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Load-shedding techniques for microgrids: A comprehensive review

Author(s): Diana Rwegasiraa,b, Imed Ben Dhaouc,d, Aron Kondoroa,b, Amleset Kelatia,e, Nerey Mvungib, Hannu Tenhunena,e

aKTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, P.O.BOX 229, 16440, Sweden
bUniversity of Dar es Salaam, P.O.BOX 33335, 14113, Tanzania
cUniversity of Monastir, P.O.BOX 56, 5000, Tunisia
dUnaizah College of Engineering, Qassim University, P.O.BOX 6677, Saudi Arabia
eUniversity of Turku, P.O.BOX 20014, 20500, Finland
International Journal of Smart Grid and Clean Energy, vol. 8, no. 3, May 2019: pp. 341-353
ISSN: 2315-4462 (Print)
ISSN: 2373-3594 (Online)
Digital Object Identifier: 10.12720/sgce.8.3.341-353

Abstract: The increasing interest in integrating renewable energies source has raised concerns about control operations. The presence of new energy sources, distributed storage, power electronic devices and communication links make a power system’s control and monitoring more complex and adaptive than ever before. Recently, the use of agent-based distributed control has seen to have a significant impact on the grid and microgrid controls. The load-shedding technique is among the features used to balance the power consumption in the power system upon less power production. Towards achieving these, different mechanisms, algorithms, challenges, and approaches have been developed and hence need to be reviewed and integrated from the system solution perspective. This research focuses on the review of the state-of-the-art load-shedding techniques, whereby the focus is on control algorithms, simulation platforms and integrations, and control devices for DC microgrid. The research also investigates open issues and challenges that need further investigations. The analyses reported in the paper upholds the importance of the distributed multi-agent system, MAS, in implementing distinct control operations including load-shedding. The effectiveness of the control operations using MAS rely on low-latency and secure communication links in which IoT has been branded as a promising technology for implementing distributed MAS.

Keywords: Agent Based Systems, Energy management, Load-shedding, multi-agent, smart DC microgrid..
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