Planning of reliable microgrids in the presence of random and catastrophic events

SUMMARY The primary goal of this work is to investigate the problem of integrating distributed generators (DG), from a planning perspective. It relies on an optimization model with vulnerability, reliability and economy as objectives. A vulnerability index in terms of loss of load is proposed to measure potential adverse effects of undesired outages on microgrid security. It is evaluated by enumerating scenarios based on a suitably designed selection criterion. The optimization model is solved by a hybrid approach that combines multi-agent system (MAS) technology and particle swarm optimization (PSO). The encoding scheme of PSO, the hierarchical structure of MAS and the functions of the agents are discussed in detail. Finally, the effectiveness of proposed approach is tested and analyzed in the IEEE RBTS 4-bus system. The results show that an optimal trade-off planning scheme, over the three objectives, has been achieved.