M. Sc. Mohamed Hassouna

Autonomous Energy Systems (AESy)

E-Mail: mohamed.hassouna[at]uni-kassel[dot]de

Publikationen

[ 2026 ]
[ 2025 ]
[ 2024 ]
[ 2022 ]

2026[ to top ]

Learning Topology Actions for Power Grid Control: A Graph-Based Soft-Label Imitation Learning Approach.Hassouna, Mohamed; Holzhüter, Clara; Lehna, Malte; de Jong, Matthijs; Viebahn, Jan; Sick, Bernhard; Scholz, Christoph. In European Conference on Machine Learning and Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (ECMLPKDD), bll 129–146. Springer, 2026.
- [ Abstract ]
- [ BibTeX ]
- [ EndNote ]
- [ URL ]
The rising proportion of renewable energy in the electricity mix introduces significant operational challenges for power grid operators. Effective power grid management demands adaptive decision-making strategies capable of handling dynamic conditions. With the increase in complexity, more and more Deep Learning (DL) approaches have been proposed to find suitable grid topologies for congestion management. In this work, we contribute to this research by introducing a novel Imitation Learning (IL) approach that leverages soft labels derived from simulated topological action outcomes, thereby capturing multiple viable actions per state. Unlike traditional IL methods that rely on hard labels to enforce a single optimal action, our method constructs soft labels that capture the effectiveness of actions that prove suitable in resolving grid congestion. To further enhance decision-making, we integrate Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) to encode the structural properties of power grids, ensuring that the topology-aware representations contribute to better agent performance. Our approach significantly outperforms its hard-label counterparts as well as state-of-the-art Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) baseline agents. Most notably, it achieves a 17% better performance compared to the greedy expert agent from which the imitation targets were derived.
@inproceedings{hassouna2025learning, abstract = {The rising proportion of renewable energy in the electricity mix introduces significant operational challenges for power grid operators. Effective power grid management demands adaptive decision-making strategies capable of handling dynamic conditions. With the increase in complexity, more and more Deep Learning (DL) approaches have been proposed to find suitable grid topologies for congestion management. In this work, we contribute to this research by introducing a novel Imitation Learning (IL) approach that leverages soft labels derived from simulated topological action outcomes, thereby capturing multiple viable actions per state. Unlike traditional IL methods that rely on hard labels to enforce a single optimal action, our method constructs soft labels that capture the effectiveness of actions that prove suitable in resolving grid congestion. To further enhance decision-making, we integrate Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) to encode the structural properties of power grids, ensuring that the topology-aware representations contribute to better agent performance. Our approach significantly outperforms its hard-label counterparts as well as state-of-the-art Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) baseline agents. Most notably, it achieves a 17% better performance compared to the greedy expert agent from which the imitation targets were derived.}, author = {Hassouna, Mohamed and Holzhüter, Clara and Lehna, Malte and de Jong, Matthijs and Viebahn, Jan and Sick, Bernhard and Scholz, Christoph}, booktitle = {European Conference on Machine Learning and Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (ECMLPKDD)}, keywords = {itegpub}, pages = {129–146}, publisher = {Springer}, title = {Learning Topology Actions for Power Grid Control: A Graph-Based Soft-Label Imitation Learning Approach}, year = 2026 }
%0 Conference Paper %1 hassouna2025learning %A Hassouna, Mohamed %A Holzhüter, Clara %A Lehna, Malte %A de Jong, Matthijs %A Viebahn, Jan %A Sick, Bernhard %A Scholz, Christoph %B European Conference on Machine Learning and Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (ECMLPKDD) %D 2026 %I Springer %P 129--146 %R 10.1007/978-3-032-06129-4_8 %T Learning Topology Actions for Power Grid Control: A Graph-Based Soft-Label Imitation Learning Approach %U https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-032-06129-4_8 %X The rising proportion of renewable energy in the electricity mix introduces significant operational challenges for power grid operators. Effective power grid management demands adaptive decision-making strategies capable of handling dynamic conditions. With the increase in complexity, more and more Deep Learning (DL) approaches have been proposed to find suitable grid topologies for congestion management. In this work, we contribute to this research by introducing a novel Imitation Learning (IL) approach that leverages soft labels derived from simulated topological action outcomes, thereby capturing multiple viable actions per state. Unlike traditional IL methods that rely on hard labels to enforce a single optimal action, our method constructs soft labels that capture the effectiveness of actions that prove suitable in resolving grid congestion. To further enhance decision-making, we integrate Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) to encode the structural properties of power grids, ensuring that the topology-aware representations contribute to better agent performance. Our approach significantly outperforms its hard-label counterparts as well as state-of-the-art Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) baseline agents. Most notably, it achieves a 17% better performance compared to the greedy expert agent from which the imitation targets were derived.

