An open source interface for distribution system modeling in power system co-simulation applications and two algorithms for populating feeder models
Date
2017
Authors
Kadavil, Rahul, author
Suryanarayanan, Siddharth, advisor
Siegel, Howard J., committee member
Bradley, Thomas H., committee member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
The aging electric infrastructure power system infrastructure is undergoing a transformative change mainly triggered by the large-scale integration of distributed resources such as distributed generation, hybrid loads, and home energy management systems at the end-use level. The future electric grid, also referred to as the Smart Grid, will make use of these distributed resources to intelligently manage the day to day power system operations with minimum human intervention. The proliferation of these advanced Smart Grid resources may lead to coordination problems to maintain the generation-demand balance at all times. To ensure their safe integration with the grid, extensive simulation studies need to be performed using distributed resources. Simulation studies serve as an economically viable alternative to avoid expensive failures. They also serve as an invaluable platform to study energy consumption behavior, demand response, power system stability, and power system state estimation. Traditionally, power system analysis has been performed in isolated domains using simulation tools for the transmission and distribution systems. Moreover, modeling all the power system assets using a single power system tool is difficult and inconclusive. From the Smart Grid perspective, a common simulation platform for different power systems analysis tools is essential. A co-simulation framework enables the interaction of multiple power system tools, each modeling a single domain in detail, to run simultaneously and provide a holistic power system overview. To enable the co-simulation framework, a data exchange platform between the transmission and distribution system simulators is proposed to model transmission and distribution assets on different simulation testbeds. A graphical user interface (GUI) is developed as a frontend tool for the data exchange platform and makes use of two developed algorithms that simplifies the task of: 1. modeling distribution assets consisting of diverse feeder datasets for the distribution simulator and balanced three-phase level assets for the transmission system simulator, and 2. populating the distribution system with loads having stochastic profiles for timestep simulations. The load profiles used in the distribution system models are created using concepts from one-dimensional random walk theory to mimic the energy consumption behavior of residential class of consumers. The algorithms can simulate large scale distribution system assets linked to a transmission system for co-simulation applications. The proposed algorithms are tested on the standard test system – Roy Billinton Test System (RBTS) to model detailed distribution assets linked to a selected transmission node. Two open source power system simulators—MATPOWER© and GridLAB-D© are used for the transmission and distribution simulation process. The algorithms accurately create detailed distribution topology populated with 4026 residential loads expanded from the transmission node, bus 2 in RBTS. Thus, an automated modeling of power system transmission and distribution assets is proposed along with its application using a standard test system is provided.
Description
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Subject
power demand
power system modeling
smart grids
power system analysis computing
load flow
power system planning