RT21 | Real-time Simulation and Rapid Control Prototyping of AC Microgrid

AC Microgrids (MGs) have shown great applicability in modern power grid and have shaped the structure of new electrical network. the MGs can be interfaced with the main grid in which is getting its voltage magnitude and frequency or operating in islanded mode where it forms locally its operating frequency and voltage magnitude. the increasing demand for prototyping and testing of high-power plants, such as MGs, in a realistic and safe environment has led to the development of fast computing hardware for testing large scale power system without hurting the real system or building a small-scale prototype for testing. Thus, emulating the hardware components of power system for the reason of testing and evaluation in real-time is a matter of countless interest to academic world as well as to industrial community. in this presentation, the OPAL-RT technology is used to simulate in real-time Microgrid system including multiple distributed energy resources. the model is simulated with lower sampling time thanks to the parallel processing capability of the OPAL-RT using multiple CPU cores. the presentation will take a look on how to interface the OPAL-RT controller with a real Microgrid testbed for rapid control prototyping, taking into consideration in this case study, the Microgrid testbed developed in our Smart grid Center Laboratory at Texas University at Qatar based on OPAL-RT controller.