Optimal Load Shedding for Maximizing Satisfaction in an Islanded Microgrid

Abstract

A microgrid (MG) is a discrete energy system that can operate either in parallel with or independently from a main power grid. It is designed to enhance reliability, carbon emission reduction, diversification of energy sources, and cost reduction. When a power fault occurs in a grid, an MG operates in an islanded manner from the grid and protects its power generations and loads from disturbance by means of intelligent load shedding. A load shedding is a control procedure that results in autonomous decrease of the power demands of loads in an MG. In this study, we propose a load shedding algorithm for the optimization problem to maximize the satisfaction of system components. The proposed algorithm preferentially assigns the power to the subdemand with a high preference to maximize the satisfaction of power consumers. In addition, the algorithm assigns the power to maximize the power sale and minimize the power surplus for satisfaction of power suppliers. To verify the performance of our algorithm, we implement a multi-agent system (MAS) on top of a conventional development framework and assess the algorithm's adaptability, satisfaction metric, and running time.