Building a Better

Microgrid with
Hardware in the Loop
by Peter Maloney

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Building a Better Microgrid with Hardware in the Loop

Contents
Digitalization, Decentralization and Decarbonization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Grid Disrupting Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Facing the Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Testing in Real Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Using HIL to Create a Microgrid Testbed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Verification of Protection Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Looking to the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Digitalization, Decentralization and Decarbonization

The electric power grid is undergoing one of the most
fundamental changes since its inception over a century ago.
That transformation has been summed up as the “3 Ds,” which
stands for digitalization, decentralization, and decarbonization.
This value-added shift is being aided, in part, by new tools
and processes, such as Hardware in the Loop (HIL) testing and
more broadly Model Based Engineering (MBE). Using a single,
coordinated virtual model as the basis for system development
creates opportunities to save time and money in the design,
testing, and operation, especially considering the wide variety
of components that must function seamlessly to make the
transformation possible and guarantee the safe, reliable and
fundamentally flexible operation of the electric power grid.
Digitalization applies advances in digital technologies to the
power sector. It is about making the power sector smarter
and more flexible by collecting and analyzing more system
and customer data, through sensors and ‘smart meters,’ and
using the insights to tailor energy delivery and use via digital
controllers and intelligent electronic devices. Taking the
capability a step further, we can coordinate these systems to
create distributed control infrastructure, using high-speed
communications and technologies such as cloud computing
and distributed ledger transactions, or ‘blockchain.’
The World Economic Forum estimates that digitalization will
create $1.3 trillion of value globally by 2025 by increasing asset
The Value of Digitalization
$1.3
Increasing
TRILLION
asset life spans by 2025
Creating innovative customer-centric products
Source: The World Economic Forum
life spans, optimizing electricity flows and creating innovative
customer-centric products. The digitalization of the electric
industry is being propelled, and is helping to facilitate, another
trend, the decentralization of energy transactions.
“You could save up to 20-30% of
time by using the Hardware in the
Loop testbed continuously during the
design and validation of microgrid
development.”
Qiang Fu
Regional Technology Manager at EATON
The power industry is no longer a one-way street with power
flowing from a remote centrally located power station out to
end users. Increasingly, power is flowing in two directions as
consumers adopt technologies that allow them to generate
and store energy. Between 2000 and 2017, U.S. rooftop solar
installations grew tenfold, driven by a combination of falling
solar panel prices, tax credits and innovative financing
strategies for consumers. Most importantly, energy is moving
from a supplier-customer model of centralized control to a
peer-to-peer structure in which anyone can offer services of
value to another—for example related to timing, location,
delivery rate, or quality of service.
The third leg of this three-part trend is decarbonization. Both
digitalization and decentralization inherently reduce primary
energy use and consequently reduce emissions of carbon
dioxide (CO2), one of the principal greenhouse gases. In
addition, a growing number of local and state governments, as
Optimizing well as corporations, are embracing measures explicitly aimed
electricity flows at reducing CO2 emissions. To date, 29 states and the District
of Columbia have adopted renewable portfolio standards
that mandate lower GHG emissions, and eight states have set
renewable energy goals. Four states—California, Hawaii, New
Mexico and Washington—now have laws that call for them to
move to 100% clean energy over the coming decades.

