2005 IEEE/PES Transmission and Distribution
Conference & Exhibition: Asia and Pacific
Dalian, China
Optimal Coordination For Multi-Agent Based
Secondary Voltage Control In Power System
Sheng Gehao, Jiang Xiuceng, and Zeng Yi
Abstract: The secondary voltage control scheme based on
multi-agent theory is presented in the paper. In this scheme, the
individual primary voltage controllers and the secondary controller
are represented as a set of execution agents and a coordination agent,
respectively, who work either independently or coordinately to
control the system-wide voltage level. According to the principles of
the multi-agent system (MAS), the optimal coordination methods
among voltage controllers in normal operating condition and in
system contingencies are investigated respectively. Under normal
conditions, the multi-agent based control system works as a
conventional secondary voltage control system, realizing global
optimal var/voltage control. When system runs into contingencies,
contract net protocol, which is widely used in MAS, are introduced
to realize coordination and cooperation among voltage control
agents for eliminating voltage violation. The simulation results of
the New England 39-bus system show that the proposed control
scheme and coordination method are very effective in managing
global voltage profile of power system as well as settling local
voltage violation problems in system contingencies.
Index Terms ： secondary voltage control; multi-agent system;
contract net protocol
I. INTRODUCTION
N owadays, the hierarchical voltage control strategy
with three levels has been developed by some electric
utilities to prevent voltage deterioration and keep a
better use of existing reactive power resources[1]-[6].
In the hierarchical voltage control system, secondary
control is the most important part for improving power
system voltage dynamic performance. The first type of
secondary voltage control (SVC) was initiated by EDF in
1980s[1]. Recently, a faster and more precise type of second
control system - Coordinated Secondary Voltage Control
(CSVC) has been in use in France and is expected to take
over from existing SVC system in the near future[4].
However, the limitations still exist. In CSVC, a dedicated
computer directly adjusts the set-points of all the controlling
units and is responsible for supervising the whole control
process. Therefore, a high precision of voltage characteristics
of the loads, network data and very high reliability of remote
data acquisition, communication equipment must be
warranted for determining a target state. However, it is
difficult for a centralized control system to meet these
requirements. Additionally, when system runs into
This project was supported by China Postdoctoral Science
Foundation (No.20040350475).
Sheng Gehao is with Department of Electrical Engineering, Shanghai
Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. (e-mail: sgh168@263.net).
Jiang Xiuceng is with Department of Electrical Engineering,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. (e-mail:
xcjiang@sjtu.edu.cn)
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0-7803-9114-4/05/$20.00 ©2005 IEEE.
contingencies resulting from a large disturbance of load or a
sudden fault, it is necessary for reactive power reserves near
the bus where voltage violation occurs to provide fast and
effective reactive power support. Neither SVC nor CSVC can
obtain a satisfactory result in such emergency situation.
For the sake of overcoming shortcomings of
conventional SVC system, the paper attempts to apply the
multi-agent technology to SVC of power system. As an
active branch of application in distributed artificial
intelligence (DAI), the multi-agent technique has been
widely applied to large and complex system, capable of
finding a concerted and parallel solution for a distributed
system [7]. With the development of the multi-agent system
(MAS) theory, many researchers attempt to apply it to
control systems in recent years. From the point of view of
system control, a multi-agent based control system is
different from traditional decentralized control. Treating each
controller as an autonomous control agent, the fundamental
cooperation mechanism of MAS lies in the task sharing and
communication among agents. Although many experiences
have demonstrated the tremendous potential in studies on
agent-based coordinated control system, few of paper in
point is presented in practical power system control [8-9].
This paper is organized in the following way. Firstly,
concept and framework of SVC system based on MAS
theory is presented. In the proposed control system, the
individual primary voltage controllers and the secondary
controller are represented as a set of execution agents and a
coordination agent, respectively, who work either
independently or coordinately to control the system-wide
voltage level. Based on the principles of the MAS, the
optimal coordination method for proposed control system in
normal operating condition and in contingency are
investigated respectively, for enhancing the ability of fast and
coordinated voltage and reactive power control. Especially,