2025[ to top ]

Graph Neural Networks for Grid Control: Prospects in AI-assisted Transmission Grid Operation.Holzhueter, Clara; Lytaev, Pawel; Dipp, Marcel; Hassouna, Mohamed; Brendlinger, Kurt; Viebahn, Jan; Gegelman, Wiktor; Merz, Christian. In ETG Kongress 2025; Voller Energie – heute und morgen., bll 874–881. VDE, 2025.
- [ Abstract ]
- [ BibTeX ]
- [ EndNote ]
- [ URL ]
Transmission grid congestion management and outage planning are critical tasks in modern grid operation due to the non-linear nature of power flows and the large-scale optimization challenges faced by operators. Traditionally, overloads are addressed through generator redispatch, a costly and therefore suboptimal measure. In the project "Graph Neural Networks for Grid Control" (GNN4GC), we investigate alternative strategies, focusing on topological remedial actions that could minimize or even completely eliminate redispatch costs. Topology optimization, a core aspect of this project, presents significant challenges due to its combinatorial nature, requiring extensive computational resources for power flow calculations. To address this, GNN4GC is split into three stages. In the first stage, we explore the use of Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) to accelerate these calculations and benchmark their performance against established tools like pandapower and a DC power flow solver developed by 50Hertz Transmission GmbH and TenneT TSO GmbH. In the second stage, we use Reinforcement Learning and other heuristics to select suitable topologies and solve the topology optimization problem. As a third stage, we test the respective agent on real-life grids to benchmark the methodology. The aim of the final stage is to build a recommender system that can be used in a control room in the future.
@inproceedings{holzhueter2025graph, abstract = {Transmission grid congestion management and outage planning are critical tasks in modern grid operation due to the non-linear nature of power flows and the large-scale optimization challenges faced by operators. Traditionally, overloads are addressed through generator redispatch, a costly and therefore suboptimal measure. In the project "Graph Neural Networks for Grid Control" (GNN4GC), we investigate alternative strategies, focusing on topological remedial actions that could minimize or even completely eliminate redispatch costs. Topology optimization, a core aspect of this project, presents significant challenges due to its combinatorial nature, requiring extensive computational resources for power flow calculations. To address this, GNN4GC is split into three stages. In the first stage, we explore the use of Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) to accelerate these calculations and benchmark their performance against established tools like pandapower and a DC power flow solver developed by 50Hertz Transmission GmbH and TenneT TSO GmbH. In the second stage, we use Reinforcement Learning and other heuristics to select suitable topologies and solve the topology optimization problem. As a third stage, we test the respective agent on real-life grids to benchmark the methodology. The aim of the final stage is to build a recommender system that can be used in a control room in the future.}, author = {Holzhueter, Clara and Lytaev, Pawel and Dipp, Marcel and Hassouna, Mohamed and Brendlinger, Kurt and Viebahn, Jan and Gegelman, Wiktor and Merz, Christian}, booktitle = {ETG Kongress 2025; Voller Energie – heute und morgen.}, keywords = {itegpub}, pages = {874–881}, publisher = {VDE}, title = {Graph Neural Networks for Grid Control: Prospects in AI-assisted Transmission Grid Operation}, year = 2025 }
%0 Conference Paper %1 holzhueter2025graph %A Holzhueter, Clara %A Lytaev, Pawel %A Dipp, Marcel %A Hassouna, Mohamed %A Brendlinger, Kurt %A Viebahn, Jan %A Gegelman, Wiktor %A Merz, Christian %B ETG Kongress 2025; Voller Energie – heute und morgen. %D 2025 %I VDE %P 874--881 %T Graph Neural Networks for Grid Control: Prospects in AI-assisted Transmission Grid Operation %U https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/11201946 %X Transmission grid congestion management and outage planning are critical tasks in modern grid operation due to the non-linear nature of power flows and the large-scale optimization challenges faced by operators. Traditionally, overloads are addressed through generator redispatch, a costly and therefore suboptimal measure. In the project "Graph Neural Networks for Grid Control" (GNN4GC), we investigate alternative strategies, focusing on topological remedial actions that could minimize or even completely eliminate redispatch costs. Topology optimization, a core aspect of this project, presents significant challenges due to its combinatorial nature, requiring extensive computational resources for power flow calculations. To address this, GNN4GC is split into three stages. In the first stage, we explore the use of Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) to accelerate these calculations and benchmark their performance against established tools like pandapower and a DC power flow solver developed by 50Hertz Transmission GmbH and TenneT TSO GmbH. In the second stage, we use Reinforcement Learning and other heuristics to select suitable topologies and solve the topology optimization problem. As a third stage, we test the respective agent on real-life grids to benchmark the methodology. The aim of the final stage is to build a recommender system that can be used in a control room in the future.

