European Distributed Energy Resources Laboratories

Grid codes around the world are requiring grid-support functions (GSFs) and standardized interoperability interfaces for distributed energy resources (DERs) to address the rapid increase of renewable energy. However, these new GSFs need to be assessed to ensure the desired power and communication capabilities exist in the field. The IEEE 1547.1 standard outlines the conformance test procedures for DER devices and is currently undergoing a major revision to align it with IEEE 1547–2018. Once it is published (anticipated in mid-2020), GSFs in commercial PV inverters in USA and Canada will be certified to the IEEE 1547.1 conformance test procedures. Several international research laboratories are collaborating to develop a versatile open-source DER testing platform that performs automated testing of DER devices. This community of laboratories is developing open-source IEEE Std. 1547.1 test scripts to lower barriers to DER vendor internal equipment evaluations, ease product compliance testing at certification laboratories, and provide research institutions a tool to study DER behaviors. In this work, test scripts were used for test verification of GSFs, including limit active power, constant reactive power, active power-reactive power (watt-var), and prioritization of GSF response for several DER devices. Sample test results for these DER GSFs and test protocol recommendations are presented in this paper.

Abstract Cyber-physical energy systems or smart grids tend to higher complexity due to the integration of renewables as well as the usage of advanced information and communication technology which is briefly outlined within this chapter. Moreover, the needs for system-level validation approaches, methods, and corresponding tools are discussed. Those needs are tackled by the ERIGrid approach which is also briefly sketched and introduced.

The Energy transition is the pathway towards the decarbonisation of the energy system. Transformation of the European energy sector requires urgent action on a pan-European scale, and while a global energy transition is underway, further research actions and incentives for innovation are needed to deliver the smart grids concept and the RES integration under energy efficiency. For this reason, synergy work on national, regional and European level are pivotal in the development work of the Energy transition. Prerequisites for a smooth transition are: A solid R&I network for all countries, analytical knowledge of the R&I status, systematic information to all EU countries equally on how investments in smart grids can be beneficial and the means on how they achieve that. PANTERA aims to address at the same time all prerequisites and thus facilitate the synergy work in Europe by developing a multi-dimensional platform of pan-European status and influence, capable of leveraging coherence and trust as a pull towards enhanced R&I in energy systems centered around an integrated grid active and responsive.

Most ongoing activities in the field of network stability support are made by pure simulation studies. In order to accelerate progresses and lower costs of design during development phases, new methods for verifying ideas and inventions have to be developed. The authors propose to utilise a power hardware-in-the-loop test bench for large-scale power system stability analysis. The advantage of this approach is that, e.g. new controls implemented for power electronic coupled generation can be directly studied concerning their impact on large-scale power system stability. This approach is shown for two different study cases; both featuring high penetration of power electronics interfaced distributed generation units in the electrical networks.