Interconnection Techniques among Real-Time Simulators for Remote Co-Simulation

Electrical system includes a wide variety of technologies and applications. The nature of its components, its interdependence with other systems and its geographical extension, make it one of the most complex existing system. Thanks to the presence of sensors, processors and actuators, the electrical networks take on more and more form of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs), i.e., a system in which the layer of information and communication technologies (ICT) is closely coupled with the electrical components. The CPSs model must incorporate both the physical plants (such as grids, sensors, actuators) and the control parts with the aim of being the as much as possible representative of the real system with its relative dynamics. As future Power Systems become increasingly complex and interconnected to other energy carriers, a single research infrastructure may rarely provide the required test-beds to study the complete energy system. Therefore, the complexity of the present and future Power System requires tools suited for simulations on a large scale. To face up to the challenge posed by this new reality, in recent years researchers have increasingly resorted to the use of Real-Time "co-simulation", based on the use of multiple simulation structures that interact in Real-Time with each other through special software interfaces. This thesis aims to define an integrated experimental activity that will be used as a launching pad for the multi-site ERTD-Lab promoted by ENSIEL, which involves Politecnico di Torino, Politecnico di Bari, the Università degli Studi di Genova and JRC-Ispra. The goal is to create a communication network among the different partners in order to create a Real-Time co-simulation environment in which it is possible to share hardware and software resources. In the first part of the thesis, some introductory aspects are described, such as the concept of Real-Time simulation, co-simulation and geographically distributed co-simulation, paying particular attention to the advantages and criticalities of these methods of analysis in Power System applications. Subsequently, the tools made available by VILLAS were analyzed and applied to perform some communication tests and evaluate the delays introduced during communication and the quality of the signals exchanged. In the second part of the thesis, a distribution network was implemented through the OPAL-RT© hardware and software products, with the aim to carried out some co-simulations with the partners involved in the project. The Real-Time co-simulations performed mainly refer to the Power Hardware In the Loop (PHIL) concept with the following aims: verify the feasibility of a Low and Medium Voltage flexible resource dispatchingt and verify the stability of the proposed Remote co-simulation. In the last part of the thesis a European HV transmission network was implemented on the OPAL-RT© simulator to study the primary frequency response following an abrupt load event. The network, decoupled on several simulator computation cores, was initially analyzed locally and, subsequently, was modified to allow the insertion of the Renewable Energy Sources (RES). In particular, the HV network has been modified to emulate the decommissioning of a traditional generation power plant , replaced by RES-based power plants and storage systems.