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Smart Grid Control – CyberPhysical Sandbox (SGC-CyPhySandbox), a new project partnering Walton Institute, University College Dublin and NovoGrid is underway. The two-year project aims to develop a platform for the real-time simulation of smart grid control architectures.
Walton Institute, along with partners University College Dublin (UCD) and NovoGrid recently kicked off the Smart Grid Control – CyberPhysical Sandbox (SGC-CyPhySandbox) project. The project is co-ordinated by UCD’s Terence O’ Donnell and co-funded by SEAI’s Research, Development and Demonstration Fund and ESB Networks.
With a two-year duration, SGC-CyPhySandbox will further the goal of reducing the effects of climate change by addressing some of the challenges associated with deploying small scale renewable energy sources to the grid, helping to increase their uptake.
SGC-CyPhySandbox aims to develop a platform for the real-time simulation of smart grid control architectures. This creates a safe environment to allow distribution system operators such as the ESB and other actors in the energy sector to test that their configuration of smart grid devices is compliant with data and communication standards, and to investigate issues associated with the connection of large numbers of small scale renewable resources such as rooftop solar PVs to the grid. The testing is enabled through a technique called hardware-in-the-loop, where simulations of a system can be coupled with real hardware devices to determine how that hardware will react under various circumstances.
Terence O’Donnell the project leader at UCD says, “I’m very excited to be leading this project, looking at some of the practical issues associated with ensuring that the green technologies employed in people’s houses can be controlled in a smart and flexible manner. The deployment of these technologies in a standardised way which allows interoperability between different vendor devices is going to be critical to their uptake.”
Conor Murphy, Principal Engineer NovoGrid adds, “This initiative holds great promise in advancing smart grid control architectures, offering a real-time simulation platform that tasks inverter hardware with operating in a real-world distribution system context. A crucial step in addressing the challenges of integrating renewable energy sources into the distribution network.”
The team at Walton Institute are currently engaged with the development of a smart grid gateway device. This device is used to facilitate communications with smart grid devices such as inverters, handling the logging of data or the actuation of commands. Developed in line with IEEE and ESB standards and protocols, this device will allow system operators and asset owners improved visibility and control over their resources and ensure a degree of interoperability between different devices.
Walton Institute Junior Software Engineer Jack Jackman says, “SGC-CyPhySandbox is a great opportunity to collaborate and further our relationship with our project partners at UCD and NovoGrid, and with the SEAI and ESB Networks. From my perspective as an electronics graduate, I am looking forward to developing the gateway device and using it to further the development of hardware and electronics within Walton Institute.”
Follow the project’s progress on its LinkedIn page which you can find HERE.