A laboratory environment for real-time testing of energy management scenarios: Smart Energy Integration Lab (SEIL)

Abstract

Grid integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) has been a hot topic in the field of power electronics in recent years. Time and resources required in experimental verification of control algorithms and equipment can be significantly reduced by using power-hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL) techniques. The paper presents the Smart Energy Integration Lab (SEIL), a PHIL based microgrid testbed specifically built for analyzing grid integration aspects of DERs with a focus on system dynamic performance and power dispatch scenarios. The SEIL consists of a remotely-controlled AC network configuration, power electronics converters, passive load banks, a battery storage system and real-time control and data acquisition systems. By using these resources, the laboratory allows configuration and simultaneous operation of several microgrids. To demonstrate the functionality of the SEIL, a power dispatch scenario applied to a microgrid was used.Power-hardware-in-the-loop; renewable grid integration; power dispatch; energy management

Power System Hardware in the Loop (PSHIL): A Holistic Testing Approach for Smart Grid Technologies

“…The power amplifier is in charge of imposing the voltage at the point of common coupling with the DUT, which is computed by the RTCS considering its reaction. For this purpose, it is required to feedback the DUT injected current in the real-time simulated power system by using adequate analog/digital input/output ports [14][15][16][17][18][19].…”