Synthetic grid models of the USA

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Tom Brown

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Jun 18, 2018, 11:00:13 AM6/18/18
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Something for US openmodders:

A while back we reported on the ARPA-E funding for GRID DATA, to create
"large-scale, realistic, validated, and open-access power system network
models":

https://arpa-e.energy.gov/?q=arpa-e-programs/grid-data

Some of this is coming online now with "synthetic" grid models of the
contiguous US:

https://electricgrids.engr.tamu.edu/

For security reasons it is a "synthetic transmission system ... designed
by algorithms ... to be statistically similar to actual transmission
system models but without modeling any actual lines".

These models seem to be aimed at dynamic simulations and reactive power
modelling. I'm not sure how useful this is to energy system modellers -
that will depend on how "synthetic" they really are.

I can't see if there's any georeferencing.

Might be worth ferreting around to see if the other GRID DATA projects
are also yielding anything more useful.

No open licences...sigh...we really need comprehensive guides on the
openmod websites for newbies for open licensing of data, models, etc.,
i.e. a suite of HOWTOs.

Best,

Tom




--
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Institute for Automation and Applied Informatics (IAI)

Dr. Tom Brown
Energy System Modelling

Phone: +49 721 608 25737
Fax: +49 721 608 22602
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Jesse Jenkins

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Jun 18, 2018, 11:16:08 AM6/18/18
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Hi all,

Here is another repository for public grid modeling data for US networks (mostly synthetic ones): http://db.bettergrids.org/bettergrids/

My research group at the MIT Energy Initiative is involved in one of the ARPA-E funded GRID DATA projects (along with NREL, IIT-Comillas in Madrid and others) to develop a US version of the Reference Network Model long used by IIT to model European distribution systems. The first three test networks are available and have been uploaded to the Better Grids repository here:  


They range in size from a couple of small-to-medium cities (Greensboro, SC; Santa Fe, NM) to an enormous network spanning the entire San Francisco Bay Area with over 2,000 feeders and 2 million loads. There should be a lot more soon, and I think NREL will be making most of them available publicly.

If anyone wants to learn more about the project, I recommend contact Pablo Dueñas at MIT (pdu...@mit.edu) and/or Bryan Palmintier at NREL (Bryan.Pa...@nrel.gov). 

NREL is also designing a tool (I think it'll be open source) to convert distribution network data between input file formats used by several commonly used modeling platforms (the RNM, Matpower, Cyme, OpenDSS, GridLabD, etc.). 

Thanks ARPA-E! :-)

Cheers,

Jesse Jenkins
_______________________
jesse.d...@gmail.com

Twitter: @JesseJenkins
LinkedIn: jessedjenkins


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Tom Brown

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Nov 1, 2018, 3:57:32 AM11/1/18
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Hello again,

A quick follow-up to the US grid datasets we discussed back in June:

The GRID DATA people contacted me and they're going to discuss the open
licensing internally - they seem to be taking the issue seriously.
Thanks to Jesse Jenkins for making the contact!

They also pointed me to yet another repository of datasets funded by
GRID DATA called DR POWER = Data Repository for Power system Open models
With Evolving Resources

https://egriddata.org/


While we're here the inimitable US Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced
yesterday a Grid Optimization Competition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZwX3P9vS8M

https://gocompetition.energy.gov/

"Challenge 1 will solve a security-constrained (AC) optimal power flow
(SCOPF) problem. Algorithms will be tested on complex, realistic power
system models, and Entrants will be scored on how well their algorithms
perform relative to other Entrants’ algorithms."

Best wishes,

Tom






On 18/06/2018 17:15, Jesse Jenkins wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Here is another repository for public grid modeling data for US networks
> (mostly synthetic ones): http://db.bettergrids.org/bettergrids/
>
> My research group at the MIT Energy Initiative is involved in one of the
> ARPA-E funded GRID DATA projects (along with NREL, IIT-Comillas in
> Madrid and others) to develop a US version of the Reference Network
> Model long used by IIT to model European distribution systems. The first
> three test networks are available and have been uploaded to the Better
> Grids repository here:  
>
> http://db.bettergrids.org/bettergrids/handle/1001/94
>
> They range in size from a couple of small-to-medium cities (Greensboro,
> SC; Santa Fe, NM) to an enormous network spanning the entire San
> Francisco Bay Area with over 2,000 feeders and 2 million loads. There
> should be a lot more soon, and I think NREL will be making most of them
> available publicly.
>
> If anyone wants to learn more about the project, I recommend contact
> Pablo Dueñas at MIT (pdu...@mit.edu <mailto:pdu...@mit.edu>) and/or
> Bryan Palmintier at NREL (Bryan.Pa...@nrel.gov
> <mailto:Bryan.Pa...@nrel.gov>). 
>
> NREL is also designing a tool (I think it'll be open source) to convert
> distribution network data between input file formats used by several
> commonly used modeling platforms (the RNM, Matpower, Cyme, OpenDSS,
> GridLabD, etc.). 
>
> Thanks ARPA-E! :-)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Jesse Jenkins
> _______________________
> jesse.d...@gmail.com <mailto:jesse.d...@gmail.com>
>
> Twitter: @JesseJenkins <http://twitter.com/jessejenkins>
> LinkedIn: jessedjenkins <http://linkedin.com/in/jessedjenkins>
> <mailto:openmod-initiative%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>.
> To post to this group, send an email to
> openmod-i...@googlegroups.com
> <mailto:openmod-i...@googlegroups.com>.
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