IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER SYSTEMS, VOL. 32, NO.
6, NOVEMBER 2017
A Multi-Platform Lab for Teaching and Research
in Active Distribution Networks
José Marı́a Maza-Ortega , Member, IEEE, Manuel Barragán-Villarejo, Francisco de Paula Garcı́a-López,
Juan Jiménez, Juan Manuel Mauricio, Member, IEEE, Lázaro Alvarado-Barrios,
and Antonio Gómez-Expósito, Fellow, IEEE
Abstract—Today’s electricity paradigm requires that the notion
of active distribution systems be introduced at both undergraduate
and graduate curricula. This involves not only the customary
theoretical foundations but also a suitable power engineering
laboratory, where flexible enough and affordable resources allow
students and researchers to carry out hands-on experiments
reinforcing the concepts explained in the classroom. This paper
describes the smart grid laboratory of the Power Engineering
Group at the University of Seville, composed of a scaled-down
distribution system, along with the required control and monitor-
ing equipment, designed to help its users easily grasp the major
influence that distributed generation and storage devices exert in
the operation of medium-voltage distribution systems.
Index Terms—Active distribution systems, smart grids, power
engineering curricula.
I. INTRODUCTION
ISTRIBUTION systems are evolving nowadays towards
D smarter grids all around the world. As a matter of fact, the
increase of automation at distribution levels, the use of advanced
metering infrastructure and the introduction of new power elec-
tronic devices (used in distributed generation, electrical vehi-
cles, energy storage systems and other devices to improve the
power quality of the final user) constitute unstoppable trends [1].
The benefits that the advent of the smart grid may bring to
the society, from both the economical and environmental points
of view, are huge but the challenges are also prominent. For this
reason, technological platforms and research programs dealing
with this topic are being promoted everywhere with the objective
of paving the way for a quick and smooth transition from the
conventional to the new smart distribution era [2]–[5].
Keeping this industrial and social demand into account, it
is necessary to take action in the graduate and undergraduate
curricula to adequately train the students for this new paradigm
Manuscript received September 9, 2016; revised January 23, 2017; accepted
March 4, 2017. Date of publication March 10, 2017; date of current version
October 18, 2017. This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy
and Competitiveness, Junta de Andalucı́a and Universidad de Sevilla through
Projects PRICE-GDI (IPT-2011-1501-920000), ENE2011-24137, ENE2014-
54115-R, TEP-7411, and VPPI-US. Paper no. TPWRS-01361-2016.
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of
Seville, 41004 Seville, Spain (e-mail: jmmaza@us.es; manuelbarragan@us.es;
fdpgarcia@us.es; juanignacio82@gmail.com; jmmauricio6@gmail.com;
lazalvbar@gmail.com; age@us.es).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRS.2017.2681182
0885-8950 © 2017 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
4861
of distribution systems involving a lot of new technologies in
the playground [6]. This situation, however, can be turned into
an opportunity to make more attractive and effective the power
engineering curricula. Note that a decrease of students has been
experienced several times in the past mainly because of the per-
ception of power engineering as an old-fashioned business in
comparison with other emerging technological areas [7]–[9]. In
addition, it is of paramount importance to send a clear message
to the students emphasizing the differences between the real and
the virtual worlds. In many aspects of their life (social relation-
ships, educational resources, entertainment, etc.) new genera-
tions of students grow up frequently surrounded by increasingly
sophisticated simulation tools, and interact to a greater extent
through a plethora of different smart devices. We believe that,
more than ever, a physical contact with the electrical world in
a laboratory environment is nowadays required in power engi-
neering education in order to reinforce the concepts learned in
theoretical seminars [10].