© 2019 Microgrid Knowledge 2

Building a Better Microgrid with Hardware in the Loop
Grid Disrupting Technologies
Those states are responding to increasing concerns about
rising temperatures, as well as the potential for more frequent
and devastating natural disasters, such as hurricanes, wildfires
and flooding. Some of those same concerns also fuel the growth
of microgrids.
The global market for microgrids is expected to expand from
$6.3 billion in 2018 to $30.9 billion by 2027, with most of the
demand coming from Asia and North America, according to
Navigant Research.
Increasingly, communities install microgrids to improve
flexibility and response capability in case of flooding or severe
storms and to retain continuity of critical services during
emergencies.
Microgrid Global Market Expansion
$30.9
BILLION
$6.3 by
BILLION 2027
in
2018
Source: Navigant Research
Microgrids are well suited to meet those needs. They are
small self-contained electrical systems that integrate various
local energy technologies— for example renewables, small-
scale fossil generation, and batteries— enabling responsive
generation and distribution of electric power, as well as services
such as heating and cooling. They can operate in concert with
the larger network and become particularly valuable during
natural disasters.
The proliferation of microgrids highlights the differences
between the centralized market structure of the past and the
evolving taxonomy of a networked grid comprised of microgrids
and distributed energy resources (DERs) such as solar power
installations— both rooftop and stand-alone— and energy
storage devices.
The spread of the networked grid brings with it several benefits,
as well as challenges. Among the benefits microgrids and DERs
bring to the power sector are new business models that help
promote greater competition and innovation.
© 2019 Microgrid Knowledge
For most of its history, the electric power sector has been
dominated by companies that enjoyed monopoly power in
their markets. They had little incentive to do things differently
or to innovate. Microgrids and DERs are changing that.
There are multiple vendors in the microgrid and DER market,
and each is vying to gain market share by offering better
technology or better customer service or a combination of
the two.
The costs of the technologies behind microgrids and DERs are
also coming down, particularly for solar panels and lithium-ion
batteries. Lower costs make these resources more competitive
with legacy technologies and enable them to grow market
share. And, as they become more prevalent, consumers reap
the benefits of their reduced costs.
Microgrids and DERs also have an advantage in that they
often can be brought to market more quickly than centralized
generation. A solar farm or battery energy storage facility can
be installed rapidly to meet local market needs, while small-
scale gas-fired power plants can quickly ensure power wherever
natural gas is available. In either case, speed to market can
also translate into a quicker return for investors and speedier
regulatory recovery for utilities.
Microgrids and DERs are also flexible. Locally installed solar
panels can reduce dependency on transmission assets;
batteries help shift time availability and can provide back-up
power in an emergency. Batteries can also provide voltage
and/or frequency support for the wider grid. Depending on the
technology they employ, microgrids also may be able to supply
several other products and services, such as chilled water and
steam for industrial uses.
“HIL is invaluable in risk
mitigation.”
Qiang Fu
Regional Technology Manager at EATON
Finally, microgrids and DERs provide consumers with a wider
array of choices for how they use their energy. They give
consumers control over their energy use, enabling them to
reduce their bills through demand response or other energy
saving programs; they also give consumers more say over
the kinds of energy they use. They can install a microgrid, for
example, that uses more renewable energy compared to their
local utility.
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Building a Better Microgrid with Hardware in the Loop
Facing the Challenge
On the flip side, microgrids and DERs, change the electrical
grid in ways that create engineering challenges.
As the market for microgrids and DERs grows, the variety of
technologies and vendors naturally becomes more diverse.
Almost all of the new technologies employ a new class of digital
power technologies to manipulate the power produced and
make it possible for microgrids and DERs to function.
Consider, for example, how today’s smart grid technologies
interplay with batteries. Being able to control electrical circuits
digitally on a sub-microsecond time scale and being able to
monitor the condition of the electric grid in real time allows
batteries to help stabilize the grid. They do so by providing
services such as frequency regulation and voltage support.
Digital technology also allows for the automation of microgrids
and the management of resources. A modern microgrid can
monitor loads and wholesale power prices and switch between
the cheapest available energy source, whether it happens
to be the wholesale power market or power generated from
the microgrid.
Simply put, digitalization allows for fast, real-time optimization
of unconventional resources like microgrids and DERs on a large
scale. That expands the business models available to implement
OTIS Microgrid site comprised of battery storage, diesel genset, wind turbine. It is the first site that was extensively tested using ultra-high fidelity HIL
testbed for design and pre-commissioning; the first cyber-secure connection outside the fence; first wind-based microgrid;
the first USAF dual-purpose generator; and the first behind the meter frequency regulation asset in ISO-NE.
© 2019 Microgrid Knowledge
those resources, and increases the potential for their economic
viability. But digitalization also brings challenges.
As vendors vie to distinguish their technologies—and their
control software—from their competitors, it becomes
increasingly difficult for disparate technologies to communicate
effectively. A microgrid may be a great solution to the
challenges of reliability and resilience, but it is, in itself,
a complex machine with many moving parts. If those parts
cannot “talk” to one another—and the grid—the microgrid
