Asynchronous Integration of Real-Time Simulators for HIL-based Validation of Smart Grids

TL;DR

This paper explores integrating real-time simulators into co-simulation environments to enable system-level validation of complex smart grid scenarios involving multiple domains and physical devices.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach for system-level testing of smart grids by asynchronously integrating real-time simulators into co-simulation setups, with practical implementations and performance analysis.

Findings

Successful integration of real-time simulators with co-simulation environments

Demonstrated capabilities through control-related smart grid examples

Performance metrics show feasibility for complex system validation

Abstract

As the landscape of devices that interact with the electrical grid expands, also the complexity of the scenarios that arise from these interactions increases. Validation methods and tools are typically domain specific and are designed to approach mainly component level testing. For this kind of applications, software and hardware-in-the-loop based simulations as well as lab experiments are all tools that allow testing with different degrees of accuracy at various stages in the development life-cycle. However, things are vastly different when analysing the tools and the methodology available for performing system-level validation. Until now there are no available well-defined approaches for testing complex use cases involving components from different domains. Smart grid applications would typically include a relatively large number of physical devices, software components, as well as communication technology, all working hand in hand. This paper explores the possibilities that are opened in terms of testing by the integration of a real-time simulator into co-simulation environments. Three practical implementations of such systems together with performance metrics are discussed. Two control-related examples are selected in order to show the capabilities of the proposed approach.