All those reasons, involving technical, social and educational
concerns, justify the need for the multi-platform test bed to teach
active distribution networks presented in this paper. Basically,
the test bed is a scaled-down version of an actual distribution
system. Previous works have reported laboratories facilities of
similar characteristics with different educational purposes. A
scaled-down (120 V, 10 kVA) three-phase network comprising
18 nodes to show the benefits of distribution automation has
been presented in [11]. Pulakka et al. present in [12] a laboratory
network to show the effect of harmonic resonance. References
[13] and [14], [15] show two laboratory setups at University of
Drexel for analyzing the role of modern Energy Management
Systems (EMSs) and radial power flows respectively. The first
scaled-down system is small (4 buses, 220 V, 5 kVA) but the
second one is large (36 buses, 208 V, 43.8 kVA). A unified
laboratory, involving power electronics, electrical machines and
power system operations (120 V and 3 buses) is presented in
[16]. In [17], a small power system composed of 4 nodes is used
to show the operation of a Thyristor Switching Reactor (TCR). A
real scale microgrid (4 buses, 220 V, 100 kW) is presented in [18]
involving different distributed generation and energy storage
technologies. In [19] a small-scale system (6 buses, 208 V, 0.2
kW) involving induction motors, synchronous generators and
DC transmission is presented, aimed at analyzing a wide range
of issues ranging from power flows to integration of power
electronics. Finally, in [20] is described a test rig with three
4862
Voltage Source Converters (VSCs) to analyze the operation of
multiterminal HVDC systems.
The main contribution of the proposed scaled-down dis-
tribution system, when compared to those previous works, is
the way loads, generators or storage systems have been built
up. In this regard, different approaches have been previously
used: static ZIP equivalents to represent loads in [11], [14] and
[15]; electrical machines coupled to mechanical systems [13],
[16] and [19]; actual energy conversion technologies [18]. The
main drawback of those approaches is the lack of flexibility to
configure different patterns of load/generation scenarios. For
instance, once a PV module is connected to a given bus, that
bus will behave like a distributed generator until the hard wire
connections of the system are reconfigured (or the PV module is
physically moved to a different bus). Moreover, sufficient sun-
light or artificial lighting on the PV panels will be needed during
the lab tests. In addition, due to space and energy consumption
requirements, the rated power of the involved systems are usu-
ally quite reduced. To overcome these shortcomings, this paper
proposes to replicate the behavior of any load/generator/storage
system connected to each bus by means of a set of interrelated
power electronics converters, all of them operating under
a novel concept: the so-called Omni-mode Load Emulator
(OLE).
The paper is organized as follows. First, the main objectives
and requirements of the test bed are discussed. Second, the
benchmark distribution system proposed by the CIGRE Task
Force C06.04.02 to analyze the integration of distributed gen-
eration is introduced. Third, a comprehensive description of
each component of the test bed is presented. Then, some results
regarding the performance of the system and some tests for un-
dergraduate students are shown. Finally, the paper closes with
the main conclusions and future works.
II. OBJECTIVES AND REQUIREMENTS
The main objective of the scaled-down distribution system
is to highlight the impact that distributed generation (DG) has
on the MV distribution system. Among others, the following
major consequences of a massive integration of DG have to be
evidenced throughout different tests:
1) Reversal of the active and reactive power flows on some
branches of the distribution system.
2) Modification of the conventional daily load curves (gross
versus net feeder loading) and their corresponding voltage
profiles.
3) Deterioration of the power quality in terms of voltage
variations, congestions and flicker, which are caused
by the non-controllable nature of the primary energy
resources.
As a result, the undergraduate students will realize that the
massive integration of DG is not straightforward in case the
traditional design and operation procedures of distribution sys-
tems are kept intact. Also, the new roles that distribution utilities
should play in this more sophisticated environment, to take ad-
vantage of many more agents interacting at faster paces, can
be stressed. In fact, DG resources can be adequately used to
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER SYSTEMS, VOL. 32, NO. 6, NOVEMBER 2017
improve the operation of the network. For instance, DG may use
reactive power injections to minimize the active power losses
and keep the bus voltages within the regulatory limits, instead
of resorting to the classical unity power factor control. For this
purpose, new tools have to be available in modern distribution
control centers, under the umbrella of the so-called Advanced
Demand Management Systems (ADMS) [22]. Therefore, the
scaled-down distribution network can be additionally used for
real-time testing of innovative algorithms developed by graduate
students, such as:
1) State estimation algorithms for distribution systems. This
tool, restricted until recently to the transmission level, is
the cornerstone of a truly ADMS. The algorithm has to
gather all the available measurements along the network
(measurements at the head of the feeder, daily profile
patterns related to generic or specific type of loads or sec-
ondary substations, power injections of distributed gen-
erators, measurements from data concentrators or smart
meters, etc.) to estimate the nodal voltages and power
flows through network branches. Owing to cost issues this
information has not been usually available in distribution
control centers, but new and cheaper ICTs are bringing
more and more visibility of what is going on in the MV
network.
