Energy optimization management of microgrid using improved soft actor-critic algorithm

Abstract

To tackle the challenges associated with variability and uncertainty in distributed power generation, as well as the complexities of solving high-dimensional energy management mathematical models in mi-crogrid energy optimization, a microgrid energy optimization management method is proposed based on an improved soft actor-critic algorithm. In the proposed method, the improved soft actor-critic algorithm employs an entropy-based objective function to encourage target exploration without assigning signifi-cantly higher probabilities to any part of the action space, which can simplify the analysis process of distributed power generation variability and uncertainty while effectively mitigating the convergence fragility issues in solving the high-dimensional mathematical model of microgrid energy management. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated through a case study analysis of microgrid energy op-timization management. The results revealed an increase of 51.20%, 52.38%, 13.43%, 16.50%, 58.26%, and 36.33% in the total profits of a microgrid compared with the Deep Q-network algorithm, the state-action-reward-state-action algorithm, the proximal policy optimization algorithm, the ant-colony based algorithm, a microgrid energy optimization management strategy based on the genetic algorithm and the fuzzy inference system, and the theoretical retailer stragety, respectively. Additionally, com-pared with other methods and strategies, the proposed method can learn more optimal microgrid energy management behaviors and anticipate fluctuations in electricity prices and demand.

Keywords

• energy optimization management
• electricity rate
• microgrid
• reinforcement learning
• soft actor-critic algorithm