Power flow coordination among Smart Migrogrids: A Game Theory Approach

Rapidly increasing levels of variable renewable energy sources in several power systems across the globe has led to a paradigm shift in electric power systems; prompting questions about how energy systems will be operated and managed when variable renewables become the dominant technology. As building blocks of smart grids, microgrids are anticipated to become an indispensable component in this transition. In view of this, this paper proposes a new power flow management strategy for interconnected smart microgrids in a distribution network. The developed approach aims at utilizing the spatiotemporal diversity in resource availability and consumer demands in geo-distributed microgrids through optimal power sharing among them, thus lessening the ‘brown’ energy purchases from the grid. At the lower level, microgrids are modelled as autonomous units with individual objectives while at the upper level, the concept of cooperative game-theory using Nash bargaining solution is applied to coordinate power flows among the participating microgrids. Finally, we highlight the implications of the proposed power flow management strategy through several simulation studies on the modified IEEE 33-bus distribution system with five microgrids.