WP4 Leader: RWTH Aachen University

What is WP4 about?

The approach of WP4 is to create a network of laboratories that, using real time simulation, can support all the stakeholders in defining the next step in the evolution of the grid infrastructure. Such a lab system could support both market regulation and network code definition.

What are the goals of the WP4?

• While the project will create the foundation for this network, implementing the high-level connectivity will be part of the exploitation plan and of future development. In WP4, a realistic proof of concept will be executed and released.
• Another important task of this WP is the implementation of a scalable simulator based on dynamic phasors, which seem to provide a good tradeoff between scalability and level of detail. The idea is to make this simulator available as open source to all the laboratories that are willing to join it in the future. Participating laboratories could locally expand the computational effort by using off-the-shelf commercial solutions.

How will these goals be reached?

• The interconnection of laboratories is achieved using the VILLASframework which includes components to connect laboratories in an optimal way through the internet. Today, four research laboratories are already connected using this technology: RWTH, WIT, POLITO and UPB. First simulation tests have been successfully conducted already. The VILLASframework is released as open source at http://fein-aachen.org/projects/villas-framework/. The dynamic phasor simulator is interfaced with VILLASnode and has been successfully used in the previously mentioned tests.
• Currently, we focus on the integration with CIM++ -an open source CIM-translator (http://fein-aachen.org/projects/cimpp/)-, to generate larger simulation scenarios from CIM, a standard data model for power systems.
• Furthermore, the 5G base station and edge computing prototypes of Ericsson are integrated with the real-time laboratory at RWTH to evaluate the latest generation of telecommunications technology for power system ancillary services.

How is the work done in WP4 related with the others?

• The work in WP4 is mainly related to WP2, WP3 and WP5. While WP2 and WP3 develop new frequency and voltage control techniques to enable 100% RES in future power systems, WP4 aims at validating the output of the two WPs in real-time experiments. Hardware, such as the 5G base station and the co-located, local distributed cloud servers, can be connected to the real-time simulation in so called Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) experiments. This allows tests closer to reality than pure simulation and to refine the proposals coming from WP2 and WP3 which helps in the development of network codes.
• Furthermore, the simulation platform developed in WP4 is necessary input for the field tests in WP5. Not every scenario can be tested in the field with real hardware using a reasonable amount of resources. Real-time simulations can bridge the gap between pure simulation and the field tests since hardware can be connected directly to the simulation. Especially frequency stability which is less of a local issue compared to voltage stability, may only be investigated in simulations on a larger scale.