Power hardware-in-the-loop setup for developing, analyzing and testing mode identification techniques and dynamic equivalent models

During the last decades, a significant number of mode identification techniques and dynamic equivalent models have been proposed in the literature to analyze the dynamic properties of transmission grids and active distribution networks (ADNs). The majority of these methods are developed using the measurement-based approach, i.e., by exploiting dynamic responses acquired from phasor measurement units (PMUs). However, there is lack of a common framework in the literature for the performance evaluation of such methods under real field conditions. Aiming to address this gap, in this paper, a power hardware-in-the-loop setup is introduced to generate dynamic responses, suitable for the testing and validation of measurement-based mode identification techniques and dynamic equivalent models. The setup consists of a high voltage transmission grid, two medium voltage distribution grids as well as a low voltage ADN. Using this setup, several disturbances are emulated and the resulting dynamic responses are recorded using PMUs. The measurements are made available to other researchers through a public repository to act as benchmark responses for the evaluation of measurement-based methods.