Synthetic Grid Generator: Synthesizing Large-Scale Power Distribution Grids using Open Street Map

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method for generating large-scale synthetic power distribution grids using Open Street Map data, enabling realistic testing without real-world data collection.

Contribution

The paper presents a new algorithm that constructs realistic synthetic distribution grids from geospatial data, facilitating large-scale power system studies without real data.

Findings

Syngrids can perform power-flow and short-circuit calculations successfully.

Topological and electrical characteristics of Syngrids closely match real grids.

An open-source web platform for synthetic grid generation is provided.

Abstract

Nowadays, various stakeholders involved in the analysis of electric power distribution grids face difficulties in the data acquisition related to the grid topology and parameters of grid assets. To mitigate the problem and possibly accelerate the accomplishment of grid studies without access to real data, we propose a novel approach for generating synthetic distribution grids (Syngrids) of (almost) arbitrary size replicating the characteristics of real medium- and low-voltage distribution networks. The method enables large-scale testing without incurring the burden of retrieving and pre-processing real-world data. The proposed algorithm exploits the publicly available information of Open Street Map (OSM). By leveraging geospatial data of real buildings and road networks, the approach allows to construct a Syngrid of chosen size with realistic topology and electrical parameters. It is shown that typical power-flow and short-circuit calculations can be performed on Syngrids ensuring convergence. Within the context of validating the effectiveness of the algorithm and the meaningful similarity of the output to real grids, the topological and electrical characteristics of a Syngrid are compared to their real-world counterparts. Finally, an open-source web platform named as Synthetic Grid Generator (SGG) and based on the proposed algorithm can be used by various stakeholders for the creation of synthetic grids.