contract net protocol, which is widely used in coordination of
MAS, are introduced to realize coordination and cooperation
among voltage control agents in system contingencies.
Finally, the simulation results of the New England 39-bus
system are presented to illustrate the validity of the proposed
control scheme.
II. FRAMEWORK OF MULTI-AGENT BASED
SECONDARY VOLTAGE CONTROL
The multi-agent approach focuses on the interaction
and cooperation of autonomous agent groups. By means of
encapsulating local control and message-based agent
communication, the multi-agent system (MAS) provides a
loosely coupled and open environment. The agent acquires
up-dated information through regular interaction with its
environment and other agents, and adjusts its actions for the dynamically adjust its behaviors according to information
benefit of its highly self-adaptive function. As a result, the provided by the sensor. The rule base contains sets of
MAS can dynamically improve its capabilities and is easily declarative heuristics that determine decision-making manner.
adapted to an uncertain dynamic system. The control algorithm module provides the control
As for the application of multi-agent technology in a algorithms for executing the control task.
decentralized control system, each individual controller can The decision-making head is the core of each control
be treated as a control agent, and all control agents constitute agent. For meeting voltage control requirement in different
a multi-agent system working together for a common system state，the corresponding agent should take different
objective of attaining a specific control target [9]. control strategy and control algorithm under normal
The basic structure of the multi-agent based secondary condition and system contingency. The important part of the
voltage control system is shown in Fig.1. The regional decision-making head is to evaluate the current operating
secondary controller is treated as a coordination agent (CA) state according to information of the surroundings, and
and individual primary voltage controllers (including determine the work mode (control strategy) of the agent. Two
generators, static var compensator, synchronous condenser, work modes are involved in the proposed control system: the
static condenser, etc.) are governed by the corresponding normal mode and the emergency mode. The decision-making
execution agents (EA), which together form a multi-agent principles of CA and EA are shown in Fig.3（a）and Fig. 3
control system. Distributed coordination of the MAS can be （b）respectively. After the work mode is determined, the
achieved either by task allocation based on communication control agents decide the final setting according to the
among agents or autonomous regulation based on local current control strategy and actual system state, while
self-estimation. The operation of all control agents in the ensuring that no actions will jeopardize its self-interests.
MAS is for a common objective to minimize the voltage control strategy output
normal
deviation and maintain an adequate regional voltage profile.
condition
System Global Optimal Update
Local Control Operating Control Control
Execution Voltage Var/volt State Signal of
Agent Controller Equipment contingency
Evaluation EAs
Local Control Coordinate
Execution Voltage Var/volt Actions of EAs
Coordination Agent Controller Equipment
Agent (a) Coordination Agent
Reginal
Control
...... ...... normal
Accept Control
condition Update
Center Local Request from
Local Control operating Setting of
Execution Voltage Var/volt CA Primary
Agent Controller Equipment
State
Power Evaluation contingency Voltage
Grid Controller
Autonomous
Fig.1. Basic structure of the multi-agent based SVC system
Control
A control agent is composed of six elements: a sensor, a
communicator, an actuator, a control algorithm module, a (b) Execution Agent
rule base and a decision-making head. The relations among Fig.3. Decision-making principles of the agents
these modules are briefly illustrated in Fig.2.
III. COORDINATION UNDER NORMAL CONDITIONS
Rule Base Communicator Other Under the normal operating conditions，the multi-agent
Environment Agent based SVC system works in normal mode, whose target is
Information
to realize global optimal control for maintaining an adequate
Sensor Decision-making Actuator system-wide voltage profile and keeping reasonable
Head Control reactive power reserves.
Control Agent Setting The CA periodically determines target set-point of each
Control primary voltage controller in a coordinated way via
Algorithm mathematical optimal method or rule-based heuristic method,
Fig. 2. Architecture of a control agent
and send task-performing request to the corresponding EAs.
In this paper, the following nonlinear expression (1) is taken
The communicator connects the agent to the as the mathematical optimization model for the CA to solve
information channel, which enables the agent to secondary voltage optimal control problem. This model can
communicate and negotiate with other agents for the be applied to the CSVC system as well [10].

