Real-time simulation and hardware-in-the-loop approaches for integrating renewable energy sources into smart grids : challenges & actions

The integration of distributed renewable energy sources and the multi-domain behaviours inside the cyber-physical energy system (smart grids) draws up major challenges. Their validation and roll out requires careful assessment, in term of modelling, simulation and testing. The traditional approach focusing on a particular object, actual hardware or a detailed model, while drastically simplifying the remainder of the system under test, is no longer sufficient. Real-time simulation and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) techniques emerge as indispensable tools for validating the behaviour of renewable sources as well as their impact/interaction to with the cyber-physical energy system. This paper aims to provide an overview of the present status-quo of real-time and HIL approaches used for smart grids and their readiness for cyber-physical experiments. We investigate the current limitations of HIL techniques and point out necessary future developments. Subsequently, the paper highlights challenges that need specific attention as well as ongoing actions and further research directions

Laboratory coupling approach

This chapter deals with the coupling of smart grid laboratories for joint experiments. Therefore, various possibilities are outlined and a reference implementation is introduced. Finally, the vision of a distributed, virtual research infrastructure is presented

Education and training needs, methods, and tools

The importance of education and training in the domain of power and energy systems targeting the topics of cyber-physical energy systems/smart grids is discussed in this chapter. State-of-the art laboratory-based and simulation-based tools are presented, aiming to address the new educational needs

Hardware-in-the-loop assessment methods

The importance of using real-time simulation and hardware-in-the-loop techniques for the domain of power and energy systems is covered by this chapter. A brief overview of the main concepts is provided as well as a method for their integration into a holistic validation framework for testing smart grid systems. Also, corresponding reference implementations are outlined

An Integrated Research Infrastructure for Validating Cyber-Physical Energy Systems

Renewables are key enablers in the plight to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and cope with anthropogenic global warming. The intermittent nature and limited storage capabilities of renewables culminate in new challenges that power system operators have to deal with in order to regulate power quality and ensure security of supply. At the same time, the increased availability of advanced automation and communication technologies provides new opportunities for the derivation of intelligent solutions to tackle the challenges. Previous work has shown various new methods of operating highly interconnected power grids, and their corresponding components, in a more effective way. As a consequence of these developments, the traditional power system is being transformed into a cyber-physical energy system, a smart grid. Previous and ongoing research have tended to mainly focus on how specific aspects of smart grids can be validated, but until there exists no integrated approach for the analysis and evaluation of complex cyber-physical systems configurations. This paper introduces integrated research infrastructure that provides methods and tools for validating smart grid systems in a holistic, cyber-physical manner. The corresponding concepts are currently being developed further in the European project ERIGrid.Comment: 8th International Conference on Industrial Applications of Holonic and Multi-Agent Systems (HoloMAS 2017

An integrated pan-European research infrastructure for validating smart grid systems

A driving force for the realization of a sustainable energy supply in Europe is the integration of distributed, renewable energy resources. Due to their dynamic and stochastic generation behaviour, utilities and network operators are confronted with a more complex operation of the underlying distribution grids. Additionally, due to the higher flexibility on the consumer side through partly controllable loads, ongoing changes of regulatory rules, technology developments, and the liberalization of energy markets, the system’s operation needs adaptation. Sophisticated design approaches together with proper operational concepts and intelligent automation provide the basis to turn the existing power system into an intelligent entity, a so-called smart grid. While reaping the benefits that come along with those intelligent behaviours, it is expected that the system-level testing will play a significantly larger role in the development of future solutions and technologies. Proper validation approaches, concepts, and corresponding tools are partly missing until now. This paper addresses these issues by discussing the progress in the integrated Pan-European research infrastructure project ERIGrid where proper validation methods and tools are currently being developed for validating smart grid systems and solutions.This work is supported by the European Community’s Horizon 2020 Program (H2020/2014-2020) under project “ERIGrid” (Grant Agreement No. 654113). Further information is available at the corresponding website www.erigrid.eu

Advanced hardware-in-the-loop testing chain for investigating interactions between smart grid components during transients

Aiming to investigate the possible interactions between smart grid components during transient events, an advanced hardware-in-the-loop testing chain for the validation of novel smart grid solutions is proposed in this paper. The testing chain is directed towards both academic and industrial hardware-in-the-loop users, e.g., relay manufacturers, power electronics manufacturers and DSOs/TSOs. All different hardware-in-the-loop simulation setups, ranging from simple local simulations up to more elaborate, power hardware-in-the-loop simulations, are discussed, forming a solid testing chain. The interactions during transients, which can be investigated at each step, are analytically derived to emphasize the insights that each step can offer to the performed component validation. To highlight the applicability of the proposed hardware-in-the-loop testing chain, when validating smart grid components, a case study concerning the testing of a microgrid transition algorithm, between the interconnected and islanded modes of operation, is considered for a real microgrid. Particularly, the interactions between an advanced grid-forming inverter and the already existing grid-following inverters of the microgrid are investigated during normal and abnormal grid conditions, while following the appropriate steps of the proposed testing chain

From Scenarios to Use Cases, Test Cases and Validation Examples

Selected validation scenarios and corresponding test cases in the context of the ERIGrid project are presented in this chapter. Furthermore, the benefits of using the ERIGrid validation method and testing tools are discussed on the realized system validation examples.publishedVersio

EMC Issues in the Interaction Between Smart Meters and Power-Electronic Interfaces

Electronic-smart meters are increasingly installed in electricity networks of many countries. In several cases, their operation in parallel with photovoltaic inverters and other powerelectronic devices can result in measurement errors reaching up to 45%. In practice, this problem cannot be tackled by current standards due to the gap in standardization of electromagnetic immunity and emissions in the 2-150 kHz range. This paper provides a comprehensive review of international and national standards, guidelines, technical reports, and papers on this challenging electromagnetic-compatibility issue highlighting the gap in the 2150 kHz range. The ongoing standardization activity to establish both emission and immunity levels and suitable testing procedures is described in detail. Laboratory setups for testing the immunity of smart meters and the emissions of grid-tie inverters are described and experimental results to validate the suitability of the proposed approaches are presented