ENERGYCON 2014 • May 13-16, 2014 • Dubrovnik, Croatia

Generating a PSSTMNETOMAC Model of the

German Transmission Grid from Google Earth and
Visualizing Load Flow Results
Sascha Altschäffl #1, Rolf Witzmann #2, Thomas Ahndorf *3
#
Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology,
Institute of Power Transmission Systems, Technische Universität München
Arcisstrasse 21, 80333 Munich / Germany
1
sascha.altschaeffl@tum.de
2
rolf.witzmann@tum.de
*
Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology,
Hochschule Karlsruhe – Technik und Wirtschaft, University of Applied Sciences
Moltkestrasse 30, 76133 Karlsruhe / Germany
3
thomas.ahndorf@hs-karlsruhe.de

Abstract—In order to create a model of the German

Transmission Grid, it is necessary to get information of the
length of the transmission lines. In Germany this data is not
provided by the transmission system operators. So a different
way of generating these informations has to be found. With the
freeware tool Google Earth it is possible to identify the tracks of
the transmission lines. In combination with the information of an
official map of the German Transmission Grid it is possible to
mark all transmission lines of the 380/220 kV voltage level in
Google Earth. Furthermore, the positions of transformers and
generators can be found. After taking this information to
MATLAB, lists of transmission lines, transformers, generators
and loads are generated. These lists can be completed with the
missing electrical parameters in Microsoft Excel (MS Excel).
Finally the lists are imported in MATLAB again and a
PSSTMNETOMAC-file is generated. Using this file with
PSSTMNETOMAC, load flow calculations can be performed. To
get an overview of the load flow results, a way to visualize node
voltages and power flows is presented.
Keywords: Google Earth, PSSTMNETOMAC, MATLAB,
transmission network, visualization.
I. INTRODUCTION
In order to do research on the German transmission grid a
detailed model for AC load flow calculation is needed. The
basic approach is described in [1]. In comparison to the
presented power transmission network models in [2] and [3]
the model is based on visual and geographical information in
Google Earth. Load flow and stability calculations on the
model can be performed with PSSTMNETOMAC [4]. Load
flow results are very complex because of the size of the
model. As it is necessary to get an overview of the results
quickly, visualization of load flow results is very important.
Here usually node voltages and power flows on the
transmission lines are two of the interesting values to look at
(e.g. [5], [6]).
II. GOOGLE EARTH
The freeware Google Earth is software available from
Google Inc. It is a virtual globe, map and geographical
information program which is based on 3D maps. Further
information about the software is given in [7]. As it is possible
to zoom into the maps with a high resolution, one can achieve
very detailed information for a specific area.
A. Marking Transmission Lines
Information regarding the position of transmission line
towers is very useful for finding the tracks of transmission
lines. Every tower has its own shadow and usually it shows
the number of traverses, so the number of parallel lines can be
estimated. In Fig. 1 the towers of a 380 kV and a 110 kV
transmission line are shown as they can be found in Google
Earth. 110 kV lines are not modeled. In combination with the
information of the map of the German ultra-high voltage
distribution network in Fig. 2, it is possible to identify the
correct voltage level in Google Earth.
110 kV
380 kV 380 kV
Fig. 1: Towers of transmission lines in Google Earth (380 kV, 110 kV)
Each line is represented by a path of a certain colour which
can be added in Google Earth. The colour depends on the
voltage level of the transmission line. Every path is defined by
an arbitrary number of geographic coordinates (longitude,
latitude). In Fig. 1, two geographic coordinates at the

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 ENERGYCON 2014 • May 13-16, 2014 • Dubrovnik, Croatia

beginning and at the end of the path are used to define the
shown part of the 380 kV transmission line. With increasing
length of the line, more geographic coordinates are necessary
as the line changes direction several times. The goal is to
represent the real tracks of the transmission lines, as this
information is used to calculate the length of the line.
If it is not possible to find the following tower in Google
Earth, the map in Fig. 2 shows the line tracks in a simplified
way and so can also provide assistance.
C. Name and Description of Each Network Element
It is very important to name and describe every marked
element in Google Earth, so it can be identified again in the
final PSSTMNETOMAC model. In Fig. 3 the definition table
of a “placemark” is shown. It is equal to the definition table of
a path. There are different possibilities to characterise a
“placemark”. The text in the field called “Name” is shown in
the Google Earth map above the “placemark” and in the
program area “Places” (see marking in Fig. 4).

