Automated Cyber-Physical Validation Framework for Rapid Development of Smart Grid Controls

The surge in distributed generators from renewable sources has reshaped electric power systems, demanding advanced automation. Current engineering and validation methods focus on traditional offline and component validation, neglecting holistic system testing which can have impacts on the overall system resilience. Real-time simulators and hardware-in-the-loop tests address some gaps, but challenges persist in validating large-scale distributed software ecosystems in digitalized power systems. This paper tackles this by introducing the Automated Cyber-Physical Testing and Validation framework (ACTV). The goal of ACTV is to automate the process of system tests for large-scale smart grid applications. It does this by seamlessly integrating into a traditional software development process. Furthermore, it allows different organizations to collaborate in the validation process. Using the ACTV, it is possible to streamline the development and validation while ensuring modularity, reusability, and scalability. A prototypical implementation is presented and demonstrated in a smart charging use case. Summarizing, the ACTV framework provides a systematic approach for testing large-scale distributed software ecosystems before deployment, saving significant time and resources.