User Spotlight Series 2.0, Episode 5
Topic: CHIL Microgrid Test-bed
Abstract: This user spotlight presentation will cover the experiences gained in a CHIL Microgrid Test-bed. The test-bed was used in order to develop and test the control and protection logic of a microgrid applied to a distribution system.
It consists of a replica of the real system, composed in general of 2 Automatic Recloser Controls, 2 Real-Time Automation Controllers, 1 Genset Controller, and 1 protection relay.
The real-time infrastructure available to the tests is composed of 4 NovaCor® chassis (with 25 licensed cores), 24 voltage channels, and 66 current channels. Besides the analog interface, communication protocols are used in the tests, like Modbus, DNP3, radio transmitters, and NTP packages. The results in the simulation environment are compared with the microgrid operation and show the equivalence of the digital model with the real physical environment. Because it is a pilot microgrid, the first one with these characteristics in Brazil, the island is applied on a small scale, composed of 1 biogas generator and 3 external consumers. Nonetheless, the infrastructure available in the test-bed can be used in other microgrids topologies with different DERs, and the lab is open to discussing this topic.
Presenter:
Guilherme Justino received his B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from the State University of West Parana, Brazil, in 2011. Currently, he works as Electrical Engineer in Itaipu Technologic Park. He has been working on power system analysis and microgrids and renewable energies applications in real time simulation.
Topic: Cyber Power Test-bed Development
Abstract: Electric grid modernization efforts are targeted to enable more resilient, secure, sustainable, and reliable power systems. Real-time data-driven tools are one of the first steps toward this goal—given the integration of advanced sensors into the grid. New tools are being developed to effectively support wide area monitoring and provide decision support for the control room operators. It’s these real-time tools that need to be validated before deployment, with the use of a realistic real-time cyber power test-bed. The West Virginia University Smart Grid Resiliency and Analytics Lab (SG-REAL), utilizes the Real-Time Digital Simulator® (RTDS) for power system modeling with the associated cyber model to stream data using smart grid protocols.
The test-bed also utilizes Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) relays and SEL Real-Time Automation Controller (RTAC) at the substation level integrated within the cyber-power model and networked using the SEL Software Defined Network Switches.
We have used Network Simulator 3.0 to model the Wide Area Network (WAN) connectivity of different substations—each maps to an individual transmission bus modeled in the RTDS and connects with the representative control center. In the control center, data streamed from the RTDS is fed to different real-time control center applications—which are used to monitor, control, and visualize the grid state.
Overall, this test-bed provides a realistic platform to emulate and model different cyber-power scenarios, generate realistic synthetic sensors, and network data. This data is subsequently being used in the validation and testing of the real-time tools used to compute resiliency metrics, while enhancing the security and reliability of the system. With the developed test-bed, our goal is not only limited to validate realistic prototypes of different tools, but also to support other researchers through validating their tools by utilizing the test-bed, which will ultimately assist operators in better decision making.
Presenter:
Mohammed Mustafa Hussain is a research assistantand doctoral student working with the Smart Grid REsiliency and Analytics Lab (SG-REAL) at the West Virginia University. He is working on cyber security and cyber resiliency of the Smart Grid along with the development of a real-time multi-vendor Hardware-In-The-Loop testbed for real-time data generation, application validation, and cyber security use cases. He received his master’s degree in Computer Science from Washington State University in 2021. He worked on cyber security and resiliency of synchrophasor systems using multiple testbeds developed during his master’s work.
He previously worked as a Data Communication & Security engineer in Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. for 4 years, designing and implementing secured network topologies for telecommunication networks. He did his bachelor’s in Applied Physics, from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2014. He has participated in different cybersecurity competitions and secured the top badge in Nation Cyber League. He is CISCO Certified Network Associate in Routing & Switching and CISCO Certified Network Associate in Security. He is also serving as an Office & Outreach Coordinator of the CyberWVU club located at West Virginia University.
Watch the recorded webinar here:
