Developing a Campus Microgrid Model utilizing Modelica and the OpenIPSL Library

Abstract

This paper describes the development of a phasor-based campus microgrid model utilizing the Modelica language and the OpenIPSL library. The phasor-based modeling approach was chosen because the resulting microgrid model would yield faster simulation run times when compared to models developed using electromagnetic transient (EMT) methods. Beyond the benefits of simulation performance, this becomes necessary when attempting to understand dynamic phenomena arising under emergency conditions across time scales ranging from milliseconds to hours, which will aid in developing resiliency improvement plans for the real-world campus microgrid that the model represents. Considering the increasing number of distributed energy sources (DERs) being added to power grids across the world and the paradigm shift on how electrical grids can operate with more DERs, the implementation of such a microgrid campus model can help in the development and testing new control strategies to support new operational approaches while guaranteeing system stability and resiliency. The added benefit of having the microgrid model in Modelica is that it can be simulated in any Modelica complaint tool (both proprietary or not), preserving an open-source code, unlocked for the user to explore and adjust the implementation as well as observe and edit the mathematical formulation. This enables not only nonlinear time simulation, but also linear analysis techniques and other approaches to be applied.