Tao, Haochen;
Wu, Jinhui;
Casagrande, Vittorio;
Boem, Francesca;
(2025)
A Distributed MPC-Guided Safe Reinforcement Learning for Load Frequency Control in Interconnected Microgrids.
In:
Proceedings of the IFAC Joint Conference on Computers, Cognition, and Communication 2025.
IFAC: Padova, Italy.
(In press).
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Abstract
Learning-based controllers may offer advantageous performance in systems with model uncertainty but often lack safety guarantees. This paper introduces a distributed safe Reinforcement Learning (RL) architecture, where a decentralised learning-based controller is guided by a distributed Model Predictive Control (diMPC)-based safety checker. Each subsystem in the network of interconnected systems is controlled by a local reinforcement learning (RL) agent using local data only. The proposed framework exploits a distributed tube-based model predictive control logic to design local safety checkers, ensuring recursive feasibility and safety of the global system, as well as providing robustness with respect to external disturbances and coupling effects. Moreover, the local safety checker actively guides the local RL agent via a reward shaping technique, taking into account of safe or unsafe behaviour. Preliminary simulation analysis shows the effectiveness of the proposed approach for the load frequency control in a network of nonlinear interconnected microgrid systems.
| Type: | Proceedings paper |
|---|---|
| Title: | A Distributed MPC-Guided Safe Reinforcement Learning for Load Frequency Control in Interconnected Microgrids |
| Event: | J3C 2025: IFAC Joint Conference on Computers, Cognition, and Communication |
| Location: | Padua |
| Dates: | 15 Sep 2025 - 18 Sep 2025 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Publisher version: | https://j3c.org/ |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work has been supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (grant reference: EP/W024411/1). For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising. |
| Keywords: | Model predictive control, reinforcement learning, load frequency control, microgrids |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Electronic and Electrical Eng |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10211512 |
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