2024[ to top ]

Fault Detection for Agents in Power Grid Topology Optimization: A Comprehensive Analysis.Lehna, Malte; Hassouna, Mohamed; Degtyar, Dmitry; Tomforde, Sven; Scholz, Christoph. In Machine Learning for Sustainable Power Systems (ML4SPS), ECML. Springer, 2024.
- [ Abstract ]
- [ BibTeX ]
- [ EndNote ]
Optimizing the topology of transmission networks using Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) has increasingly come into focus. Various DRL agents have been proposed, which are mostly benchmarked on the Grid2Op environment from the Learning to Run a Power Network (L2RPN) challenges. The environments have many advantages with their realistic chronics and underlying power flow backends. However, the interpretation of agent survival or failure is not always clear, as there are a variety of potential causes. In this work, we focus on the failures of the power grid simulation to identify patterns and detect them in advance. We collect the failed chronics of three different agents on the WCCI 2022 L2RPN environment, totaling about 40k data points. By clustering, we are able to detect five distinct clusters, identifying common failure types. Further, we propose a multi-class prediction approach to detect failures beforehand and evaluate five different prediction models. Here, the Light Gradient-Boosting Machine (LightGBM) shows the best failure detection performance, with an accuracy of 86%. It also correctly identifies in 91% of the time failure and survival observations. Finally, we provide a detailed feature importance analysis that identifies critical features and regions in the grid.
@inproceedings{lehna2024fault, abstract = {Optimizing the topology of transmission networks using Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) has increasingly come into focus. Various DRL agents have been proposed, which are mostly benchmarked on the Grid2Op environment from the Learning to Run a Power Network (L2RPN) challenges. The environments have many advantages with their realistic chronics and underlying power flow backends. However, the interpretation of agent survival or failure is not always clear, as there are a variety of potential causes. In this work, we focus on the failures of the power grid simulation to identify patterns and detect them in advance. We collect the failed chronics of three different agents on the WCCI 2022 L2RPN environment, totaling about 40k data points. By clustering, we are able to detect five distinct clusters, identifying common failure types. Further, we propose a multi-class prediction approach to detect failures beforehand and evaluate five different prediction models. Here, the Light Gradient-Boosting Machine (LightGBM) shows the best failure detection performance, with an accuracy of 86%. It also correctly identifies in 91% of the time failure and survival observations. Finally, we provide a detailed feature importance analysis that identifies critical features and regions in the grid.}, author = {Lehna, Malte and Hassouna, Mohamed and Degtyar, Dmitry and Tomforde, Sven and Scholz, Christoph}, booktitle = {Machine Learning for Sustainable Power Systems (ML4SPS), ECML}, keywords = {itegpub}, note = {(accepted)}, publisher = {Springer}, title = {Fault Detection for Agents in Power Grid Topology Optimization: A Comprehensive Analysis}, year = 2024 }
%0 Conference Paper %1 lehna2024fault %A Lehna, Malte %A Hassouna, Mohamed %A Degtyar, Dmitry %A Tomforde, Sven %A Scholz, Christoph %B Machine Learning for Sustainable Power Systems (ML4SPS), ECML %D 2024 %I Springer %T Fault Detection for Agents in Power Grid Topology Optimization: A Comprehensive Analysis %X Optimizing the topology of transmission networks using Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) has increasingly come into focus. Various DRL agents have been proposed, which are mostly benchmarked on the Grid2Op environment from the Learning to Run a Power Network (L2RPN) challenges. The environments have many advantages with their realistic chronics and underlying power flow backends. However, the interpretation of agent survival or failure is not always clear, as there are a variety of potential causes. In this work, we focus on the failures of the power grid simulation to identify patterns and detect them in advance. We collect the failed chronics of three different agents on the WCCI 2022 L2RPN environment, totaling about 40k data points. By clustering, we are able to detect five distinct clusters, identifying common failure types. Further, we propose a multi-class prediction approach to detect failures beforehand and evaluate five different prediction models. Here, the Light Gradient-Boosting Machine (LightGBM) shows the best failure detection performance, with an accuracy of 86%. It also correctly identifies in 91% of the time failure and survival observations. Finally, we provide a detailed feature importance analysis that identifies critical features and regions in the grid.

