Comparative Study on Game-Theoretic Optimum Sizing and Economical Analysis of a Networked Microgrid

In this paper, two techniques of game theory are considered for sizing and comparative analysis of a grid-connected networked microgrid, based on a multi-objective imperialistic competition algorithm (ICA) for system optimization. The selected networked microgrid, which consists of two different grid-connected microgrids with common electrical load and main grid, might have different combinations of generation resources including wind turbine, photovoltaic panels, and batteries. The game theory technique of Nash equilibrium is developed to perform the effective sizing of the networked microgrid in which capacities of the generation resources and batteries are considered as players and annual profit as payoff. In order to meet the equilibrium point and the optimum sizes of generation resources, all possible coalitions between the players are considered; ICA, which is frequently used in optimization applications, is implemented using MATLAB software. Both techniques of game theory, Shapley values and Nash equilibrium, are used to find the annual profit of each microgrid, and results are compared based on optimum sizing, and maximum values of annual profit are identified. Finally, in order to validate the results of the networked microgrid, the sensitivity analysis is studied to examine the impact of electricity price and discount rates on maximum values of profit for both game theory techniques.