∑ (V ) (
+ r ∑ q ref − Qi / Qimax )
coordinated execution of proper tasks. The sensor system is 2 2
MinZ = i
ref
− Vi
used to perceive the information of the surroundings and i∈a P i∈aG
estimate the voltage level and reactive power generation (1)
situation around the agent. The actuator is responsible for
executing the tasks upon receiving commands sent by the
(
+ h ∑ Vi ref − Vi )
2

i∈aG
decision-making head. During the operation it can

2
subject to implementation of the heuristic method will be discussed
g ( x, u ) = 0
a
i =1, 2, … , n elsewhere.
i

g ( x, u ) = 0
r
i i =1, 2, …, n
Q i
min
≤ Qi ≤ Q i
max
i ∈α G
Vimin
≤ Vi ≤ Vi max
i ∈ α G Uα C
where
α P ,α G and αC are sets of indices of pilot buses, voltage
regulating devices (related with EAs) and critical buses,
respectively.
Vi ref and Vi are set-point voltage and actual voltage at bus
i, respectively.
r and h are weighted factors.
Qi and Qimax are actual and limit reactive generations at
bus i, respectively.
q ref is reference value of relative reactive power generation
with a region, defined by the expression
q ref = ∑ Qi / ∑ Qimax .
i∈α G i∈α G
g ( x, u ) and g ir ( x, u ) are active and reactive injection
a
i A.
equations at bus i , respectively.
It is assumed that all active generations and loads are
known in advance, so that the state variables x include the
voltage phase angles ( θ i , i =1, 2, …n) and magnitudes (Vi，i
= 1, 2, …n, i ∉ α G ) and reactive outputs of voltage
regulating devices ( Qi , i ∈ α G ). The control variables u are
the terminal voltages of regulating devices ( Vi ， i ∈ α G ).
After acquiring the necessary data from SCADA, the CA can
solve above nonlinear optimal problem by the second-order
Newton’s iteration method. Therefore, the control settings
( Vi ) of regulating devices are obtained and sent to the
corresponding EAs.
The EAs work in the normal mode, waiting for the
requests of voltage-regulating task from the CA. Once the
requests are received，the EAs adjust the set-points of voltage
controllers, while ensuring all variables of the regulating unit
are within their bounds.
Generally speaking, the CSVC is accomplished by the
sequential application of the linear optimization model. The
control variable increment is worked out and sent to primary
controller every 3-10s. The overall time constant of the
secondary loop is about 1-3 minutes. As for the nonlinear
optimization model of the expression (1), it may take much
more time to find the solution. But on the other hand, it can
obtain the final stead-state result and decide the control target
of each primary controller in one control step. Therefore, the
nonlinear method can still satisfy the requirement for control
speed of secondary voltage control. Moreover, the control
variables obtained are more accurate.
By the way, if the above-mentioned optimal program
fails to yield a convergent solution, the CA should turn to
take the heuristic methods to seek target state. The
IV. OPTIMAL COORDINATION IN SYSTEM
CONTINGENCIES
When system runs into contingencies resulting from a
large disturbance of load or a sudden fault, it is necessary for
reactive power reserves near the bus where voltage violation
occurs to provide fast and effective reactive power support
[11].
Once voltage violation in system contingencies is
detected, the multi-agent based SVC system terminates
normal control procedure, and switches into the emergency
work mode. In this mode, the corresponding EA makes its
own decision to change the setting of primary voltage
controller for rapidly restoring the abnormal voltage back to
its allowable range firstly. If voltage violation detected
cannot be removed via the EA’s voluntary control actions, the
EA should send request for voltage regulating assistance to
the CA. The CA is responsible for coordinating other EAs’
control actions to recover the violated voltage.
The coordination method used in this paper is the
contract net protocol (CNP), which is widely used in MAS.
Contract Net Protocol (CNP)
The CNP is a typical method for negotiation among
agents [7]. The so called “contract nets” are a
negotiation-based way to establish efficient cooperation in a
MAS. Each agent takes part in the contract net system. If one
agent discovers a single problem, it announces this problem
to the rest of the agent society if it is not able to solve it alone.
It is then the manager of this problem. Some of the other
agents will reply to the manager agent and provide help to
solve this problem by applying bidding and execute contract.
The negotiation process is described in Fig.4.
Manager Agent Contract/Applicant Agent
invite bidding
Problem Evaluation
apply
award contract
Evaluation
Contract
confirmation
Idle Problem
Solving
Solution solution
Solution
Fig.4. Negotiation in a contract-net-system
B. Optimal Coordination Based On CNP
The voltage control agents is responsible for providing
var/voltage support of the nodes in its charging field to
maintain the global voltage profile in system contingency. A
negotiation mode of request and response is proposed for
coordinating control agents [8]. Howerver, in practical power
gird, this coordination method is rather simple and has less

