# Representation Learning Enhanced Deep Reinforcement Learning for Optimal Operation of Hydrogen-based Multi-Energy Systems

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.00027 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.00027/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in RL for energy, networks and operations, one of 15 directions in Deep reinforcement learning methods.
- Builds on 8 of its 22 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 17 Jan 2026.

## Placed in

- Deep reinforcement learning methods / [RL for energy, networks and operations](https://mlsanity.com/deeprl/rl-for-energy-networks-and-operations/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [Addressing Function Approximation Error in Actor-Critic Methods](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.09477/) (2018)
- [Learning Invariant Representations for Reinforcement Learning without Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.10742/) (2020)
- [Target-driven Visual Navigation in Indoor Scenes using Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.05143/) (2016)
- [Stochastic Latent Actor-Critic: Deep Reinforcement Learning with a Latent Variable Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.00953/) (2019)
- [Deep Spatial Autoencoders for Visuomotor Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1509.06113/) (2015)
- [For SALE: State-Action Representation Learning for Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.02451/) (2023)
- [CityLearn v2: Energy-flexible, resilient, occupant-centric, and carbon-aware management of grid-interactive communities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.03848/) (2024)
- [Long-Term Energy Management for Microgrid with Hybrid Hydrogen-Battery Energy Storage: A Prediction-Free Coordinated Optimization Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.21698/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Hydrogen-based multi-energy systems (HMES) have emerged as a promising low-carbon and energy-efficient solution, as it can enable the coordinated operation of electricity, heating and cooling supply and demand to enhance operational flexibility, improve overall energy efficiency, and increase the share of renewable integration. However, the optimal operation of HMES remains challenging due to the nonlinear and multi-physics coupled dynamics of hydrogen energy storage systems (HESS) (consisting of electrolyters, fuel cells and hydrogen tanks) as well as the presence of multiple uncertainties from supply and demand. To address these challenges, this paper develops a comprehensive operational model for HMES that fully captures the nonlinear dynamics and multi-physics process of HESS. Moreover, we propose an enhanced deep reinforcement learning (DRL) framework by integrating the emerging representation learning techniques, enabling substantially accelerated and improved policy optimization for spatially and temporally coupled complex networked systems, which is not provided by conventional DRL. Experimental studies based on real-world datasets show that the comprehensive model is crucial to ensure the safe and reliable of HESS. In addition, the proposed SR-DRL approaches demonstrate superior convergence rate and performance over conventional DRL counterparts in terms of reducing the operation cost of HMES and handling the system operating constraints. Finally, we provide some insights into the role of representation learning in DRL, speculating that it can reorganize the original state space into a well-structured and cluster-aware geometric representation, thereby smoothing and facilitating the learning process of DRL.