Comprehensive real-time simulation of the smart grid

This paper presents a real-time simulation platform for smart grid applications. The developed platform is capable of simulating complex smart grid models with large numbers of high-speed switching devices at real time. Furthermore, an integrated approach is adopted to combine real-time simulations of communication systems and electric power systems together, which provides an effective approach to examine communication and distributed control related issues in smart grids. With the flexibility in representing a wide range of communication network configurations, the developed platform can also be used to evaluate reconfiguration strategies of communication networks in smart grids. A case study is demonstrated based on this platform. Simulation results validate the capability of the platform and also show the importance of the proposed comprehensive approach for the study of smart grids.