Fig. 3: Definition table of a “placemark” in Google Earth

The chosen name of each element is a combination of

element type, substation name and the voltage level. For
example a 380/220 kV transformer in the substation
“Pulverdingen” is named “Transformer Pulverdingen1
Fig. 2: Map of German ultra-high voltage distribution network published by
(380/220)” (see Fig. 4). The name of the substation is
VDE [8] extracted from the ENTSO-E Grid Map. If there is more than
one transformer, different numbers are added previous to the
B. Marking Different Network Elements voltage level.
The positions of transformers, generators and compensating
facilities can also be marked in Google Earth. These network
elements are represented by so called “placemarks” in Google
Earth. Unlike a path, the “placemark” is defined by only one
pair of geographic coordinates. The color of a “placemark” is
set according to the color representing the voltage levels of the
transmission lines. Every “placemark” in Goolge Earth
represents only one network element. For example if there is a
substation with three transformers, three “placemarks” have to
be put there, but one line track can represent more parallel
transmission lines.

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 ENERGYCON 2014 • May 13-16, 2014 • Dubrovnik, Croatia
Fig. 4: Google Earth user interface with a transformer “placemark” and
marked program area “Places”
In the tab “Description” a unique code is written. This code
is used to characterise the element considering type/voltage
level and country. It is also used as branch name in the final
PSSTMNETOMAC model. As the branch names in
PSSTMNETOMAC are limited to eight characters, a particular
and easy code is developed. The first character is a letter
representing the type of network element and the voltage
level. The second sign is a letter representing the country
where the element is placed. The following six characters are
reserved for the number of the element. The structure of the
code is shown in Fig. 5. Here the first sign is an asterisk. It is
needed for the identification of each element in the KML-file
with MATLAB. This is explained in the following chapter.
Fig. 5: Structure of the element description code as defined in [1]
D. Structure of KML-files
Keyhole Markup Language (KML) is a notation based on
Extensible Markup Language (XML) which was developed
for use with Google Earth. It is possible to express geographic
annotation and visualization within Google Earth. As the data
is text based, KML-files can be opened with every text editor.
So the paths and “placemarks” set in Google Earth can be
found in this file. For example in Fig. 6 the section defining
the “placemark” for the 380/220 kV transformer “Transformer
Pulverdingen1 (380/220)” is shown.
<Placemark>
<name>Transformer Pulverdingen1 (380/220)</name>
<description>*id000001</description>
<Point>
<coordinates>9.044186,48.902830,0</coordinates>
</Point>
</Placemark>
Fig. 6: Code for the “placemark” “Transformer Pulverdingen1 (380/220)”
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All information that was put into Google Earth can be
found again in the KML-file. Each “placemark” has the same
structure. Every code line starts with an identifier, e.g.
<name>. These identifiers make it possible to collect the data
with MATLAB. But the identifier <description> is used in
different contexts in the KML-file, not only for “placemarks”
and paths. That is the reason why each description of an
element is started with an asterisk in Google Earth. This
special sign is not used in any other context in the KML-file.
So each network element can be found looking for the
asterisks in the KML-file.
III. MATLAB TOOL
The developed tool consists of two main parts which are
called “KML TO EXCEL” and “EXCEL TO NETOMAC”.
The main tasks of the first part are extracting all network
elements of the KML-file, sorting the information and putting
it in lists which can be completed with further information.
The purpose of the second part is to convert all the
information of the completed lists to a PSSTMNETOMAC
model. An overview of all different steps is given in Fig. 7.
Fig. 7: Overview of different steps using “KML TO EXCEL” and “EXCEL
TO NETOMAC”
A. KML TO EXCEL
1) Read Out Network Elements: Within the first script, all
defined “placemarks” and paths in Google Earth with a
description code are extracted from the KML-file. They are
identified by the asterisk in the description code, as shown in
Fig. 5. The information is stored in a MATLAB cell array.
2) Find Next Code: This script collects information about
the used description code and generates a text file with the
next unused description code for each type of network
element.
3) Calculate Line Length: As every transmission line in
Google Earth is represented by a path with an arbitrary
number of points. The points are given as geographic
coordinates in degrees. The way of calculating the distance is
described in [9]. First the coordinates have to be converted to
radians by multiplying with ʌ/180°. To get the length of the
transmission line, all the differences between two back-to-
back points must be summed. First the angle between two
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 ENERGYCON 2014 • May 13-16, 2014 • Dubrovnik, Croatia

