Publication record · 18.cifr/2020.tolbert.power-grid-emulator

Reconfigurable Real-Time Power Grid Emulator for Systems With High Penetration of Renewables

v1.0.0

Leon M. Tolbert (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), Fred Wang (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), Kevin Tomsovic (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), Kai Sun (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), Jingxin Wang (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), Yiwei Ma (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), Yunting Liu (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)

RAI18.cifr/2020.tolbert.power-grid-emulator

IEEE Open Access Journal of Power and Energy· 2020· doi:10.1109/OAJPE.2020.3030219

This paper presents a reconfigurable real-time power grid emulator designed for power systems with high penetration of renewable energy sources. The emulator uses power electronics hardware to replicate grid dynamics and supports flexible reconfiguration of network topology, generation mix, and control strategies. It enables testing of protection, control, and stability under diverse operating conditions including high renewable penetration scenarios.

power grid emulatorrenewable energyreal-time simulationpower electronicsfrequency dynamicsdroop control

✦ Research context

What this agent contributes to the literature.

Problem solved

Researchers and engineers lack physical testbeds that faithfully replicate grid behavior under high renewable penetration.
Pure software simulators cannot test real protection and control hardware under live grid dynamics.
Fixed-topology emulators cannot adapt to diverse generation mixes or fault scenarios without hardware rewiring.

Novelty

Reconfigurable hardware emulator uses power electronics to replicate AC grid dynamics in real time.

Related research

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Canvas contract1-in / 1-out · unpacked into grid_topology, simulation_params legacy ports

Sample data

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Total calls

This month

Citations

Last called

4/15/2026

Image digest

sha256:d020940f053c19ac7664d1a8ba62e9cb547c68e86538436144cb4eade0b6826c

Invoke command

python main.py

Inputs

input:application/json

Outputs

output:application/json

Citation

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Invoke

CPU compute only

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Pre-filled with the paper's canonical scenario. Click Invoke agent to reproduce the original result, or edit the JSON below to run a counterfactual.

inputapplication/jsonoptional

Unified canvas input. The executor unpacks this JSON blob into legacy per-port files: grid_topology, simulation_params

Leave empty to run the paper's canonical scenario.

{
  "grid_topology": {
    "buses": [
      {
        "id": "B1",
        "type": 1,
        "v_pu": 1.05,
        "p_inj_pu": 0,
        "q_inj_pu": 0,
        "angle_deg": 0,
        "p_load_base_pu": 0
      },
      {
        "id": "B2",
        "type": 2,
        "v_pu": 1.02,
        "p_inj_pu": 0.5,
        "q_inj_pu": 0,
        "angle_deg": 0,
        "p_load_base_pu": 0
      },
      {
        "id": "B3",
        "type": 3,
        "v_pu": 1,
        "p_inj_pu": -0.6,
        "q_inj_pu": -0.2,
        "angle_deg": 0,
        "p_load_base_pu": 0.6
      },
      {
        "id": "B4",
        "type": 3,
        "v_pu": 1,
        "p_inj_pu": -0.4,
        "q_inj_pu": -0.1,
        "angle_deg": 0,
        "p_load_base_pu": 0.4
      },
      {
        "id": "B5",
        "type": 3,
        "v_pu": 1,
        "p_inj_pu": 0.2,
        "q_inj_pu": 0,
        "angle_deg": 0,
        "p_load_base_pu": 0
      }
    ],
    "base_mva": 100,
    "branches": [
      {
        "id": "BR1",
        "to": "B2",
        "b_pu": 0.02,
        "from": "B1",
        "r_pu": 0.01,
        "x_pu": 0.05,
        "rating_mva": 150
      },
      {
        "id": "BR2",
        "to": "B3",
        "b_pu": 0.03,
        "from": "B1",
        "r_pu": 0.02,
        "x_pu": 0.08,
        "rating_mva": 130
      },
      {
        "id": "BR3",
        "to": "B3",
        "b_pu": 0.02,
        "from": "B2",
        "r_pu": 0.02,
        "x_pu": 0.06,
        "rating_mva": 130
      },
      {
        "id": "BR4",
        "to": "B4",
        "b_pu": 0.01,
        "from": "B2",
        "r_pu": 0.01,
        "x_pu": 0.04,
        "rating_mva": 100
      },
      {
        "id": "BR5",
        "to": "B5",
        "b_pu": 0.02,
        "from": "B3",
        "r_pu": 0.03,
        "x_pu": 0.09,
        "rating_mva": 80
      },
      {
        "id": "BR6",
        "to": "B5",
        "b_pu": 0.02,
        "from": "B4",
        "r_pu": 0.02,
        "x_pu": 0.07,
        "rating_mva": 80
      }
    ],
    "generators": [
      {
        "H": 6,
        "id": "G1",
        "bus": "B1",
        "p_mw": 80,
        "type": "synchronous",
        "q_mvar": 10,
        "damping": 0.1,
        "description": "Slack generator - thermal"
      },
      {
        "H": 4,
        "id": "G2",
        "bus": "B2",
        "p_mw": 50,
        "type": "synchronous",
        "q_mvar": 5,
        "damping": 0.08,
        "description": "PV bus generator - thermal"
      },
      {
        "id": "G3",
        "bus": "B5",
        "p_mw": 20,
        "type": "pv",
        "k_droop": 20,
        "description": "Inverter-based PV generator (30% renewable penetration)"
      }
    ]
  },
  "simulation_params": {
    "dt": 0.01,
    "t_end": 0.1,
    "load_events": []
  }
}