2) Centralized voltage controller. This algorithm uses the in-
formation provided by the state estimator and computes
the optimal set points for the available local voltage con-
trollers (reactive power injection of DGs, transformer taps,
capacitor banks, D-FACTS, etc.) in order to minimize a
given objective function while considering all network
constraints.
Other tasks that could be easily performed by using the pro-
posed infrastructure are summarized below:
1) Evaluation of protective devices (relays, fault pass indi-
cator, fault locators, etc.).
2) Evaluation of new algorithms and operation procedures
for distribution networks involving network reconfigura-
tion.
3) Testing of power electronics devices and their correspond-
ing control algorithms for the adequate integration of re-
newable energy sources and energy storage systems.
4) Testing of communication channels and protocols be-
tween the control center and the distributed equipment.
To achieve those objectives properly, the proposed test bed
must fulfill the following technical requirements:
1) Reproduce faithfully the technical features of MV distri-
bution systems.
2) Lines with reconfigurable length and R/X ratio to duly
reproduce radial urban and rural systems.
3) Flexible allocation of demand/generation/storage at each
node of the network.
4) Capability to model the dynamic behavior of de-
mand/generation/storage by considering different daily
load/generation patterns.
5) Completely monitored and automated system with mini-
mal human intervention to perform the tests.
6) Safety for the final user.
MAZA-ORTEGA et al.: MULTIPLATFORM LAB FOR TEACHING AND RESEARCH IN ACTIVE DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS
Fig. 1. MV distribution system proposed by the CIGRE Task Force C06.04.02.
Taking those initial objectives and requirements into ac-
count, the following sections describe the proposed scaled-down
system.
III. THE CIGRE TASK FORCE C06.04.02
BENCHMARK MV SYSTEM
The one-line diagram of the distribution network that has been
scaled-down in the laboratory is shown in Fig. 1. It has been
proposed by the CIGRE Task Force C06.04.02 for analyzing
the integration of distributed generation in MV grids [23].
Basically, it is composed of two radial feeders departing from
a primary substation where two 20 MVA 110/20 kV transform-
ers are installed. The feeder 1 has a total line length of 15 km
whereas the feeder 2 is about 8 km. The network comprises
14 buses with different types of loads, involving industrial and
residential customers, and with a high penetration of different
DG technologies: wind turbine (WT), photovoltaic (PV), fuel-
cell (FC), cogeneration (CHPFC and CHPD).
The main reasons that have motivated the selection of this
network for the proposed scaled-down test bed are clear. First,
this network is based on an actual MV German distribution
system which is important according to one of the previously
commented requirements. Second, all the network data includ-
ing topology, parameters of lines and cables, loads, DGs and
their corresponding daily load/generation curves are available
and well-documented [23]; this allows to easily reproduce the
proposed experiments by other researchers. Last but not least,
the benchmark network includes some power electronic-based
devices that could be a key component of the future distribu-
tion system with a massive integration of renewables: a Battery
Energy Storage System (BESS) and a DC link interconnecting
4863
the radial feeders. This latter device will be a key network asset
to improve the operation of distribution systems. As a matter
of fact, it constitutes a flexible loop between the feeders which
are connected to it, being possible to control the active power
exchange between them and two reactive power injections. With
the adequate set points provided by a centralized controller, the
DC link can be used for different purposes depending on the
operator needs: integrate more DG resources, increase the load-
ability of the system, minimize the losses or even delay the
investment on conventional network assets [24]–[27].
