A co-simulation platform for medium/low voltage monitoring and control applications

Abstract

Translate Article

The increasing demand for electricity and the penetration of renewable energy resources into the electrical grid are triggering the electric power system to undergo changes and complex modifications at high, medium and low voltage levels. There are large and complex projects like Smart Grid Gotland that are developing solutions to deal with these challenges. However, there are several scenarios that could be more practical to be first studied at the simulation level. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to propose and develop a co-simulation platform that allows performing real-time monitoring and control tests and simulations for MV/LV grids. This platform combines both electrical and information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure simulations. It consists of a real-time power system simulator (Opal-RT) connected to a communication network emulator (OPNET) through an automatic meter reading interface that is based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) and low cost devices like Raspberry Pi and Arduino boards. The platform allows the analysis of realistic MV/LV grids and communication networks and will facilitate the simulation and comparison of low voltage control strategies for real-time test scenarios that could be more complicated to test in the reality due to cost and complexity aspects (i.e. high power losses on the low voltage grid).