Multi-Agent and State Observer-Based Technique for Microgrid Protection

The protection of microgrids (MGs) is an emerging research topic due to increasing integration of distributed generation (DG). Although a microgrid can operate in two modes of operation: grid-connected and islanded, detecting the fault current poses a significant challenge, essentially when the microgrid is disconnected from the grid. This paper presents a new approach for detecting faults in multiple protection zones utilizing a Multi-Agent System (MAS) technique and state observer. The proposed framework comprises a decentralized Multi-Agent system, which will communicate, interact, and exchange the data for detecting the fault through the residual current value of the state observer at a given protection zone. The agents then send a trip signal to isolate/restore the faulted section. The proposed protection scheme has been tested and applied to the configuration of the microgrid using the Matlab/Simulink platform and has been demonstrated to be an effective means to detect the fault as well as restore power for multiple protection zones of the microgrid system.