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flexibility in many cases since the performance of the control
actions are complicated. In this paper, the CNP based method
is used to realize flexible and rapid coordination of control
actions among EAs.
According to the CNP principle, the CA is taken as
manager agent, responsible for inviting public bidding of
voltage control task and awarding the control contract to the
d e te c t v o lt a g e v io la ti o n
a n d f a il to r e c o v e r
M o n it o r in g
tim e o u t o r r e c e iv e
c o n f ir m a tio n
P ro v o k e d E A
r e q u e s t a s s it a n c e
f o r m c o n tr o l A g e n c y
M o n it o r in g
tim e o u t
CA
d is tr i b u te b id d in g
e v a lu a te v a r /v o lta g e
s u p p o r t c a p a b ility
M o n it o r in g
t im e o u t
e x e c u te c o n tr a c t b y a u to n o m o u s c o n tr o l
EA
Fig.5. Coordination for multi-agent based SVC based on CNP in system contingencies
As seen from Fig.5., the CA has three work state
incuding monitoring, inviting biding and awarding contract.;
The EA has four work state including monitoring, bidding,
requesting and excuting. The process of coordinatin and
cooperation amomg control agent based on CNP is described
as following.
1. Generally, all of the control agent work in the
monitoring state. The EAs monitor voltages at nodes of
adjacent area; the CA monitors important nodes that none of
the EA can cover. State change is trigued by voltage violation
of a certain node. Monitoring state is the initial state of the
control agent and is also the final state after emergent control
finished.
2. Once voltage violation is detected by a certain EA, and
cannot be removed via the EA’s voluntary control actions, the
EA (called the provoked EA) should send request for voltage
regulating assistance to the CA. The provoked EA reports the
fault severity, and then run into the requesting state.
3.The CA distributes notice in bulllet board for voltage
support assitancee, inviting public biding. The notice
includes fault place and severity of voltage violation. The
EAs evaluate their own capablity of voltage support, and
apply the bidding according to var/voltage capablity,
self-limitation and control priority, then run into the biding
state.
4.The CA accepts EAs’ biding information reflecting the
operating state and var/voltage regulation capability of the
EA’s corresponding devices, and calculates an optimal
EA which is the most effective one to provide voltage
support. The EA work as a contrat/applicant Agent, applying
the bidding according to its own capability. The system
works in market mechanism for the better use of var resource.
Once voltage violation occur, coordination and cooperation
procedure based on CNP is decribed by work state transfer
diagram, as shown in Fig. 5.
R e q u e s tin g
f a il to s u p p o r t
v o lta g e
r e m o v e v o lta g e v io la tio n
e v a lu a te s u ita b le E A s
I n v itin g A w a r d in g
B id d in g C o n tr a c ts
s e a r c h f o r v o lta g e s u p p o r t
o f o th e r E A s
c o n f ir m
A p p ly s ig n c o n tr a c t s c o n tr a c t
p r o v id e v a r /v o l ta g e
su p p o rt
B id d in g E x e c u tin g
control sequence via optimal algorithm. Then the CA sends
confirmation message and awards the voltage regulation
contract to the first EA in control sequence. The contract task
involves the control target and control time of the voltage
regulating assistace. The chosen EA receiving the contract
starts to execute the control task，and then run into the
exeucting state.
5. The EAs in the biding state which don’t receive the
confirmation message in given timespan will return to the
monitoring state. The EA who receives the contract executes
the the votage regulation task signed in contract by
autonomous control (local secondary voltage control) and
then returns to the monitoring state.
6. After the CA receives confirmation message that the
contract is complete，the CA asks the provoked EA if the
voltage violation is removed. If it is, the CA returns to the
monitoring state，otherwise the CA should repeat to award
the voltage control contract to the next EA in optimal control
sequence for more voltage support until the violated voltage
recovers.
7.The CA in the biding state can’t receive the EA’s
bidding in given timspan means that voltage violation can
not be elimilated through secondary voltage control system.
In this case, the CA sends a message to the provoked EA
indicating that the CA fails to search voltage regulating
assistace, and then return to the monitoring state.
8. If the provoked EA in the requesting state can’t
receive the CA’s message in given timspan or receive a
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confirmation message, it returns to the monitoring state. the EA of each generator to change their set-points for
Within above process, the most important and crucial obtaining the desired system voltage level. From Fig.7 and
step is the calculation of optimal control sequence of EAs for Fig.9, it can be seen that the control actions of the proposed
taking the most effctive control action in contingencies. In scheme are capable of restoring original voltage value at
this paper, we use an genetic algorithm(GA) to solve the pilot buses and, therefore, guaranteeing an adequate
problem, desribed in[12]. system-wide voltage profile. The voltage curve of pilot bus
12 during the control procedure is shown in Fig.8. It can be
V. SIMULATIONS seen that the voltage at node 12 cannot recover to initial
To illustrate the performance and support the feasibility value without SVC. The conventional SVC adjusts voltage
of the proposed control scheme in practical power systems, a step by step. The overall time constant of the secondary loop
case study based on the well-known New England 39-bus is about 3 minutes. The multi-agent based SVC can obtain
system often used in relaible and voltage studies is presented the final result according to optimal model in section III and
in this section. This system, shown in Fig.6, includes 29 load decide the control target of each primary controller in one
buses, 9 generator buses, and one equivalent generator control step.
representing the interconnection with an extra network. Five
static var compensators are equipped in Nodes 4, 8, 11, 13,
14,17. The per-unit quantities are calculated with a 345kv,
100MVA base. According to the pilot selection method
reported in [10], nodes 5, 12, 16 and 20 are selected as pilot
buses.
The system condition obtained from optimal power
flow calculation is regarded as the initial operating state for
simulation, and the corresponding voltage profile is
presented in Fig. 7. In the simulation, the control behaviors Fig. 7. Voltage profile for the initial operating state on the New England
of the proposed control scheme under normal condition (no system
voltage violation) and system contingency are investigated,
respectively, on the test system. Three voltage control
schemes are adopted respectively, under identical system
condition, to compare the performance of different control
schemes. The first scheme does not have a SVC in the system.
The second scheme has a conventional SVC system installed.
The voltage control of pilot bus is performed in a stepwise
manner by solving a quadratic programming problem at
every control step, stated in [10]. For the third scheme, the
proposed multi-agent based SVC system is installed, and Without SVC
each controller of the generators and static var compensators
is set with a cooresponding EA. With conventional SVC
With multi-agent based SVC