will not be able to operate effectively.
In Massachusetts the Air National Guard built a microgrid at
Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod. The microgrid
is large enough to meet the energy needs of the air base
using renewable energy sources. It can rapidly island, or
separate, from the surrounding grid and be self-sufficient in
an emergency situation or in a planned fashion. The microgrid
also has a cyber secure connection to ISO New England,
allowing it to sell ancillary services into the ISO’s wholesale
power market as a way of generating income and making the
project economic.
That robust array of capabilities made the Otis microgrid a first
in many categories, but it also increased the complexity of a
project that had to meet the highest levels of performance.
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Building a Better Microgrid with Hardware in the Loop
Shawn Doyle, vice president of facility and utility operations
at the OTIS base, was the project manager for the microgrid.
With a background in Air Force and aviation engineering,
Doyle was used to a “prototyping approach” where a project
or system was modeled and simulated in high fidelity to test
and validate concepts and designs. “I was surprised to learn
that microgrid engineering does not have a similar approach
as a mandatory requirement,” Doyle says.
But Raytheon, the lead contractor on the project, contracted
with Typhoon HIL to develop a high-fidelity Hardware In
the Loop (HIL) testbed of the project. This prototyping
platform — think of it as a microgrid “flight simulator”—
supported integration of all the components of the microgrid.
Testing in Real Time
Learning how a system, such as a microgrid, operates in the
context of the larger grid can be costly and expensive if those
lessons are learned in the real world, that is, once the system
is actually in operation.
A more effective and economical approach is to test the
system extensively in a laboratory setting before deployment.
Fortunately, there is a solution that allows for a system to be
put through its paces before it goes live. It is known as model-
based engineering, or MBE.
As the name states, MBE uses models—that is, computer
models—of a system that connects the process of design,
installation, testing, and operation of that system. This reduces
the need for manual translation between different design
disciplines and life cycle steps, which in turn cuts costs and
the chances for error, which is especially valuable in this age
of automation.
To reduce the risk of misoperation, the control and protection
system needs to be tested for even the most unlikely events
like a blackout of an entire area, a black start event, or a wildfire
creating a short circuit on a transmission line (e.g. in the case
of Blue Cut Fire in Southern Californiain on Aug 16, 2016).
So even though that is exactly the kind of event for which a
system engineer needs to prepare, those types of events might
occur only 100 times over the course of an entire career. But by
modeling systems and using HIL testing technology, “in one week
of testing I can show a career lifetime of events,” Manson says.
One way to think about MBE is that it uses fully executable
models rather than diagrams on paper to visually portray the
architecture of a system and the relationships between different
parts of that system. Another important aspect of MBE is that it
uses a common language so that those responsible for different
aspects of the overall system can understand what their
colleagues are talking about. Also, the model can be evaluated
to any specification since it is alive and executable. One can
© 2019 Microgrid Knowledge
(See page 6 for a more detailed discussion on the use of HIL
testing.) Raytheon used an HIL testbed during the design and
development phases before the microgrid was even built.
“This significantly reduced interoperability risk,” Doyle says.
“We can show customers a
career lifetime of power system
events in one week
of HIL factory testing.”
Scott Manson, Technology Director at
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories
run the model and hence understand the spec better and in any
operating point.
To help understand the need for MBE, think of a complex system,
such as a fighter jet that comprises flight avionics, weapons and
targeting systems software, and navigation and communications
systems. Each is important in its own right, and all must work
together. Further, the engineers that work on all the different
systems, not to mention those with responsibility for the overall
system, must be able to communicate via executable spec.
Miscommunications in the development phase of a system
escalates costs later.
NASA offers a good example of how MBE can be put to use
to solve problems within complex projects. Over the years,
NASA’s space and communications networks evolved into three
components: a deep space network, a space network and a near
Earth network. Unfortunately, people working on the separate
components developed their own terminology and protocols.
Employees working in the various sub-networks used various
programs and document-based systems engineering, all
different. To solve the problem—and modernize its space and
communications networks—the space agency adopted MBE.
The new approach provided a platform that allowed employees
working on the different components to understand the work
of their colleagues and allowed workers on all aspects of the
project to grasp what was happening at a system-wide level.
Automakers, too, now use MBE. The average car has as many
as 30 separate electrical control units and about two miles of
wiring to connect its various networks. And as much as 70%
of a modern automobile’s content is made up of electrical,
electronic and software components. Faced with these
complexities, automakers are turning to MBE to facilitate
design and product development and across-the-board
communication in an environment where the supply chain may
encompass hundreds of vendors.
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Building a Better Microgrid with Hardware in the Loop
Using HIL to Create a Microgrid Testbed
The electric power grid is the world’s largest man-made
system. It is also a very complex machine with thousands
of components and subsystems e.g.: generating plants,
transformers, switches, and miles and miles of wires.
