Flexible distributed load shedding using a self-Adaptive multi-Agents system

Load shedding is a cheap and eco-friendly way to maintain balance on the power grid, by matching consumption on production. In this context, the main problem is to coordinate smart buildings in order for them to be able to anticipate their need and also to collectively adjust their load shedding. We present a bottom-up approach on distributed loadshedding and propose a decentralized model based on gossip protocols. These algorithms provide a strong and scalable platform on top of which we built a self-evaluation mechanism ensuring enough reliability to be used on a large scale power grid, ie the ability to maintain a stable load shedding. In this article, we present our system and discuss the first results we obtained with it, before presenting some of its possible improvements. © 2017 Lavoisier.