points (A, B) has to be calculated. The scalar product of two lodged there. Typical sets of parameters shown in the
unit vectors which point at the coordinates of the points is literature ([10]-[12]) are used. These types can be defined by
defined as the user as they are depending on the regarded network. The
number of types is not limited, so arbitrarily complex
sin Alat cos Alon sin Blat cos Blon
networks can be modeled. The connections between the
cos Į = ൥ sin Alat sin Alon ൩ · ൥ sin Blat sin Blon ൩.
network elements and the different types are realized with
cos Alat cos Blat
numbers representing each type. All information which has to
By transposing the equation and multiplying with the earth be input to the lists is shown in TABLE II.
radius REarth the radian measure can be calculated as follows: TABLE II
-1 INFORMATION TO FILL IN THE DIFFERENT MS EXCEL FILES
l= REarth ·cos ( sinሺBlat ሻ · sinሺAlat ሻ +
Name of
+ cosሺBlat ሻ · cosሺAlat ሻ·cos༌(Blon -Alon )).
MS Excel Information to fill in the lists
In this case the earth is regarded as a sphere with a radius of files/tabs
6371 km. Number
Lines Type of parallel Active/ Inactive (1/0)
4) Generate Node Names: This script generates node names
lines
automatically. First the script goes through all 380 kV lines Active Rated Active/
and compares the first point of each line with the first and last Turbine
Generators Type AVR Power Voltage Inactive
points of the other 380 kV lines. If the difference of the Controller
[MW] [p.u.] (1/0)
latitudes and longitudes of the points is smaller than an angle
Transformers Type tap
equal 500 m, both line ends get the same node name. The Type Active/ Inactive (1/0)
(380/220 kV) changer
name is a number, starting with 1. In the next step the script
compares the last point of each 380 kV line with the first and Transformers Active
Reactive Load Active/ Inactive
the last points of the other lines. These steps are also (380/110 kV, Type Load
[MVAr] (1/0)
processed with all 220 kV lines. If more than one line end is 220/110 kV) [MW]
found in the area of 500 m · 500 m, it is ensured that all of Active Load Reactive Load Active/ Inactive
Loads
them get the same node name. In the next step all coordinates [MW] [MVAr] (1/0)
of the other network elements are compared to the line ends Short-circuit
and they get the same node name. During the comparison Active/ Inactive
Grids Capacity R/X
different voltage levels are considered. (1/0)
[MVA]
5) Generate Lists for MS Excel: Now all information is
B. EXCEL TO NETOMAC
prepared for export to MS Excel files. The file names and the
used tabs in every file are shown in TABLE I. After the MS Excel files are filled with the relevant
parameters for network modelling by defining different types
TABLE I
for lines, generators, transformers and grid equivalents the
MS EXCEL FILES WITH NAMES OF USED TABS
second part of the tool is processed. Five different steps are
Name of processed in this part.
Tabs
MS Excel file
1) Read MS Excel files: First all data in the MS Excel files
Lines 380 220 Type 380 Type 220 is stored in cell arrays and then the manually added
Generators 380 220 Type 380 Type 220 information is combined with the information of the KML-file
380/220 380/110 220/110 generated during “KML TO EXCEL”. Cell arrays are output
Transformers Type Type Type Type tap containing geographic information from Google Earth, node
380/220 380/110 220/110 changer names and electrical parameters according to the different
Loads 380 220 types.
Grids 380 220 2) Sort Information for 110 kV Voltage Level: There are no
names defined for the 110 kV nodes. As with collecting the
In TABLE I the tabs written in bold letters are filled with information of the load connected to the 110 kV nodes
information generated and prepared with “KML TO EXCEL”. (compare TABLE II, “Transformers 380/110 kV,
Different voltage levels are considered. Name and description 220/110 kV”), node names are defined according to the next
code of each generator, transformer, load and grid are free number (compare section III.A). The result is a cell array
exported to these tabs. In the MS Excel file “Lines” containing the numbers of all loads connected to 110kV nodes
information about the length of each line is also added. The and the name of the nodes. This information is needed for
other tabs are there to define different types of lines, generating the PSSTMNETOMAC file.
generators and transformers. Finally the type data is used to
generate a model of each element for PSSTMNETOMAC. The 3) Generate Equivalent Generators: The script identifies
necessary parameters of the different network elements are all generators connected to the same node. To reduce the
complexity of the final model these generators are reduced to

