Facilities

Real-Time Facilities at Virginia Power Analytics & Cybersecurity (VPAC) Service Center

Fig. 1 shows the Virginia Tech testbed consists of a real-time simulator (RTS) setup and a physical microgrid setup, including a Spitzenberger and Spies (SPS) four-quadrant power amplifier, voltage-sourced converters, lead-acid batteries, photovoltaic (PV) panels, programmable DC sources, and electronic loads. RTS allows us to model part of our real-time simulation model with actual physical devices. This offers a safe and cost-effective way for us to analyze the performance of these devices under different contingency scenarios and optimize their design. The real-time simulator technology in this setup is provided by RTDS Technologies.

Fig. 1(a) shows the VT RTS setup. This setup includes one rack with the NovaCor technology and two racks with the PB5 technology. All three racks are connected to a local area network (LAN) via Ethernet. The NovaCor rack includes two GTNET cards, which can support various protocols, including socket, Modbus, IEC-61850, and DNP3. RTDS also has analog and digital input/output (I/O) cards to interface control and protection devices that do not have communication interfaces. The NovaCor rack also includes analog I/O cards as well as two other analog and digital I/O panels. Moreover, any peripherals that are connected to external physical devices are also connected to NovaCor via optical fiber to minimize the communication time delay. NovaCor uses an optical fiber card to support optical fiber. Each PB5 rack has six processor cards and one workstation interface card, where both cards are connected to the LAN via Ethernet to make the racks available on the network. A global bus hub (GBH) is used for time step synchronization between the three racks using optical fiber connections between each rack and the GBH. The racks are also connected to each other via point-to-point optical fiber connections for inter-rack communication.

Fig. 1(b) shows the physical microgrid devices of the VT microgrid testbed. The SPS power amplifier has three single-phase 2.5 kW power amplifiers, all in one rack. It provides power to the physical devices while supplying their rated voltage. Two Chroma electronic loads are connected to the amplifier. The electronic loads can simulate nonlinear loads and be used to study the grid under harmonic situations. One of the electronic loads can support up to 4.5 KW, and the other one can be used up to 1.8 KW. The power factor and the crest factor of the electronic loads can be modified.

Fig. 1(c) shows programmable DC sources that can be used to simulate the PV panel behavior under different conditions while doing the real-time simulation.

Fig. 1(d) shows voltage-source converters and battery simulators that can be connected to the 4-quadrant amplifier.