RT21 | Microgrid development and real-time validation from the lab to a real installation

Through a joint project built on Festo power lab equipment and OPAL-RT platform, Nergica, a center of applied research that stimulates innovation in the renewable energy industry, was able to replicate the technologies of their actual microgrid in a fully flexible lab environment to further develop innovative control solutions to integrate multiple sources of renewable energy as well as energy storage into their microgrid. Through the control and monitoring of power sources, power electronics, and electrical machines, the simulation platform enables tremendous possibilities to test on a real physical setup before implementing the solutions developed on a real microgrid. The applications integrated with the Festo power lab equipment in the simulation platform include Diesel Generator, Hydropower Generator, Solar Array, Wind Turbines with Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generators, Static Var Compensator, Static Synchronous Compensator and Variable Loads.