Facilitating Smart Grids Integration Through a Hybrid Multi-Model Co-Simulation Framework

Smart Grid integration plays a crucial role in transitioning towards a climate-neutral future by enabling advanced monitoring, management, and control of renewable energy sources, energy systems, and networks. However, several barriers related to technological, economic, regulatory, and social aspects hinder the integration of these innovative resources and strategies into current power systems due to the inherent complexity of heterogeneous technologies, entities, and actors. For example, interoperability issues, cybersecurity concerns and data management are relevant to the integration and digitalization of smart grids. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a hybrid multi-model co-simulation infrastructure to simulate innovative Smart Grid scenarios. The infrastructure enables the interconnection of heterogeneous software simulators with real-time hardware simulators within a shared and distributed co-simulation environment, facilitating Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) applications through a semi-automated scenario configuration procedure. The proposed infrastructure's capabilities and performance are assessed through a smart grid scenario, focusing on implementing a distribution voltage regulation service provided by distributed resources installed on a building premise. Specifically, the scenario includes a physical smart meter device interconnected in HIL with the simulated building energy management system to test the integrated functionality and interoperability for the ancillary service. The scenario results demonstrate the facilitated scenario design process, and the promising performance and low co-simulation latencies of the co-simulation infrastructure when coupling software and hardware simulators with HIL applications. Overall, the infrastructure has the potential to assist researchers, system operators, and energy stakeholders in evaluating Smart Grid scenarios and designing, developing, and testing new systems, technologies, and business models.