Search for: All records

Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) holds significant promise for managing voltage control challenges in simulated power grid environments. However, its real-world application in power system operations remains underexplored. This study rigorously evaluates DRL’s performance and limitations within actual operational contexts by utilizing detailed experiments across the IEEE 14-bus system, Illinois 200-bus system, and the ISO New England node-breaker model. Our analysis critically assesses DRL’s effectiveness for grid control from a system operator's perspective, identifying specific performance bottlenecks. The findings provide actionable insights that highlight the necessity of advancing AI technologies to effectively address the growing complexities of modern power systems. This research underscores the vital role of DRL in enhancing grid management and reliability. 

Fast and safe voltage regulation algorithms can serve as fundamental schemes for achieving a high level of renewable penetration in modern distribution power grids. Faced with uncertain or even unknown distribution grid models and fast changing power injections, model-free deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithms have been proposed to find the reactive power injections for inverters while optimizing the voltage profiles. However, such data-driven controllers can not guarantee the satisfaction of the hard operational constraints, such as maintaining voltage profiles within a certain range of the nominal value. To this end, we propose SAVER: SAfe Voltage Regulator, which is composed of an RL learner and a specifically designed, computationally efficient safety projection layer. SAVER provides a plug-and-play interface for a set of DRL algorithms that guarantees the system voltages are within safe bounds. Numerical simulations on real-world data validate the performance of the proposed algorithm.