Development of a Smart Grid Simulation Environment, Part I: Project of the Electrical Devices Simulator

Abstract

A smart grid is an electric power system with high levels of automation, dispersed generation, intelligent monitoring and control; however, because the distribution networks in operation today do not have these characteristics, studies concerning the control, planning and operation of the smart grid are difficult to perform. To overcome these practical difficulties, studies investigating the smart grid can be conducted in computational environments that are able to reproduce meticulously the electrical and communicational behaviors expected by the smart grid. Therefore, in this paper, the development of a platform to simulate the advanced distribution management system from a reference model for smart grid, which has seven layers, is proposed. Part I of this paper is dedicated to formulating mathematically the three lower layers that make up the electrical devices simulator. The analysis of the results revealed the capability of the simulator to generate scenarios with a wide range of power demand that is ideal for developing new operation, planning and control tools for a smart grid.