E.ON Energy Research Center Builds First Interface Between OPAL-RT and RTDS Technologies Real-Time Simulators

The Company

The E.ON Energy Research Center at RWTH Aachen University studies energy savings, energy efficiency, and sustainable energy supplies. As a public-private partnership between industry and the scientific community, the center strongly supports collaboration between research facilities.

The Challenges

• Limited Interoperability: Research laboratories often rely on different real-time simulation platforms that do not easily work together.
• Need for Collaborative Research: The E.ON Energy Research Center sought to create synergy between simulation platforms used by the scientific community.
• Expanding Simulation Capabilities: Researchers required a way to leverage the strengths of multiple real-time simulation technologies within a single environment.

The OPAL-RT Solution

• Real-Time Simulation Platforms: The E.ON Energy Research Center deployed OPAL-RT’s eMEGAsim and HYPERSIM real-time digital power system simulators.
• Cross-Platform Compatibility Testing: OPAL-RT collaborated with the research team to test interoperability with RTDS Technologies simulators.
• High-Speed Optical Fiber Interface: The team developed an interface running at 2 Gbits/s to connect OPAL-RT and RTDS simulation platforms.

The Results

• Successful Simulator Integration: The team successfully interfaced OPAL-RT eMEGAsim and HYPERSIM simulators with the RTDS Technologies simulator.
• Enhanced Simulation Capability: The interface enables power grid simulations using both technologies and allows RTDS users to expand their simulation capabilities.
• Cost-Effective Expansion: HYPERSIM simulators can be integrated in a cost-effective manner through the new interface.
• Collaborative Research Opportunities: Real-time simulation laboratories can now share equipment and perform collaborative research that was previously not possible.

Read the full story