Looking to buy a power system simulation software, any suggestions

bikiranguha

Hi all,

I know this is not related to solar but I need some expert advice here, about which simulation software to buy for academic research in smart grid applications. Bear with me, I am going to pour out my whole situation here.

I am a grad student at Georgia Southern University in Electrical engg. dept. and am trying to base my research on smart grid applications. My focus is on synchrophasor applications. In case you dont know what a synchrophasor is (which is quite OK, because it is a relative new technology), it is just a system of modern relays installed in various locations in a power system and embedded with Phasor measurement units (PMU). Their measurements are synchronised with a GPS clock and this synchronised data goes to the central processing server. The standard reporting rate is 60Hz.

Synchrophasor applications include state estimation, modal analysis, anti-islanding detection and lots others. I have not decided what to look into yet, probably on anti-islanding or maybe research about the impact on integration of renewables into the grid.

However, our department does not have a good simulation software for that purpose, and my advisor has told me to start looking for the best deals out there. I do not intend to do this simulation in MATLAB for the time being, rather some software which is dedicated to just this.

Recently, some relays and a relay test system from Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) (https://www.selinc.com/) have arrived, and I was looking into the simulation software they use. The name which came up is the Real-time digital simulator (http://www.rtds.com/index/index.html). However, its price is huge (standard system costs $250,000), mostly because it involves a lot of hardware.

The main criteria would be a software which has a lot of templates modelling current patterns of power systems, e.g., the elements would already be sized and specified to the current standards. This would help a lot with the modification and testing. Also, the software should have the testing functionalities generally used by power system operators to test reliability and performance. In this regard, if you can provide other suggestions about the criteria I should be looking at, it would be very helpful.

Some of the softwares which might serve the purpose are (I have not looked in detail yet):

Power world simulator (http://www.powerworld.com/products/simulator/overview)

e-MegaSIm real time simulation software (http://www.opal-rt.com/new-product/emegasim-power-system-and-power-electronic-real-time-simulator)

Grid Lab Simulation software (http://www.gridlabd.org/)

Cooper Industries SImulation Software (http://www.cooperindustries.com/content/public/en/power_systems/solutions/power_system_simulation.html)

Power Analytics Simulation Software (http://www.poweranalytics.com/)



Thats all there is to it right now. Thanks for having the patience to listen to me blabbering for help. I hope I have not been too vague about what I need help with. ANY expert suggestion is highly appreciated.

Thanks

westbranch

Re: Looking to buy a power system simulation software, any suggestions

I am not sure it fits but look into HOMER..... //www.homerenergy.com/

David and Laura

Re: Looking to buy a power system simulation software, any suggestions

We're using PSL pQube and Basler systems in our Sunny Island AC-Coupled micro-grid, and PSL is working on a synchrophaser project you might be interested in:

http://pqubepmu.com/about.php

I'd reach out to those folks to see if they can give you any recommendations for simulation software.

bikiranguha

Re: Looking to buy a power system simulation software, any suggestions

Hey, thanks, David and Laura, it might be just what i need.