Efficient Coordinated Power Distribution on Private Infrastructure

Current power distribution network design makes it attractive for agents to generate their own power (distributed generation) and to construct private infrastructure (e.g., distribution lines) to exchange power without using the main public grid. We show that such private transactions may increase overall network load because of increased transmission distances, thus increasing resistive losses. We present a coordination scheme for the centralized control of private infrastructure that satisfies participation constraints and budget balance. Experiments show that our scheme reduces distribution losses by 4-5% when there are only a constant number of private lines and by 55%-60% when the number of private lines is proportional to the number of agents.