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 ENERGYCON 2014 • May 13-16, 2014 • Dubrovnik, Croatia

one generator model. Automatically the type is changed to one relative locations [13]. The usedd MATLAB command and the
with an equivalent apparent power and the active power feed- necessary input data are shown below:
in is summarized. To give an overview of the changes to the
F = scatteredInterpollant(x, y, v, ‘M’, ‘EM’)
user, a new MS Excel file, called “EquivaalentGenerators”, is
generated. Here, the final generator data is saved.
s F… Interpolation fitting a surfaace of the form v = F(x,y)
x… Sample points x-coordinatees.
4) Generate Final List of Network Elem ments: To make it
y… Sample points y-coordinatees.
easier for the user of the model to identiify each connected
v… Sample values at the sample points.
element for a certain node, an MS Excel file is generated
‘M’… Interpolation method.
where all network elements with descriptiion code and node
‘EM’… Extrapolation method.
name are listed. Furthermore this script geenerates a so called
NZD-file that can be used by PSSTMNETO OMAC to replace in By using the MAT-file (seee section III.F), containing
the result file node names and names of thee branches with the information of Google Earthh and load flow results of
full name of each element. PSSTMNETOMAC, the input data can be generated with
MATLAB. The main task off the script is to connect the
5) Generate PSSTMNETOMAC File andd Saving MATLAB
geographical information with the calculated results. This is
Workspace: The last script prepares all coollected and sorted
realized by comparing the node names of both data sources.
information to generate a PSSTMNETOMA AC conformal text
To plot the interpolation, it has h to be evaluated at query
file. Basically, the input files for PSSTMNETTOMAC consist of
locations. A meshed grid wiith a mesh size of 0.2 ° is
80 columns which are grouped to input fields with different
generated. So between all evvaluated locations there is a
sizes. For example the input fields for nodee and branch names
distance of 0.2 °. This is a reaasonable compromise between
are limited to eight characters. That is thhe reason why the
resolution of the final interpolattion plot and computing time.
description code is limited to eight chaaracters (see II.C).
The final plot with positionns of the equivalent generators
Finally all defined cell arrays and variabbles, the so called
and the generator names is shhown in Fig. 8. The nominal
workspace in MATLAB, are stored to a MAT-file.
M This type
voltage of all shown nodes is 380 kV. The corresponding
of file can be loaded to MATLAB again and a the information
voltage of each color can be foound on the color scale on the
in the cell arrays and variables can be used to visualize load
right side of the figure. Calculated voltages are ranged
flow results of PSSTMNETOMAC.
between 1.0 p.u. and 1.1 p.u..
IV. VISUALIZATION OF LOAD FLOW W RESULTS
The results of load flow calculations in PSSTMNETOMAC
are only shown as lists. The standard resuult list for branches
contains following information:
• Nominal voltage
• Node name
• Voltage magnitude in p.u.
• Voltage angle in degree
• Branch name
• Active Power in MW
• Reactive Power in MVAr
• Apparent Power in MVA
• Cosij
Because of the size of the model the interpretation and
analysis of the results in list form is not practical.
p To get an
overview of the results, node voltages annd power flows on
each transmission line are visualized.
A. Visualization of Node Voltages
The node voltages, e.g. within the Gerrman Transmission
Grid, should range between 1.0 p.u. and 1.1 1 p.u.. To get an
overview of the highest and lowest voltagges in the grid and Fig. 8: Interpolated node voltages of voltage level 380 kV and position of
connected equivalent generators
their geographical position, an interpolationn based on the node
voltages and the geographical position of the nodes is In Fig. 9 the interpolation of thee calculated voltages at every
generated with MATLAB. node on the 220 kV voltage leveel is shown in combination
With MATLAB it is possible to interpoolate scattered data with the equivalent generator poositions and the generator
such as voltages at certain nodes in a gridd. Scattered data is names. The voltages are also in the range of 1.0 and 1.1 p.u..
defined as a set of points with no struccture among their Generally the voltages are lowerr than in the 380 kV voltage
level, but higher than 1.0 p.u. att every node.

