Data-driven load frequency control for stochastic power systems : a deep reinforcement learning method with continuous action search

Abstract

This letter proposes a data-driven, model-free method for load frequency control (LFC) against renewable energy uncertainties based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL) in continuous action domain. The proposed method can nonlinearly derive control strategies to minimize frequency deviation with faster response speed and stronger adaptability for unmolded system dynamics. It consists of offline optimization of LFC strategies with DRL and continuous action search, and online control with policy network where features are extracted by stacked denoising auto-encoders. Numerical simulations verify the effectiveness and advantages of proposed method over existing approaches.