IV. SCALED-DOWN TEST BED
A low-voltage grid-connected scaled-down distribution sys-
tem has been designed by applying a change in the base mag-
nitudes of the original MV benchmark system. The rated mag-
nitudes of the actual distribution system, 20 kV and 10 MVA,
have been scaled-down to 400 V and 100 kVA respectively.
This transformation allows to reproduce faithfully the original
behavior of the actual MV network in terms of power flows and
voltage drops. Fig. 2 shows the layout of the test bed with indi-
cation of its main components: distribution network branches,
electrical cabinets where the OLEs (to be discussed below) are
placed and the centralized controller. The following subsections
describe in a detailed manner each of these components.
A. Distribution Network Branches
The lines of the distribution system have been represented
using a lumped parameter model comprising just a series
impedance. Each branch has been synthesized with two sets of
resistors and reactors according to the scheme shown in Fig. 3.
The values of resistors and reactors used in each branch of the
4864
Fig. 2. Layout of the scaled-down distribution system.
Fig. 3. Configuration of each branch of the scaled-down system.
TABLE I
VALUES OF THE RESISTORS AND REACTORS OF EACH BRANCH
system is shown in Table I. Note that it is possible to take ad-
vantage of different series and parallel connections between the
elements to modify either the length of the line or its R/X ratio
by connecting the adequate terminals. The design criterion has
been to reproduce the original line length proposed by the CI-
GRE in case of parallel connection of the impedance. Therefore,
it should be possible to increase the length of the branch by two
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER SYSTEMS, VOL. 32, NO. 6, NOVEMBER 2017
Fig. 4. One-line diagram of the OLEs used to emulate arbitrary
loads/generators.
Fig. 5. Layout of the OLEs within the electrical cabinets.
or four in case of single or series connection of the impedances
respectively. Currently, the length of each branch has to be ad-
justed manually before the experiments by setting the adequate
connections between the elements. However, an automatic setup
based on contactors can also be easily implemented.
B. Omni-Mode Load Emulators
The OLE is the building block used to indistinctly represent
loads, generators or storage devices, which are connected to
each node in the scaled-down system. The one-line diagram and
layout of this device within the electrical cabinets are shown
in Figs. 4 and 5, respectively. Each OLE is composed of the
following elements:
1) Voltage source converter (VSC). The VSC is the power
electronic device intended to create the required active
and reactive power injection into a node of the system.
For this application, three-phase, three-wire, two-level,
IGBT VSCs have been used, rated to 400 V, 20 kVA with
MAZA-ORTEGA et al.: MULTIPLATFORM LAB FOR TEACHING AND RESEARCH IN ACTIVE DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS 4865

TABLE II
MAPPING OLES–NODE OF CONNECTION

a switching frequency of 10 kHz. These VSCs are able

to faithfully emulate the currents injected to the MV dis-
tribution network because, usually in Europe, delta/wye
transformers are installed in secondary substations. There-
fore, only positive and negative sequences may appear in
the MV side which can be synthetized with the proposed
VSC topology. However, the results presented in this pa-
per only refers to a balanced operation of the test bed.
2) Coupling filter. This filter is used to connect the AC-side
Fig. 6. General scheme of the OLEs and the balancing VSC sharing a common
of the VSC to the scaled-down network. Its function is dc bus.
to reduce the harmonic contents related to the switching
frequency generated by the VSC. The selected topology is
a LCL filter, as this allows to achieve a reduced harmonic
contents with small filter components [28]. The inductors
and the capacitor have been rated to the following values:
L1 = L2 = 2.5 mH and C = 1 μF.
3) Measurements. The three-phase current and voltage are
measured at the point of interconnection of the VSC to
the scaled-down network. These measurements are used
in the VSC control algorithm that will be defined in the
next subsection.