That “machine” is undergoing a historic transformation. With
digitalization and decentralization, power flows are becoming
bi-directional, and digital sensors and electronic controls are
making the grid more agile, more flexible, and more plastic.
Also, the control of the grid is expanding from transmission
level network to distribution network and all the way down
to the consumer. Turning the consumer into a prosumer.
Often, all of those trends come together in a microgrid, which
may comprise a generation source, such as solar panels, an
energy storage device, a back-up generation source, such as a
combined heat and power plant, inverters for the solar panels
and battery systems, load control devices for captive power
sinks, a utility system interface, controllers for the individual
components, and an overall microgrid control system.
Combining all those components is complex on its own, but a
microgrid’s complexity is augmented by the fact that it operates
within and interacts with the surrounding grid. Fundamentally,
all the control functions that existed on the transmission level
are now being democratized and are moving down to the
distribution level and microgrids.
Microgrid Digital Twin hardware and software example
© 2019 Microgrid Knowledge
Given their complexity, best practice dictates that microgrids be
tested before being connected to the grid. Not doing so, would
be like flying a new aircraft without training. That is why pilots
use flight simulators—not an aircraft carrying passengers—
for training and testing. A flight simulator can duplicate real
world conditions and replicate situations that could be too
dangerous for a real-life training session. Even more to the
point, that is why aircraft components are tested in the design
phase before being deployed; the cost of failure during design
is much less than in post-production.
Similarly, it would not be prudent to test a microgrid by
plugging it into the grid or to test a new microgrid component
by plugging it into a real-world microgrid. That is where HIL
technology comes in. HIL technology builds on the principles
of MBE. HIL is a technique that is used to develop and test
embedded control systems using real-time simulation.
Actually, HIL involves connecting any piece of hardware into
a computer model so that the device goes through realistic
operation—just as it would in the field. This could be a light
bulb, generator, battery, etc. If the device being plugged in is a
controller, you have a special category referred to as controller-
Hardware in the Loop (C-HIL). That’s what Typhoon specializes
in because the controller is hard to model realistically, yet
it’s often less expensive and easier to modify than the rest
of the hardware. That is a useful feature at any stage of the
development process.
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Building a Better Microgrid with Hardware in the Loop
Prior to adopting HIL testing, the EPC Power Corporation, a
designer and manufacturer of power conversion systems, was
doing all its testing in a laboratory. But as the company began
working with larger systems, it began to run into limitations.
Testing larger systems would have required scaling up power
levels in the lab proportionally, which would have required more
square footage and more time.
For EPC Power, HIL was particularly useful for developing
battery storage inverter control software. After adopting
Typhoon HIL, “we were able to move the product line forward
more quickly by doing preliminary testing on the HIL, and doing
performance verification on the HIL,” Ryan Smith, CTO of EPC
Power, says. “We could do a suite of tests in an hour that would
take a week in the lab.”
HIL was also valuable in software-hardware integration, Smith
says. “I would normally have allocated six weeks for that task,
and that might even be aggressive. We did it in one day for the
500-kW inverter.”
An important consideration with respect to real-world
simulation is the model fidelity. Fidelity in this context refers to
how accurately the computer model describes the real system.
A crucial element of that accuracy is whether or not system
response times are as fast as the real system functions, which
is essential if the goal is to interact with a real system. Naturally,
higher fidelity translates to more computing, which makes
real-time simulation that much harder. Some systems, such
as Typhoon HIL’s microgrid testbed, are capable of operating
at half a microsecond. So, while the generator in a microgrid
EPC Power battery inverter controller in the loop with Typhoon HIL real-time simulator
© 2019 Microgrid Knowledge
might operate in a slow timeframe, the inverter for the storage
device is capable of operating at sub-microsecond speeds.
In order for the model to capture all interactions and
possible issues, the fidelity needs to be as high as possible.
Unfortunately, there is a tendency in the industry to default
to the lowest, not the highest fidelity. That can become a
problem when trying to test the real-time performance of
an entire system. It could distort the responses and capabilities
of the system. And it could fall short of the capabilities of a
more robust testbed system.
HIL technology allows a controller to be put through the paces
of thousands and thousands of possible scenarios without
incurring the cost and time associated with actual physical
tests, and that also facilitates faster and more accurate
design iteration. Some of the tests, especially faults and
other destructive tests, are impossible or impractical to
perform in real life. HIL technology can also be used to
comply with standards set by the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for testing microgrid controllers,
IEEE2030.8-2018, which is used to verify the functions of a
microgrid controller common to the control of all microgrids
regardless of configuration or jurisdiction.
Using HIL modeling software, a microgrid power stage
schematic can be designed that can run in real-time on a
collection of HIL simulators that interface with protection
relays, microgrid controllers and controllers of solar inverters,
battery inverters, diesel gensets and fuel cells. The use of HIL in
conjunction with controllers (C-HIL) allows controller software
to be tested and vetted before crucial deployment to the field.
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Building a Better Microgrid with Hardware in the Loop

