Digital Twin of Innovative MVDC System for Breakthrough Linear Photovoltaic Power Plants

The company

SuperGrid Institute is a privately owned company based in Greater Lyon, France, specializing in high and medium-voltage direct current (HVDC & MVDC) systems—key enablers of future energy networks. The company contributes to the energy transition by removing technical barriers to deploying future power grids and integrating renewables at scale.

One such initiative is OPHELIA, a collaborative project funded by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) as part of France 2030, in which SuperGrid Institute provides high-accuracy real-time simulations to validate designs quickly and cost-effectively.

The challenges

• Innovative Architecture with No Standard Products: The unique MVDC electrical architecture required entirely new components and technologies, with no industrialized fallbacks available—making validation extremely critical.
• Complex Multi-Level Modeling: Different levels of models (averaged and detailed) were required to properly simulate the behavior of each element in the network, including black-box models with no code access.
• Multiple Communication Protocols: Various controllers used different communication protocols (CAN, Modbus TCP/IP), requiring custom interface card development for each control element.
• Land Scarcity for PV: Traditional AC collection architectures are ill-adapted for the long distances involved in linear PV power plants built on narrow plots (dikes, railways, cycle paths), necessitating an MVDC approach that must be validated before deployment.

The OPAL-RT solution

SuperGrid Institute built a comprehensive real-time digital twin of the OPHELIA MVDC demonstrator using OPAL-RT’s platform:

• Hardware: The OPAL-RT real-time simulator serves as the core, incorporating averaged models for certain converters and detailed switched models using the eHS solver for specific converters, along with transmission line and circuit breaker models.
• Three-Layer Architecture: The setup combines a simulation layer (OPAL-RT models with CAN and Modbus TCP communication), a custom interface layer (developed by SuperGrid Institute’s HIL team), and a hardware layer comprising physical controllers, protection relays, RTUs, and the network SCADA system.
• Software: OPAL-RT’s tailored software development enabled high-precision modelling, while compatibility with multiple communication protocols allowed seamless integration of all system elements.
• Testing Capabilities: Supports MPPT algorithm testing for PV DC/DC converters, voltage regulation for intermediate isolated MVDC converters, grid synchronization via DC/AC conversion, and SCADA-based supervisory control with external weather data integration.

The results

The OPAL-RT-powered digital twin delivered significant outcomes for the OPHELIA project:

• Fully Operational Test Bench: After one year of development, the real-time test bench is fully operational and ready for the controller validation phase.
• First-of-its-Kind Digital Twin: One of the few real project demonstrators to be linked to a live digital twin, set to run for 2 years alongside the physical demonstrator.
• De-Risked Deployment: Validated the functionality of major controllers before installation in the physical demonstrator, uncovering unexpected interactions between new equipment.
• Continuous Value Delivery: The digital twin supports ongoing technical analysis, fault diagnosis, new feature testing, protection algorithm validation, and energy/power management system development.
• Economic Insight: Enables economic analysis of energy produced, informing operational decisions for the linear PV network.

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