Running large-scale real-time power system simulations ahead

Energy is a priority and there have been a lot of changes in the Power Grid recently. Power system control and energy management are becoming more important and highly complex. All over the world, government is pushing for green energy based power generation. Today's challenge is to interconnect more and more distributed generators especially with renewable energy. It is becoming crucial to efficiently manage the power flow in the presence of distributed generators and at the same time integrate smart devices to the grid.

There is need for new technologies capable of integrating large-scale renewable energy, demand-side control, wide area sensing and monitoring, and advanced control for reliability and stability. OPAL-RT has always been investing in R&D to tackle tomorrow's challenges.

ePHASORsim simulates electro-mechanical transient stability phenomenon of very large transmission and distribution power grids with thousands of buses, generators, transformers, loads and controllers. It uses a fundamental frequency solver optimized to compute RMS values of voltages, currents, active and reactive power in real time, with a typical time step of 10 milliseconds.

Thanks to its open and scalable hardware platform, ePHASORsim is ideal when implementing training simulators for transmission system operators, developing and testing the performance of local protection and control systems, as well as complex global power system controls implemented in SCADA software.

Users can develop their own models and integrate them within a larger network to study the effects of their model on a controller, protection scheme, or a new power system device and see how that plays out within the context of a large power grid.

ePHASORsim can also be used to analyze cyber security scenarios and power security situations. For example, it is possible to run ePHASORsim in a faster than real-time mode and develop solutions for predictions and real-time prediction of power system security; users can use the current state of a power grid and run or fast forward it in time to see what their power grid might look like in the near future. Therefore, the idea of designing ePHASORsim comes from realizing that there is a technological gap in the current tools for power system simulation. We have the tools that allow users to perform large scale power grid simulation in which users can plan, design and test offline the consequence of certain actions and events .

One of the most important characteristics of ePHASORsim is its high level real-time performance. ePHASORsim was designed from scratch, with high performance in mind, to be able to stimulate large scale power grids with a time step of 10 milliseconds.

Running an OPAL-RT simulator on a single CPU, it is possible to perform a simulation of about 10,000 nodes with 2,500 generators, close to 5000 controllers, and 18,000 other components such as loads and transmission lines. For that size of grid, the simulation obtains a performance between events, fold or switching events, of 3.28 million seconds of real computation time for a 10 millisecond simulated time.

OPAL-RT's open and scalable hardware platform allow users to integrate the simulations that are being performed with ePHASORsim to many communication protocols and analog I/Os encountered in hardware products such as the OP5600 series or 0P7000 series.

With ePHASORsim, it is possible to interact with SCADA systems, synchrophasers and energy management systems through standard industrial protocols such as DNP3 and OPC. It also possible to physically communicate with devices using fast analog I/Os and digital I/Os.

ePHASORsim also integrates with a host of test automation and visualization platforms that allow users to implement realistic control panels in LabVIEW™ and connect directly to signals being read from or sent to the real-time simulator. Users can connect with ScopeView™ for a sophisticated means of recording, displaying and analyzing the results of the simulation.

About OPAL-RT TECHNOLOGIES:

OPAL-RT is a world leading developer of open, Real-Time Digital Simulators and Hardware-in-the-Loop testing equipment for electrical, electro-mechanical and power electronics systems. Our simulators are used by engineers and researchers at leading manufacturers, utilities, universities and research centers around the world.

Our unique technological approach integrates parallel, distributed computing with commercial-off-the-shelf technologies. Customers perform Rapid Control Prototyping, System Integration, and Hardware-in-the-Loop testing of electric drives, electronic controllers and power distribution networks in a variety of industries including automotive, aerospace, electric ships, power generation, rail, and industrial manufacturing.