Qiang Fu from EATON presenting Eaton’s microgrid controller in the loop with the HIL microgrid testbed at the
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Microgrid Symposium 2017

It is difficult to quantify the savings from using HIL because the
technology of every component is different, Qiang Fu, regional
technology manager at Eaton, says. But using HIL throughout
the design and validation phases of product development could
cut man hours by 20% to 30%. And if a vendor were able to use
one testing tool from design to deployment, that would be a
great value to the industry, Fu says.
Another benefit of HIL is that the levels of fidelity can be adjusted
at different stages of development. “That saves money because
you don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” Fu says. Also, HIL can
be adapted to individual vendor specifications. Without HIL,
engineers basically guess at the specs. An HIL system with a drop-
down menu of commonly used vendor specs that can be plugged
into an HIL platform would represent a big cost savings, Fu says.

In a power system setting, an HIL testbed can be used for:

▶▶ Time domain short circuit analysis, failure mode analysis, coordination study analysis
▶▶ DER interoperability and microgrid functional testing
▶▶ Testing of a microgrid against short circuits, phase losses, component failures and over voltage,
low and over voltage ride through
▶▶ Conduct of a sensitivity analysis of the entire network in real-time
▶▶ Testing of a controller’s hardware, firmware, software and communications under all operating
conditions that include faults in both islanded and grid connected modes

