer-encoding strategy is used to elude the infeasible solutions and the Hamming cliffs by adopting binary encoding strategy. These techniques redound to improve the search efciency and the local search capability. 3. Genetic algorithm has no special request for start point, it can detect and handle the infeasible solutions, and it is t for solving the non-linear ORPD problems involving multi-objective, -restriction, -extremum and discreteness. Moreover, CGA uses the generalized objective function Eq. (8) as the tness function directly and adopts tournament selection operator, which ow chart is shown in Fig. 8. The off-line ORPD computation results using CGA, MGA (a modied GA without adopting cataclysm operator) and IPA (interior-point algorithm presented in [6]) are compared in Table 2. All optimization solutions using the above three algorithms are feasible without violating the operation limits. The active power losses Ploss shown in Table 2 are the average value of power losses of ten times of computing results when using CGA and MGA. It is indicated that CGA