Distributed Multi-Agent-Based Protection Scheme for Transient Stability Enhancement in Power Systems

Abstract This paper presents a new distributed agent-based scheme to enhance the transient stability of power systems by maintaining phase angle cohesiveness of interconnected generators through proper relay coordination with critical clearing time (CCT) information. In this distributed multi-agent infrastructure, intelligent agents represent various physical device models to provide dynamic information and energy flow among different physical processes of power systems. The agents can communicate with each other in a distributed manner with a final aim to control circuit breakers (CBs) with CCT information as this is the key issue for maintaining and enhancing the transient stability of power systems. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated on a standard IEEE 39-bus New England benchmark system under different large disturbances such as three-phase short-circuit faults and changes in loads within the systems. From the simulation results, it is found that the proposed scheme significantly enhances the transient stability of power systems as compared to a conventional scheme of static CB operation.