Utility-Scale Power Grids with MATLAB, Simulink, and Simscape Electrical
Analyze, design, and simulate large-scale power grids containing distributed energy and inverter-based resources
Power system engineers use MATLAB, Simulink, and Simscape Electrical to design, simulate, and validate electrical power system architectures, control strategies, and grid-integration workflows across transmission and distribution networks. These products provide analysis and modeling capabilities for simulating the new generation of inverter-based resources (IBRs), such as renewable resources, microgrids, energy storage systems, and EV charging networks, so you can:
- Model and simulate IBR-based power system architectures and control strategies using high-fidelity electrical and control models
- Perform integration and stability studies for connecting inverter-based and distributed energy resources to the grid, and support interconnection studies against utility and regional grid-code requirements
- Evaluate microgrid and energy storage system performance, including supervisory control, dispatch algorithms, and grid forming/ grid following inverter behavior
- Analyze the impact of large-scale EV charging on distribution networks, assess power quality effects, and prototype grid-aware charging coordination strategies
Model Power System Architectures with Inverter-Based Resources
Engineers use MATLAB, Simulink, and Simscape Electrical to model IBR-based power system architectures, perform grid-integration studies, and develop control strategies for renewable generation, energy storage, and microgrid applications.
Develop Wind, Solar, and Storage System Architectures
Simulink and Simscape Electrical provide libraries of prebuilt, parameterized electrical component and system models, enabling engineers to develop and evaluate renewable generation and storage system architectures.
- Model and simulate wind turbines and photovoltaic (PV) arrays for standalone analysis, or within a broader transmission and distribution system
- Include energy storage technologies such as batteries, supercapacitors, and hydrogen-based systems in your design studies
- Study the steady-state and dynamic response of the renewable energy system by running desktop simulations
- Explore system configurations and evaluate design tradeoffs for generation and storage assets
- Analyze system behavior using both electromagnetic transient (EMT) and phasor-domain simulation across timescales ranging from microseconds to years
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Design and Validate Control Systems for Renewable and Storage Systems
Simulink and Simscape let you design control strategies for voltage and current regulation, frequency stabilization, and maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and test controls for renewable energy systems and their storage systems.
- Simulate active/reactive power response and implement protection mechanisms
- Analyze power quality issues and mitigate them by using converters with phase balancing or active filters
- Identify design errors early in the process (with Simulink Design Verifier), create test cases for the controls (with Simulink Test), and check test coverage (with Simulink Coverage)
- Generate optimized production code for embedded controllers directly from Simulink models
- Generate code for the plant and perform real-time testing on the control algorithm with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing under normal and fault operating conditions
Using Model-Based Design, we can shorten the entire cycle from requirements to prototype testing by more than five times.
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Analyze Grid Integration and Stability of IBR-Based Systems
As power systems incorporate more inverter-based resources (IBRs), reduced synchronous inertia and fast converter controls introduce new challenges for stability, protection, and power quality. MATLAB, Simulink, and Simscape Electrical help engineers assess harmonic interactions, voltage and frequency responses, control interactions, and fault ride-through performance in renewable generation and energy storage systems.
Perform Grid Integration and Interconnection Studies
With Simscape Electrical, engineers can connect renewable generation, storage, and microgrid models to transmission and distribution network representations. This supports evaluation of plant controls and operating strategies against utility, regional, and interconnection requirements.
- Establish operational scenarios in a repeatable way across different system architectures
- Model and run multiple operational scenarios in parallel
- Replay field data, such as voltage step tests or grid events, to compare the model against the measurements
- Evaluate voltage and frequency performance against grid codes, such as IEEE 1547 and NERC PRC-024, for compliance checks
Simulate Grid Behavior and Optimize System Response
Use MATLAB, Simulink, and Simscape Electrical to simulate plant-level and network-level behavior under normal and faulted operating conditions, and to evaluate system response across transmission and distribution studies.
- Perform power plant model validation with automated parameter estimation, data replay, and both offline step-tests and online performance monitoring to address regulatory requirements
- Apply optimization tools to automate parameter tuning, inform adjustments to equipment sizing and placement, and test distributed energy systems against grid codes such as IEEE 1547
- Analyze uncertainty and operating variability using Monte Carlo simulations across transmission and distribution network configurations
- Automatically generate and publish reports to capture the output of simulation studies using MATLAB Report Generator
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Videos and Examples
- Implementation of a Probabilistic Power Flow System at Eversource Energy (21:01)
- Energy Speaker Series - Module 1: Transmission System Operations - Improving System Performance and Reliability (1:07:46)
- Integrating Measured Data with Simulations for Automated Model Calibration (35:05)
- Model Static Synchronous Compensator Using Voltage Source Converter
- Mixed AC/DC System Loadflow
Design and Analyze Microgrid, EV Charging, and Energy Storage Systems
Engineers use MATLAB, Simulink, and Simscape Electrical to develop the next generation of microgrids, smart grids, and EV charging infrastructure. They can model and simulate network architecture, perform system-level analysis, and develop energy management and control strategies.
MATLAB, Simulink, and Simscape Electrical help engineers estimate the sizing of electrical components, such as batteries, PV arrays, and backup generators. These products let engineers explore system operations, assess system feasibility, and optimize system configurations by modeling the system and running simulations in parallel.
Design Microgrid Power Systems
Design and perform analysis of microgrids using MATLAB, Simulink, and Simscape Electrical.
- Integrate the microgrid system model with the utility grid model
- Understand and predict the impact of variable power sources and loads on distribution networks and the utility grid
- Develop supervisory control and energy management systems for different power sources and loads
- Use HIL simulations to test microgrid energy management algorithms with a real-time machine
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Videos and Examples
- Energy Speaker Series - Module 4: Power System Optimization - Virtual Power Plants and Microgrids (33:00)
- Implement Droop Controllers for Islanded Operation of Remote Microgrids (3:55)
- Microgrid Energy Management System (EMS) using Optimization
- Microgrid Resynchronization with Main Grid
- More Microgrid Examples
Analyze EV Charging Systems
Simulink and Simscape Electrical provide an environment for designing EV charging infrastructure. These products let you design charging systems with different power requirements (such as AC charging, low-power DC charging, and high-power DC charging) and of varying scales.
- Implement solutions for vehicle-to-grid integration
- Study the impact of different charging system architectures on the power system
- Implement control strategies that can mitigate load issues and respond to rapid changes in charging demand
- Perform capacity studies to set a proper scale of charging infrastructure for meeting a given demand in a designated area
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Design Energy Storage Systems
You can use Simulink and Simscape products to model energy storage systems to simulate their connection to a power grid and design control strategies to smooth variability and provide peak shaving during high demand.
- Model and simulate the battery system or other means of energy storage and the balance of the electrical plant, such as inverters, generators, and switches
- Use the plant model simulation to develop and verify the energy management system closed-loop and supervisory control algorithms across a range of operating conditions
- Perform power system studies of the energy storage system as part of a larger power system
- Generate defect-free, optimized C code for the energy storage system controller from Simulink models
- Generate code from the Simscape model of the energy storage system and other electrical components to perform HIL testing under normal and faulted operating conditions
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