4) Local controller. Each VSC is equipped with a local con-
troller (LC), which is in charge of tracking the active and
reactive power references sent by the centralized con-
troller (CC). Taking these set points and the previous
measurements into account, the LC implements a con- Fig. 7. General structure of the real-time control system.
trol algorithm to generate the adequate PWM signals to
the VSC. The LC used in this work is based on a Digital RL branches has to be included between the DC sides of the
Signal Processor (DSP) platform by Texas Instruments. OLEs to represent the DC lines between them.
A total of ten OLEs are connected to those nodes of the
network shown in Fig. 1 with load and/or generation, according
C. Real-Time Control
to the information provided in Table II, all of them sharing a
common DC bus. The key aspect of the proposed arrangement The scheme of the control system used in the proposed test
lies in the presence of an additional VSC, with the AC side bed is shown in Fig. 7. It is a two-level hierarchical structure
connected to the feeding point, as shown in Fig. 6, which is comprising a LC for each OLE and a CC. A basic description
in charge of regulating the voltage of the shared DC bus. The of each controller follows:
applied control scheme is a conventional PI regulator with the 1) Local Controller (LC). It is in charge of tracking the set
following gains: Kp = 0.1 and Ki = 1. This extra VSC plays points computed by the CC. Basically, this controller com-
the role of a slack bus by balancing the net amount of active putes the duty cycles ηabc taking into account the active
power which is absorbed or injected from the lab LV system, and reactive power references sent by the CC and the
allowing each OLE to arbitrarily exchange active power on its OLE voltages and currents, as depicted in Fig. 8. As can
AC side. be seen, a modification of a traditional strategy formu-
The balancing VSC is rated in our case to 100 kVA, which lated on a synchronous reference frame has been applied
is therefore the upper limit for the net active power that can be [29]. Note that, as shown in Fig. 4, the connection of the
used in each of the scenarios analyzed in the proposed test bed. OLEs to the distribution system is made without a cou-
Note that in the current proposal, the DC side of the test pling transformer to reduce the required space and cost of
bed is completely transparent for the final user, being the focus the test-bed. In addition, as all OLEs share a common DC
on the AC side. However, it is important to mention that this bus, zero sequence currents may flow among the OLEs
test bed could be easily refrofitted to analyze multiterminal DC [30]. To eliminate this unwanted current flow two actions
networks or even a hybrid AC/DC microgrids which constitute have been implemented. On the one hand, a zero sequence
an important research topic nowadays [21]. For this purpose, controller has been included in the traditional d-q control
4866 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER SYSTEMS, VOL. 32, NO. 6, NOVEMBER 2017

Fig. 8. Scheme of the local controller (LC).

Fig. 9. GUI for configuring the daily load curves of loads and generators.
scheme, as shown in Fig. 8. This controller assures an
almost null zero-sequence components for low frequency
current harmonics. On the other hand, all the carrier sig-
nals of the PWM used to generate the gating signals of the
OLEs have been synchronized to eliminate the high fre-
quency zero sequence components [29]. The gains used
in the PI current controller are the following: Kp = 2 and
Ki = 50.
2) Centralized Controller (CC). It is responsible for two
tasks. On the one hand, it is in charge of sending the
active and reactive power references to each OLE accord-
ing to profiles that have been previously determined, as
explained in the next subsection. On the other hand, it
receives information about all the electrical variables of
each of the OLEs (three-phase voltages, three-phase cur-
rents and DC voltage). After processing this information,
it provides a real-time monitoring of the system with the
help of a Graphical User Interface (GUI), where the one-
line diagram is shown. For each node of the system the
actual and the reference set points for the active and reac-
tive power are provided. The CC has been implemented
on a real-time platform by Speedgoat. Fig. 10. GUI for configuring the type of loads related to each node of the
The two control loops, LC and CC, have been communicated distribution system.
via UDP/IP protocol using a 100 Mbs Ethernet LAN network
as a physical layer. The set points for the OLEs are sent from
information as shown in Fig. 10. Once the type of
the CC to the LC every second. The state of each OLE is sent
load/generation and rated power are defined, it is pos-
from the LC to the CC every millisecond.
