Towards holistic power distribution system validation and testing—an overview and discussion of different possibilities

Abstract

Renewable energy sources are key enablers to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and to cope with the anthropogenic global warming. Their intermittent behaviour and limited storage capabilities present challenges to power system operators in maintaining the high level of power quality and reliability. However, the increased availability of advanced automation and communication technologies has provided new intelligent solutions to face these challenges. Previous work has presented various new methods to operate highly interconnected power grids with corresponding components in a more effective way. As a consequence of these developments the traditional power system is transformed into a cyber-physical system, a smart grid.Previous and ongoing research activities have mainly focused on validating certain aspects of smart grids, but until now no integrated approach for analysing and evaluating complex configurations in a cyber-physical systems manner is available. This paper tackles this issue and addresses system validation approaches for smart grids. Different approaches for different stages in the design, development, and roll-out phase of smart grid solutions and components are discussed. Finally, future research directions are analysed.Keywords: smart grid; simulation; hardware-in-the-loop; research; infrastructure; education; training IntroductionEnergy efficiency and low-carbon technologies are key enablers to mitigate the increasing emission of green-house gases still resulting in a global warming trend [1]. The efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions also strongly affect the power system. Renewable sources, storage systems and flexible loads provide enhanced possibilities but power system operators and utilities have to cope with their fluctuating nature, limited storage capabilities and the typically higher complexity of the whole infrastructure with a growing amount of heterogeneous components [2]. Additionally, due to changing framework conditions, like the liberalization of the energy markets and new regulatory rules, as well as technology developments (e.g., new components), approaches for design, planning, and operation of the future electric energy system have to be restructured. Sophisticated component design methods, intelligent information and communication architectures, automation and control concepts as well as proper standards are necessary in order to manage the higher complexity of such intelligent power systems (i.e., smart grids) [3][4][5]. Besides technical challenges also economic, ecological and social issues have to be addressed in smart grid research and innovation, too.During the last decade-especially in the past framework programs of the European Commission (i.e., FP6 and FP7)-a growing number of research and technology development activities have already been carried out in this area. Their main attempt was to fulfil the challenging goals and needs of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) of the European Commission for a sustainable environment and to foster the inno...

Engineering Smart Grids: Applying Model-Driven Development from Use Case Design to Deployment

“…Based on related work and the experience from relevant research projects [13,36,37] a number of actors are identified. They are stakeholders, with an economical goal, and users of the engineering methodology.…”

“…• Correctness: Due to the multidisciplinary character of smart grid applications this also requires the engineer to have an expert knowledge in each discipline [13]. This is often not the case, which increases the risk of human errors.…”

“…Another important aspect is that it can also be used for laboratory validation of smart grid systems. This issue has received a much higher focus in recent and ongoing European and international projects (e.g., FP7 ELECTRA IRP, H2020 ERIGrid, H2020 SmartNet, FP7 DISCERN, IEA ISGAN/SIRFN) [13].…”

On Conceptual Structuration and Coupling Methods of Co-Simulation Frameworks in Cyber-Physical Energy System Validation

“…On the other hand, emerging issues such as cyber-security requires also new tools and methods for assessment. It is, therefore, necessary to develop an integrated approach for such complex system in a holistic manner, taking into account the interaction and inter-dependencies among domains [6].…”

Multi‐site European framework for real‐time co‐simulation of power systems

“…An importance of a holistic approach to design, analysis, testing and evaluation of smart grids has been described in [15]. Advanced research infrastructures, as well as their interconnections to establish laboratory clusters, play a significant role in that respect.…”