Fig.8. Voltage response curves of pilot bus 12 under normal operating

condition

Fig. 6. The New England 39-bus system

For scenario 1, the reactive load at pilot bus 12
increases by 100Mvar at 1s. Fig. 7 shows the voltage profile
as a result of the disturbance without SVC and that after
secondary voltage control acts. In this case, with the
multi-agent based SVC scheme, no voltage violation is
detected by EAs when disturbance occurs, while the CA can
perceive the deviation of voltage at pilot bus 12 and direct
Fig. 9. Voltage profiles for scenario 1 on the New England system
For scenario 2, the reactive load of bus 12 increases by
200Mvar at 1s, and to make the situation worse, the line 7-8
is lost at 2s. The voltage at bus 12 will drop below the lowest
permissible value without SVC under this contingency
condition. Fig.10 shows the voltage response at bus 12, 13,
14 and 4 during the contingency. The conventional SVC

5
regulates the setting of the primary voltage controller in
every sample time (4s). As a result, it will take a relatively
long time to recover the voltage. The multi-agent based SVC
system acts in terms of steps described in section IV. B.
Firstly, the EA of Asvc11 detects the voltage violationat bus
12 and requests the CA for voltage regulating assistance,
then the system run into emengency work mode. Next, the
CA calculates optimal control sequence of the EAs according
to the EAs’ bidding information. The result in this case is
[Asvc13，Asvc14，Asvc4，Asvc8，AG3，AG2]. Then, the
CA awards voltage control contracts to the cooresponding
EAs one by one in the sequence until the voltage violation is
totally removed. As seen from Fig.10, the voltage level can
be raise by the control actions of the EA of Asvc13，Asvc14，
Asvc4, and then voltage violation at bus 12 can be quickly
eliminated.
(a) Voltage curve of fault bus 12
(b) Voltage curve of bus 13
(c) Voltage curve of bus 14
(c) Voltage curve of bus 4
Without SVC
With conventional SVC
With multi-agent based SVC
Fig. 10. Voltage response curves in system contingency
From the simulation results, it can be seen that the
proposed multi-agent based SVC scheme is very effective in
managing global voltage profile of power system as well as
settling local voltage violation problems in system
contingencies. Compared with conventional SVC, the
proposed control system is better for providing quick and
effective voltage support for removing voltage violation under
large disturbance condition. This ability is crucially helpful to
improving voltage stability in system contingencies.
VI. CONCLUSION
The multi-agent based secondary voltage control system
was proposed in this paper. Treating each controller as
corresponding control agent, the proposed scheme can
coordinate primary voltage controller quickly, effectively and
reliably, and then maintain an appropriate voltage profile
under both normal and contingency conditions. Simulation
results have illustrated the improved performance of the
novel control scheme in scenarios of system operation.
VII. REFERENCES
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VIII. AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES
Sheng Gehao was born in China in Nov. 1974. He received a
B.E., a M.E. and a PH.D. from Huazhong University of
Science and Technology (HUST), China, in 1996 and 1999,
respectively. He is currently a Post-doctor Fellow in Electrical
Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). His
research interests are in control theory and its applications to
automatic voltage control in power systems.
Jiang Xiuceng was born in China in Jan. 1965. He received a
M.E. and a PH.D. from Tsinghua University and SJTU, China,
respectively. He is presently a member of Department of
Electrical Engineering at SJTU, where he holds the rank of
Professor. His main fields of research include condition
monitoring and automation of power devices.