A multi-layer Petri net model for deregulated electric power systems

This paper proposes a hybrid multilayer Petri net model for electric power systems. The base layer is the physical layer, which represents the physical flow in a power system. On top of it are information layers to model information flows, which schedule the physical flow via discrete tokens. In between, there is an interface layer coded as programs and functioning as a control agent. An extension of continuous Petri nets, called a variable arc weighting Petri net (VAWPN), is introduced to simulate the physical layer, in which vector tokens are used to match the information flows to the physical flows. The operation of a VAWPN is presented. A three-zone example of a power system dispatch model is used to illustrate the concepts.