sible to compute the net active and reactive powers to be
D. Offline Tasks injected/absorbed by each node of the system, which are
the set points for the respective OLEs. Note that Fig. 10
The off-line tasks are devoted to set up the experiment that is shows a case where both loads and PV generation are con-
going to be carried out on the test bed. Basically, two processes nected to the same node. This explains why, depending on
are involved at this phase, as follows: the hour of the day, the real power may be either positive
1) Load/generation profile configuration. The aim of this tool or negative.
is to define the active and reactive daily power curve (in
per unit) for each of the load types and DG technologies
considered. This configuration is performed through the V. PERFORMANCE OF THE TEST BED
GUI, as shown in Fig. 9 where a domestic daily load curve This section is devoted to show the technical performance of
is presented (the user can upload a data file). the scaled-down distribution system. The aim is to validate the
2) Nodal load/generation composition. It is used to define adequacy of the OLEs and the proposed local and centralized
the rated power of each type of load and/or generation controllers. Currently, the functionality of the test bed is been
associated with the nodes of the distribution system. completed with the development of modern ADMS real-time
Again, a GUI is used to easily introduce the required tools, such as state estimation and centralized voltage controller.
MAZA-ORTEGA et al.: MULTIPLATFORM LAB FOR TEACHING AND RESEARCH IN ACTIVE DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS
Fig. 11. Phase currents and harmonic content for low- and high-frequency
components.
Fig. 11 shows the phase currents injected by an OLE and
their harmonic spectrum for a half of its rated power. Note that
the currents are almost sinusoidal as can be seen in the har-
monic spectrum (THD below 3.5%). Note that the harmonic
spectrum contains information about low- and high-order har-
monics. The low-order harmonics are due to the background
voltage harmonic distortion. On the other hand, it is important
to point out the reduced level of high-order harmonics, specially
the 200-th harmonic which corresponds to the 10 kHz commuta-
tion frequency. This means that not only the LCL coupling filter
is working properly but also the synchronization of the PWM
signals to avoid the circulation of zero sequence components.
Fig. 12 compares the active and reactive power references
with the active and reactive power actually injected by the re-
spective OLE. Two daily profiles corresponding to load (upper
plot) and generation (bottom plot) curves are shown. Note that
there is virtually no difference between the power references and
the actual injected values. This confirms the correct behavior of
the local and centralized controllers.
Note that the whole system has been designed to run in an au-
tomated mode with minimal human intervention. Once the data
regarding the daily profiles associated with each of the nodes
of the distribution system are computed, the active and reactive
power references are sent to each of the OLEs automatically, for
scenarios lasting up to 24 hours.
VI. STUDENT EXPERIENCE
This section describes the first experiment designed for un-
dergraduate students using the proposed test bed. The objective
is to evaluate the impact that DG may have on radial distribution
systems in terms of voltage profiles and power losses. For this
purpose, the lengths of the branches have been configured to
four times those of the original system proposed by the CIGRE
Task Force C06.04.02 in order to highlight the effects of DG.
4867
Fig. 12. Comparison of active and reactive power actual values and set points
of an OLE. Upper plot: load curve. Bottom plot: wind generation plot.
Before the practical session in the laboratory, all the information
about the distribution network including the network parame-
ters, load and generation daily profiles, load and generation in
each node, etc. are provided to the students. Taken into account
this information, the students have to do the following tasks:
1) Generate the scenarios to be tested. The students have to
compute the net power demand in each node of the distri-
bution system for different 24 hours scenarios considering
different DG penetration ranging from a base case with-
out DG up to four times the DG proposed in [23]. Note
that this is a scenario with high DG penetration, about
12.5 MW of DG power compared to 32 MW of maximum
load in the daily profile representing around a 40%.
2) Steady-state analysis. For this purpose, they have to apply
power flow analysis considering the scenarios previously
computed. In this way, they obtain the voltage daily profile
of each node of the network, the active and reactive power
flows in the branches, etc.
After doing these tasks, the students are ready for the exper-
imental validation of the simulation results. The tasks that they
perform in the lab using the proposed test bed are summarized
as follows:
1) Upload the scenarios. For this purpose, the students have
to follow the two off-line processes that has been ex-
plained in Section IV-D.
