1. Context

1.1 Developments in power system management

Today's power systems are predominantly centralized. Generating units, generally of considerable size (on the order of 400 MW for a combined-cycle gas power plant, 1 GW for a second-generation nuclear reactor), are grouped together on the so-called "transmission" network, and the network operator is directly involved in their management. Consumers are supplied via the distribution network. In this way, energy flows are unidirectional, directed from the production poles to the consumption poles (figure 1 ). In contrast, in a decentralized system, producers and consumers are interconnected via a distribution network. Decentralized management,...