© 2019 Microgrid Knowledge 8

Building a Better Microgrid with Hardware in the Loop
Verification of Protection Coordination
HIL is a valuable tool in product development, but it can
also be used in many other phases of a project’s life cycle.
As already discussed, HIL can de-risk the development
process by compressing the time needed for design
iteration. It can be used before a controller is actually
manufactured, and it can be used to test a new product.
“Before HIL systems were
available, you could do
software development, but
you couldn’t actually do any
performance verification
or validation testing, until
hardware was available for
you to test on. Or you had
to develop your own system,
which is a significant cost.”
Ryan Smith, CTO at EPC Power
Investors are more likely to sign off on the financing of a
novel microgrid installation if it’s vetted through rigorous
real-world simulation. So HIL testing may be used to
demonstrate to potential financiers the viability of a product
both on its own right and in matrix.
Once past development and funding, HIL technology comes
into play in operation and maintenance of a microgrid;
it provides what-if scenarios and stress tests that can help
ensure the readiness of the system.
HIL’s flexibility and utility at all stages of a product lifecycle
makes it useful to a wide variety of stakeholders, among
them:
▶▶ Standards boards seeking to draw up, codify, and
validate relevant industry standards for new technologies.
HIL testing of various technologies and system
configurations under a broad range of situations can
be a powerful method to help streamline chronically
long development processes.
▶▶ Regulators who have a stake in understanding the
application of MBE and HIL and the results they yield.
© 2019 Microgrid Knowledge
HIL testing can be used to improve grid interconnection
requirements regulators place on projects by virtue of
more extensive scenario-based testing. Such testing
could even be specified as part of the approval process,
as a supplement to more generic design standards.
▶▶ Vendors seeking to vet potential products and to
demonstrate their performance to potential customers.
HIL testing can help expedite the testing and certification
processes for individual component technologies
(e.g. inverters, relays, controllers etc.). When it comes to
making a project a reality, developers and engineering-
procurement-construction (EPC) contractors can use
MBE and HIL to test and verify components of a microgrid
before full integration and synchronization.
▶▶ Operators who need to guarantee smooth microgrid
operation for the next 20 years as the technologies are
evolving, firmware and software are changing, and new
components need to be integrated into the existing
microgrid. The HIL based digital twin can be used as a
reference model against which all the changes, upgrades
and updates will be verified.
▶▶ Financiers and insurers who need to understand the
risks
of project performance, both how the system will perform
and how much it will cost to build and operate, look
for verifiable data, especially for projects that employ
new technologies. Without independent verification of
performance, investors are often reluctant to lend or will
likely increase rates and fees to cover higher perceived
levels of risk.
“HIL Testing is being able
to give the customer
an idea what kinds of
applications they are able
to have on their site and to
demonstrate them easily in
the simulation.”
Qiang Fu
Regional Technology Manager at EATON
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Building a Better Microgrid with Hardware in the Loop
Looking to the Future
So far, MBE and HIL have focused on developing and bringing
products to market. However, the same capabilities that cut
time and costs from development and production phases, can
also be used throughout a product’s life cycle.
In the context of a microgrid, MBE and HIL offer benefits during
the useful life of a project. The components of a microgrid will
have to work together for 20 or 30 years. There are likely to be
multiple software upgrades over that time frame. Every time
the software on one component is upgraded, the operator has
to be sure that the whole system is still working correctly.
HIL allows the components to be tested independently and as
part of the system before bringing the system back online.
MBE also has potential for use in predictive maintenance and
training. Automated systems can compare predicted and actual
behaviors, helping to quickly identify problems and solutions.
By running low probability-high impact scenarios, a microgrid
operator could prepare employees and the system for potential
natural disasters or cyber-attacks. As a training tool the HIL
testbed can replicate scenarios that operators would not
normally encounter—or would not want to replicate in the real
world—as a way of preparing staff for unforeseen events. And
as new components and technologies become available, a new
generation of smart solar inverters, for example, HIL can be used
to test the component and its interoperability with the rest of
the system before plugging it into an existing, real world system.
Conclusion
As the electric power grid continues to evolve and becomes
more agile and complex, the arguments in favor of MBE and
HIL become more compelling. This is especially true when
it comes to microgrids.
If the aim of a decentralized and digitalized grid is reliability
and resilience, the digital tools used to design, test and
© 2019 Microgrid Knowledge
“We HIL-test relays,
we HIL-test microgrid
controllers, we HIL-test our
security systems, we HIL-test
communication systems –
across the board.”
Scott Manson, Technology Director at
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories
Because MBE already operates in a digital environment, it is
also well positioned to adapt as digital tools evolve. The cutting
edge of automation is machine learning, but as the pace of
development continues to accelerate, machine learning will
likely become more mainstream. Being able to develop and
test components and systems electronically will become even
more critical as those components and systems become more
intelligent. HIL can provide an infinite pool of high-fidelity
data and operational scenarios that can be used to develop
and test machine learning and AI algorithms. Simply put, new
self-learning and adaptable control schemes need to be put in
the loop with HIL so they can train and improve at the fastest
possible pace.
integrate the components to achieve that end should be no
less rigorous and up to date. Model Based Engineering, and
especially C-HIL, represents the state-of-the-art approach to
link value assessment, engineering, and system operation.
Further more, it becomes a significant tool in speeding up
de-carbonization of the human impact on the environment.
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