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 ENERGYCON 2014 • May 13-16, 2014 • Dubrovnik, Croatia

Fig. 9: Interpolated node voltages of voltage level 220 kV and position of

connected equivalent generators

B. Visualization of Power Flows

Also the distribution of power flows is an interesting and
important point regarding a certain load floow scenario. As the Fig. 10: Active power flow
w in 380 kV voltage level
information of all transmission line trackks is stored in the
MAT-file (see section III.F.5) and the pow wer flow results can
be exported by PSSTMNETOMAC, it is posssible to generate a
plot combining this information. As alreeady explained in
section IV.A, the main task of the MAT TLAB script is to
connect the geographical informattion with the
PSSTMNETOMAC results. In the standaard result list for
branches, all branches defined in the PSSTMNETOMAC
model and the results concerning each brannch are shown. By
looking for descriptions starting with the element code used
for transmission lines (compare Fig. 5) in thhe column “Branch
name”, all transmission line tracks of a ceertain voltage level
can be identified. After that, every track is plotted
p with a color
according to the size of the power flow. Theere is no difference
in tracks with one line or more parallel lines, so power flows
higher than the thermal limit of one transmission line could
appear. Power flows that can be visualized area
• Apparent power [MVA]
• Active power [MW]
• Reactive power [MVAr].
In Fig. 10 the active power flow over the 380 kV
transmission lines are shown. According to the colors, the
highest power flows appear in the east and a in the west of
Germany. Comparing it to Fig. 8, in these areas
a the voltage is
also at the higher end of the scale. The reason for this effect is
high power feed-in of conventional power plants. The power
feed-in of the generators connected to thhe 220 kV voltage Fig. 11: Active power flow
w in 220 kV voltage level
level is much lower, so no significant linee utilization can be
noticed (see Fig. 11).

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 ENERGYCON 2014 • May 13-16, 2014 • Dubrovnik, Croatia
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper a tool is presented to generate a
PSSTMNETOMAC compatible model with input data from
Google Earth by using MATLAB and MS Excel. The tool
consists of two parts. The first part “KML TO EXCEL”
converts the manually included information in Google Earth,
represented in a KML-file, to different MS Excel files. Each
file includes all network elements of one type, such as 380 kV
transmission or 220 kV transmission lines. The files have to
be completed with appropriate electrical parameters. After
filling in the parameters, the second part of the tool “EXCEL
TO PSSTMNETOMAC” can be started. Following this, the
information in the MS Excel files is used to generate an input
file for PSSTMNETOMAC. This file can be used to perform
load flow calculations.
The load flow results in PSSTMNETOMAC are presented in
listed form. To give an overview of the node voltage and the
power flow results two different visualization tools are
presented. For this purpose, the collected geographical
information of Google Earth while executing “KML TO
EXCEL” is connected with the calculation results of
PSSTMNETOMAC. The interpolation plot of the node
voltages makes it possible to detect voltage problems and their
locations. Suitable actions can be taken at the concerned
locations. The power flow plot shows the distribution of load
flows in the grid. Highly loaded tracks can be identified and
appropriate changes concerning transmission lines can be
made.
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