DiSC - A Simulation Framework for Distribution System Voltage Control

DiSC is an open source MATLAB simulation framework for verifying voltage control approaches in European power distribution systems. It follows the mission of IEEE Task Force on Open Source Software for Power Systems.

List of Contributors

• Rasmus Pedersen, Aalborg University

• Christoffer Sloth, Aalborg University

• Gorm Bruun Andresen, Aarhus University

• Rafael Wisniewski, Aalborg University

All are welcome to contribute and get their name on the list, see here how to.

Referencing DiSC

If you use DiSC to obtain results in your publications, we would appreciate an acknowledgement by citing:

Why was it developed

• We couldn’t find an electrical grid simulation framework that suited our needs.

  • Most models are based on steady state analysis (i.e., no dynamic consumption patterns only worst case peak).

  • No flexible assets allowing grid control.

  • The existing models are either to simple or to complex (we only wanted to study voltage control problems, so no need for frequency control etc.).

  • Generally, other models have not been developed for grid controller validation.

• Therefore, we implemented our own model, that facilitates our needs, in our favourite tool MATLAB.

What is included in DiSC

• Newton-Raphson solver for power flow equations.

• Communication network to represent delay and loss in communication.

• More than a year of real household consumption data from 1200 houses located in Denmark.

• Flexible assets:

  • Wind power plant with stochastic wind speed model,

  • Solar photovoltaic system with stochastic solar irradiance model,

  • Energy storage,

  • Supermarket with flexible defrost cycles,

  • Electrical vehicle with stochastic mobility model.

• Grid components:

  • On-load tap-changing transformer,

  • Static compensator,

  • Capacitor bank,

  • Switch.

All assets and grid components are implemented as classes which gives a modular model, that makes it easy to implement new asset models, change the simulation scenario, or add/remove assets on each bus. This allows for a wide variety of scenarios to represent future distribution grids with high penetration of renewable resources.

Acknowledgement

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no 318023 for the SmartC2Net project. Further information is available at www.SmartC2Net.eu.

The authors also wish to thank Danfoss Refrigeration & Air Conditioning for supporting this research by providing valuable data under the ESO2 research project and NRGi for household consumption data.