2022[ to top ]

Self-Adaptive Charging Management in Electric Vehicle Infrastructures based on Reinforcement Learning.Hassouna, Mohamed. In Organic Computing -- Doctoral Dissertation Colloquium 2022, S. Tomforde, C. Krupitzer (reds.), bll 1–16. kassel university press, 2022.
- [ Abstract ]
- [ BibTeX ]
- [ EndNote ]
Electromobility plays an increasingly important role in the energy transition. Electric vehicle charging poses challenges to the electricity grid due to high peak demand situations. Therefore, it is crucial to leverage the vehicle's flexibility when charging can be delayed. Conventional charging management systems cannot adapt to frequently changing conditions such as fluctuating renewable energy output, electricity prices and user behavior. In this article, we investigate the application of reinforcement learning approaches for self-adaptive charging management. In particular, we identify challenges regarding realistic environments and adaption to varying topologies and connections among charging stations. We describe related approaches and propose ideas and planned experiments to overcome these problems by utilizing generative models and graph neural networks.
@incollection{hassouna2022self, abstract = {Electromobility plays an increasingly important role in the energy transition. Electric vehicle charging poses challenges to the electricity grid due to high peak demand situations. Therefore, it is crucial to leverage the vehicle's flexibility when charging can be delayed. Conventional charging management systems cannot adapt to frequently changing conditions such as fluctuating renewable energy output, electricity prices and user behavior. In this article, we investigate the application of reinforcement learning approaches for self-adaptive charging management. In particular, we identify challenges regarding realistic environments and adaption to varying topologies and connections among charging stations. We describe related approaches and propose ideas and planned experiments to overcome these problems by utilizing generative models and graph neural networks.}, author = {Hassouna, Mohamed}, booktitle = {Organic Computing – Doctoral Dissertation Colloquium 2022}, editor = {Tomforde, Sven and Krupitzer, Christian}, keywords = {itegpub}, pages = {1–16}, publisher = {kassel university press}, title = {Self-Adaptive Charging Management in Electric Vehicle Infrastructures based on Reinforcement Learning}, year = 2022 }
%0 Book Section %1 hassouna2022self %A Hassouna, Mohamed %B Organic Computing -- Doctoral Dissertation Colloquium 2022 %D 2022 %E Tomforde, Sven %E Krupitzer, Christian %I kassel university press %P 1--16 %T Self-Adaptive Charging Management in Electric Vehicle Infrastructures based on Reinforcement Learning %X Electromobility plays an increasingly important role in the energy transition. Electric vehicle charging poses challenges to the electricity grid due to high peak demand situations. Therefore, it is crucial to leverage the vehicle's flexibility when charging can be delayed. Conventional charging management systems cannot adapt to frequently changing conditions such as fluctuating renewable energy output, electricity prices and user behavior. In this article, we investigate the application of reinforcement learning approaches for self-adaptive charging management. In particular, we identify challenges regarding realistic environments and adaption to varying topologies and connections among charging stations. We describe related approaches and propose ideas and planned experiments to overcome these problems by utilizing generative models and graph neural networks.