Hardware in the Loop Simulation of a Nano-Grid Transactive Energy Exchange

Nowadays, the electricity grid from the customer side is getting more complex. Number of customers with photovoltaic (PV) generation, plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), and stationary battery energy storage system (BESS), referred here as Nano-Grid or n-Grid are increasing. With proper economic incentives and control mechanisms, the n-Grid may be used to ensure grid reliability and resilience if engaged in energy exchange with other n-Grids or the main grid. Such energy exchange framework is called transactive energy. The complexity and variety of the component integration and operation make n-Grid involvement in the transactive energy framework challenging. In this paper, a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation framework is introduced to provide solutions for some of the issues of power system and power electronics co-simulation that represent the backbone for the transactive energy exchange. Since grid decision making process has conspicuously different time constant in comparison with power inverters' switching frequency, including both in a simulation framework is challenging. A simulation framework in which PV generation and BESS are integrated to the n-Grid with power inverters is elaborated in this paper. Finally, a hardware-in-the-loop testbed implementation is discussed.