A Real-Time Co-simulation Platform for Distribution Grid Voltage Control

The study aims to develop a real-time co-simulation testing platform for power system studies and provides an example application of a model-driven voltage controller in a distribution grid equipped with medium scale Photovoltaic (PV) generation. The platform consists of the Real-Time Digital Simulator (RTDS) connected by the TCP/IP protocol to MATLAB software. The RTDS device simulates dynamic behaviour of a real grid with 3.15MWp of PV generation while the MATLAB environment is used for fast prototyping and execution of a control algorithm. Furthermore, a novel voltage control method is applied to counteract voltage variations caused by fluctuation of PV generation. The novel method relies on predictions of the grid behaviour and chooses coordinated control strategies to satisfy regulation criteria. In result, the developed co-simulator allows demonstrating that it is possible to predict grid conditions in real-time and to apply a modern controller which makes use of computation power available in contemporary desktop computers.