The role of intelligent systems in delivering the smart grid

The development of "smart" or "intelligent" energy networks has been proposed by both EPRI's IntelliGrid initiative and the European SmartGrids Technology Platform as a key step in meeting our future energy needs. A central challenge in delivering the energy networks of the future is the judicious selection and development of an appropriate set of technologies and techniques which will form "a toolbox of proven technical solutions". This paper considers functionality required to deliver key parts of the Smart Grid vision of future energy networks. The role of intelligent systems in providing these networks with the requisite decision-making functionality is discussed. In addition to that functionality, the paper considers the role of intelligent systems, in particular multi-agent systems, in providing flexible and extensible architectures for deploying intelligence within the Smart Grid. Beyond exploiting intelligent systems as architectural elements of the Smart Grid, with the purpose of meeting a set of engineering requirements, the role of intelligent systems as a tool for understanding what those requirements are in the first instance, is also briefly discussed

A comparative review of policy for the protection of the architectural heritage of Europe

This paper investigates the use of aesthetic value as a criterion by which the significance of heritage places is assessed. It is argued that current heritage management practice has not engaged with the extensive discourse relating to aesthetics, and therefore confines aesthetics to a particular class and culture, and an inert view of only one of our sensory experiences. Historical records relating to the Great Barrier Reef are used to show how aesthetic appreciation of the area has changed over time.The data suggest that the failure to recognise an aesthetic that is primarily non-visual can lead to changes in landscape and loss of associated value. It also suggests that aesthetic values change rapidly and are influenced by social and technological factors

Practical applications of multi-agent systems in electric power systems

The transformation of energy networks from passive to active systems requires the embedding of intelligence within the network. One suitable approach to integrating distributed intelligent systems is multi-agent systems technology, where components of functionality run as autonomous agents capable of interaction through messaging. This provides loose coupling between components that can benefit the complex systems envisioned for the smart grid. This paper reviews the key milestones of demonstrated agent systems in the power industry and considers which aspects of agent design must still be addressed for widespread application of agent technology to occur

Development of an Adaptive Restoration Tool For a Self-Healing Smart Grid

Large power outages become more commonplace due to the increase in both frequency and strength of natural disasters and cyber-attacks. The outages and blackouts cost American industries and business billions of dollars and jeopardize the lives of hospital patients. The losses can be greatly reduced with a fast, reliable and flexible restoration tool. Fast recovery and successfully adapting to extreme events are critical to build a resilient, and ultimately self-healing power grid. This dissertation is aimed to tackle the challenging task of developing an adaptive restoration decision support system (RDSS). The RDSS determines restoration actions both in planning and real-time phases and adapts to constantly changing system conditions. First, an efficient network partitioning approach is developed to provide initial conditions for RDSS by dividing large outage network into smaller islands. Then, the comprehensive formulation of RDSS integrates different recovery phases into one optimization problem, and encompasses practical constraints including AC power flow, dynamic reserve, and dynamic behaviors of generators and load. Also, a frequency constrained load recovery module is proposed and integrated into the RDSS to determine the optimal location and amount of load pickup. Next, the proposed RDSS is applied to harness renewable energy sources and pumped-storage hydro (PSH) units by addressing the inherent variabilities and uncertainties of renewable and coordinating wind and PSH generators. A two-stage stochastic and robust optimization problem is formulated, and solved by the integer L-shaped and column-and-constraints generation decomposition algorithms. The developed RDSS tool has been tested on the modified IEEE 39-bus and IEEE 57-bus systems under different scenarios. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed RDSS. In case of contingencies or unexpected outages during the restoration process, RDSS can quickly update the restoration plan and adapt to changing system conditions. RDSS is an important step toward a self-healing power grid and its implementation will reduce the recovery time while maintaining system security

Heritage Protection Versus Individual Interests in a Post-Socialist Country: the Case of Mšeno, Czech Republic

Large-scale investment is routinely believed to be the main danger to urban heritage. The measures designed to sustain heritage thus traditionally focus on steering investment into respectful ways of real-estate development. The majority of Czech built heritage is, however, located in towns and villages that rather face economic decline. Losses of objects of heritage in such places are often due to lack of maintenance. The case study of this article discusses the issues of heritage protection and restoration of the Enlisted town zone of Mšeno, where affordability and communication of values are the key issues in heritage protection