The use of intelligent aggregator agents for advanced control of demand response

With the integration of distributed renewable energy sources (DRES) and active demand (e.g., units providing demand response, DR) in the distribution grid, the importance of monitoring the network conditions, managing the line congestions and observing the voltage levels is increasing. The distribution system operator (DSO) needs a mechanism, such as the traffic light system, to screen and approve the proposed operation schedules of the flexible active resources in the distribution grid. Their aggregated control will require the aggregators to employ advanced scheduling algorithms. The DR scheduling algorithms can be set to pursue various goals, for example, maximization of profit or cost reduction, grid support, or provision of the ancillary services. In the paper, we present a new DR scheduling approach suitable for the aggregation agent using approximate Q‐learning (AQL) algorithm scheduling. We present the AQL algorithm and the associated assumptions used in simulations on a real‐world low‐voltage (LV) grid model, comparing the AQL approach results to those of the economic scheduling and the energy scheduling approaches. Our assumption was that the AQL approach could outperform the energy or economic approaches as the AQL agent would be able to learn to avoid the scheduling penalties. The results of our research show that the aggregator agent using the economic approach shows the best economic performance, but causes the most schedule violations. The energy scheduling approach improves the network voltage profile but lowers the aggregator's profit. The AQL approach results in the agent's economic performance between the former two approaches with minimal schedule violations, confirming our research hypothesis. This article is categorized under: Concentrating Solar Power > Systems and Infrastructure Energy Systems Economics > Systems and Infrastructure Energy Infrastructure > Systems and Infrastructure Energy Efficiency > Economics and Policy