2) Run the tests for the different scenarios. During the tests
the students may see the evolution of the different elec-
trical variables (active and reactive power injections and
the nodal voltage) in real-time using the GUI of the CC
as indicated in Section IV-C.
3) Collect all the test data. After testing each of the scenar-
ios, the students collect all the information regarding the
electrical variables (measured active and reactive power
injections and nodal voltages).
4868
Fig. 13. Comparison of voltages evolution depending on the DG penetration.
Top plot: Node 3. Bottom plot: Node 6.
Once the laboratory session is finished, the students have to
perform the following tasks:
1) Compare simulation results with experimental ones. First,
they have to verify if the current active and reactive power
injections of each node are according to the computed
ones. Then, they have to check if the measured nodal volt-
ages are according to those obtained from the load flow
analysis. They are asked to perform and error analysis of
the obtained results and justify why these errors appear.
Considering this task, they obtain some graphs similar to
the one presented in Fig. 13. This figure presents a com-
parison of simulated and measured voltages of two nodes
considering a 24-hour scenario with different degrees of
DG penetration: no DG and four times the amount of DG
proposed in [23]. Therefore, they realize that an increase
of the DG penetration reduces the voltage drop in the sys-
tem because the net demand from the primary substation
is reduced. For higher DG penetration levels, power flow
reversals could take place in some hours, leading to nega-
tive voltage drops. As a result, the traditionally decreasing
voltage profile along the feeder length is no longer valid,
being it possible to have some intermediate nodes of the
distribution system with overvoltages. For those cases,
the traditional voltage regulation means located at the pri-
mary substation, such as capacitor banks or on-load tap
changers are not as effective.
2) Influence of the short-circuit power on the voltages. The
analysis of Fig. 13 is interesting to highlight that DG pene-
tration influences the voltage according to the short-circuit
power of the corresponding node. Note that the voltage
variations at node 3 are wider than those at node 6. The
reason is simply that node 3 is closer to the primary sub-
station than node 6 and, as result, its short-circuit power
is higher.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER SYSTEMS, VOL. 32, NO. 6, NOVEMBER 2017
Fig. 14. Comparison of power system losses evolution depending on the DG
penetration.
3) Computation of Key Performance Indexes (KPIs). Taken
into account the previous data, the students compute some
KPIs regarding the voltage variations and the power losses
of the system. In this way, they are able to quantify the
impact of integrating DG in the distribution network. Con-
sidering this, they have to represent graphs similar to the
one presented in Fig. 14 where the power losses for differ-
ent DG penetration levels are shown. This figure reveals
one of the potential benefits of the presence of DG in
distributed systems. The reduction of the power losses is
clearly due to the generation being closer to the demand,
reducing in this way the net power flow through the net-
work branches.
The lab session using the proposed test bed along with all
these surrounding tasks improve the understanding of the new
scenario that distribution systems have to face and reinforce the
following concepts explained in theoretical classes:
1) Reversal of the active and reactive power flows may hap-
pen in case high DG penetration.
2) Conventional daily load curves and voltage profiles are
modified.
3) Massive integration of DG will lead to the use of ADMS to
minimize the impact to the network operation. Moreover,
the adequate use of this technology may turn this problem
into an opportunity by considering DG as a controllable
distributed resource that can be operated to optimize the
performance of the network.
4) In the future, new network topologies involving hybrid
AC/DC networks may constitute a promising solution to
overcome the technical barrier related to the current net-
work configuration.
In addition, this hands-on lab experience is fruitful for the
students because also points out other cross-cutting concepts
which are important from an engineering point of view:
1) Real world is much more complex and rich than the virtual
one. Any simulation result always is an approximation of
what is going on in reality. For this reason, the simulation
results have to be validated in an experimental way.
2) Power engineering involves nowadays a lot of technolo-
gies ranging from conventional elements such resistor
or inductors to power electronic converters, control al-
MAZA-ORTEGA et al.: MULTIPLATFORM LAB FOR TEACHING AND RESEARCH IN ACTIVE DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS
gorithms, communications, etc. Therefore, this is not an
old-fashioned business anymore.
