Concept of a test bench for research into automatic resupply to improve the resilience of critical infrastructure

Efficiency and safety are paramount in the ever-changing world of energy supply. Modernising power systems requires the development of new features and extensive testing. Ideally, this should be done under real conditions. Current energy system automation focuses mainly on grid protection, grid frequency control and voltage regulation and is mainly found in high and extra-high voltage grids. However, there is an urgent need for further automation in medium and low voltage grids. Alternatives such as a massive increase in staff and costly grid expansion are difficult to implement. Legal requirements such as German Energy Industry Act (EnWG) also underline the urgency of digitising the energy transition. This paper therefore presents the concept of a test bench for researching and validating automatic resupply for a specific application in the medium-voltage grid. This automation solution automatically restores power to an electrical station following a fault shutdown.