Scalable Power System Communications Emulation with OPC UA

Abstract

The dependability on real-time control is significantly increasing due to the transition from synchronous grids to converter connected micro grids. Distributed control schemes can significantly decrease the degree of single-points-of-failure of Smart Grid control schemes, thereby introducing new complexity of power system communications. We propose a scalable approach for validation of distributed control schemes by emulating the communication in a decentralised manner, utilising the OPC UA service-oriented architecture in a controller-hardware-in-the-loop environment. As a proof-of-concept, we apply communication delay Denial-of-Service attacks to a converter-dominated communication-heavy and consensus-based microgrid control algorithm and thereby elaborate how scalable power systems communications emulation can help selecting appropriate mitigation strategies for telecommunication-based stress conditions.