VII. CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a test bed for teaching active dis-
tribution networks to graduate and undergraduate students. The
introduction of DG within the distribution system is a non-
stoppable trend with paramount social, environmental and tech-
nical significance. Therefore, nowadays it is a must to include
this topic in the Power Engineering curricula. The test bed has
been designed based on an actual distribution system proposed
by the CIGRE Task Force C06.04.02 to analyze the impact of
DG on MV distribution systems. The main components of the
test bed including network branches, OLEs to emulate any active
and reactive power profiles, real-time controllers and off-line
tasks for configuration purposes have been described. Com-
pared to earlier developments, the main distinctive feature of
the proposed test bed is the flexibility provided by the so-called
OLE building block, which allows arbitrary combinations of
active and reactive power profiles to be easily assigned to each
node of the system, without having to change, move or rewire
any hardware component. This test bed can be considered as a
seed for future developments involving other important aspects
of active distribution systems like the islanded operation or even
the testing of some visionary hybrid AC/DC networks.
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José Marı́a Maza-Ortega (M’05) was born in Spain in 1972. He received
the Electrical Engineering and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the
University of Seville, Seville, Spain, in 1996 and 2001, respectively. Since 1997,
he has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Seville,
where he is currently an Associate Professor. His primary research interests
include power quality, harmonic filters, integration of renewable energies, and
power electronics.
4870
Manuel Barragán-Villarejo was born in Spain in 1984. He received the Electri-
cal Engineering and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University
of Seville, Seville, Spain, in 2008 and 2014, respectively. Since 2008, he has
been with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Seville, where
he is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow. His primary research interests include ex-
ploitation of new power converter topologies for smart grid management and
grid integration of renewable energy resources.
Francisco de Paula Garcı́a-López was born in Spain in 1985. He received
the Electrical Engineering and Master’s degrees in 2012 and 2014, respectively,
from the University of Seville, Seville, Spain, where he is currently working
toward the Ph.D. degree. His primary research interests include power quality
and control of power electronic devices.
Juan Jiménez received the Telecommunications Engineering and M.Sc. degrees
from the University of Seville, Seville, Spain, in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
He was a Research Assistant and a Ph.D. candidate from 2009 to 2012 within
the Telematics Department, University of Seville. From 2012 to 2014, he was an
R&D Researcher with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of
Seville. His current interests include energy optimization and quality-of-service
provisioning in IEEE 802.11 WLANs, wireless networked control systems, and
control strategies for power electronic devices.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER SYSTEMS, VOL. 32, NO. 6, NOVEMBER 2017
Juan Manuel Mauricio (M’01) was born in Argentina in 1977. He received
the Electrical Engineering degree from the National University of Comahue,
Neuquén, Argentina, in 2003, and the Master’s and Doctor Engineering degrees
from the University of Seville, Seville, Spain, in 2007 and 2009, respectively.
Since 2004, he has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Uni-
versity of Seville, where he is currently an Associate Professor. His primary
research interests include power systems and electrical machine modeling and
control, renewable energy generation, voltage-source-converter-based applica-
tions, and electrical vehicles.
Lázaro Alvarado-Barrios was born in Cuba. He received the Electrical En-
gineering degree from José Antonio Echeverrı́a Higher Polytechnic Institute
of Cuba, Havana, Cuba, in 1988, and the Ph.D. degree in economics from the
University of Seville, Seville, Spain, in 2010. Since 2015, he has been an Asso-
ciate Professor with the Department of Engineering, Loyola University, Seville.
His main research interests include the grid integration of renewable energy
resources, including the management and operation of microgrids.
Antonio Gómez-Expósito (F’05) received the Electrical Engineering and Doc-
tor degrees from the University of Seville, Seville, Spain, where he is currently
the Endesa Industrial Chair Professor. His primary areas of interest include op-
timal power system operation, state estimation, digital signal processing, and
control of flexible ac transmission system devices.