DER-Grid Smart Facility

The DER-GRID Smart Facility, located at the University of Cyprus | PHAETHON CoE, is a flexible and scalable research and development (R&D) facility that comprises of a state-of-the-art solar technology test infrastructure and a low voltage (LV) experimental nanogrid (living lab), aimed to test and demonstrate renewable and smart grid concepts.

The facility supports the following research areas:

  • Distributed generation and advanced flexibility technologies for electrical power systems.
  • Energy storage systems.
  • Smart electricity networks and energy management.
  • Artificial intelligence (AI) and energy analytics.
  • Real-time simulation of smart grid technologies.
  • Energy policy and energy economics.

Low Voltage Nanogrid Living Lab

The DER-GRID Smart Facility comprises of an experimental nanogrid that operates as a “Living Lab” by integrating others smart inverters, a battery storage system, controllable loads and energy Internet-of-Things (IoT) communication devices. The renewable-powered nanogrid utilizes 40 kWp of building–integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs) in combination with a battery energy storage system (BESS) of 50 kWh usable capacity and an advanced cloud-based energy management system (EMS). All controllable loads are supervised and managed by a demand response management platform configured with standardised interoperability signals in order to test the scalability of next-generation flexibility services. The “Living Lab” is complemented by a real-time simulation test-bed, which is a fully functional simulation and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) system that includes amongst others a real-time simulation unit, a signal conditioning unit and a microgrid digital twin platform, aimed for testing in real-time smart grid technologies in a control and power hardware-in-the-loop approach.

Nanogrid “Living Lab” comprising of BIPV façade system and battery storage system with grid-forming capabilities. A real-time simulation test-bed is also connected to the equipment of the nanogrid.

The nanogrid is controlled through a supervisory and control intelligent energy management system.

Nanogrid “Living Lab” intelligent energy management system and real-time monitoring.

Services offered by the infrastructure

The fact that the facility combines the outdoor renewable and smart grid testing infrastructure to indoor real-time simulation test-beds and an energy analytic e-infrastructure, enables scientists to carry out high-quality research that extends to the highest technology readiness level (TRL). Specifically, the following services are offered by the infrastructure and its research environment:

  • Qualification testing/conformity assessment of smart energy systems according to diverse national standards and recommendations.
  • Verification and actual-environment demonstration of smart energy technologies and tools.
  • Testing renewable integration technologies against requirements of standards and grid codes.
  • Power quality (lab test/field monitoring) and impact evaluation of DER components on power quality (e.g., voltage levels and harmonics).
  • PV production forecasting (day- and hour-ahead) and energy analytics.
  • Smart grid and DER-oriented expertise and validation/testing activities.