An MAS based energy management system for a stand-alone microgrid at high altitude

•An energy management system based on MAS is developed for a stand-alone microgrid.•Practical operation conditions and considerations for microgrid at high altitude are presented.•A virtual bidding strategy is proposed to quickly establish operation schedule and capacity reserve.•Model predictive control is used in real-time power dispatches to compensate the power control error of the DGs.•The MAS and the proposed methods are implemented and verified in a RTDS–PXI joint real-time simulation platform.