User Spotlight Series 2.0, Episode 3
Development of a Digital Twin Simulation Wind Turbine and Power Plant Controller Model in RSCAD, Based on Microsoft Windows Dynamic-Link Library Code Integration by Using IntervalZero
Abstract: The fast-paced development of wind energy, and the consequent exponential increase of renewable energy penetration into the power system, has raised the bar in terms of modelling requirements for wind power plants (WPP) by different transmission system operators (TSOs) around the globe. TSOs have started to request hardware in the loop (HiL) and software in the loop (SiL) models as a grid code requirement, particularly in the case of offshore WPPs. The National HVDC Centre in Great Britain (GB), a regulator-funded simulation and training facility for the benefit of multiple system operators in GB, requests simulation models in that format. The purpose of having SiL/HiL models for an offshore WPP is to de-risk the project by spotting potential compliance issues ahead of time through simulation, reducing or eliminating any delay to the project’s connection date. Although SiL/HiL models can be a great tool to study the grid code compliance of a WPP, the results obtained from the models will not be reliable unless the models accurately represent the real product with a high level of fidelity.
Vestas is experienced in developing electromagnetic transient (EMT) models for WPPs, and the typical approach is to integrate the source code of the real product into different commercial EMT simulation tools (e.g. PSCAD and EMTP-RV). Vestas has created a common C/C++ code base for the actual controller code of the wind turbine and power plant controller, in the form of dynamic-link library (DLL). This DLL can be interfaced to the specific EMT tools through wrapper functions, thus producing a highly accurate simulation model. However, integrating a DLL into a real-time simulation environment is a significant challenge since DLL files are based on the Windows OS, which are not compatible with Real-Time Operating System (RTOS).
With the aid of IntervalZero’s RTX64 software, Microsoft Windows can be transformed into a RTOS, thus making DLL-based models compatible with RSCAD. This presentation will walk through the work carried out by Vestas in conjunction with RTDS to develop the first real-time wind turbine and power plant controller simulation model in RSCAD that interfaces with a DLL file which contains the C/C++ controller code of the actual products.
Presenter:
Miguel A. Cova Acosta is a specialist in the electrical simulation model department at Vestas Wind Systems. He leads a technical team of engineers that develops electrical simulation models for Vestas’s wind turbines and power plant controllers, produced in several commercial power system simulation tools in time and phasor domains, to conduct grid interconnection studies and grid code compliance demonstration.
He has over 15 years of experience in engineering studies using a variety of simulation products, ranging from electromagnetic transients modeling of power systems to finite element analysis, including models’ development, validation, and certification.
Most recently, during his 9 years tenure within Vestas, Miguel had been able to develop subject matter expertise related to dynamic power systems analysis, grid modeling, grid code compliance, and global market requirements for dynamic simulation models. As part of his responsibilities at Vestas, he also collaborates extensively with the grid interconnection department to seek and obtain electric connection permits for new projects by developing project-specific simulation and interconnection techniques that will solve highly complex grid interconnection problems.
Miguel holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineer from Simon Bolivar University (Venezuela), and two M.Sc. degrees from the University of Zaragoza (Spain), focused on power systems.
Development of a Co-Simulation Test Bench for Power System Studies with HIL and PHIL
Abstract: Increasing demands on power system stability, such as converter-driven stability and harmonic stability, shall be met with a co-simulation test bench for HIL and PHIL. For the real-time capable test bench of interconnected HIL-simulation laboratories, members of the FAU LEES together with researchers from KIT IAI and RWTH ACS implemented a distributed simulation spanning over large distances. Using the VILLASnode-based gateway, FAU LEES’ simulator runs a transmission system and serves as a point of interconnection for underlying distribution system simulators. Here, KIT IAI connects a detailed model of the Karlsruhe Campus North area. In contrast to classical power electronic setups large and detailed power system models shall allow systemic power system studies with HIL and PHIL. For the co-simulation the VILLASnode gateway developed by ACS decomposes the simulators’ EMT values to dynamic phasors and handles the communication between the real-time simulators via Internet Protocol.
Presenters:
Timo Wagner is a research associate at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). Timo finished his studies in Electrical Engineering at the Friedrich-Alexander University in March 2020. Almost two years, he is working as research associate at the Institute of Electrical Energy Systems.
The main part of Timo’s work is the management of the Real-Time Laboratory at the Institute. In the Real-Time Laboratory he is working with several Real-Time simulation tools e.g. RTDS, Opal RT and a Real-Time Target of Speedgoat. The communication and interoperability between these simulators is a main part of the investigations in the Real-Time Laboratory.
Moritz Weber received his M.Sc. in Computer Science from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany in 2020. He is currently a PhD candidate at KIT working on locally and geographically distributed real-time simulation, network reduction, modeling toolchains, and time series imputation.
Watch the recorded webinar here:
