A testbed for the assessment of active network management applications using simulation and communications emulation

Active Network Management (ANM) has emerged in recent years as a solution to removing a number of the barriers to connection for Distributed Generation (DG). Understanding the performance of a control system prior to deployment is essential for developers and operators as they decide how to strategically invest in a long-term solution to facilitate a DG connection on areas of the network not initially designed for it. To help make the transition between a trial product and one which network operators will use in a business as usual scenario, simulation-based testing is proposed as a method of assessing the merits of ANM. Thus it is the aim of this paper to present a flexible testbed for ANM solutions which makes use of commercially available power systems modelling software in a real-time environment. This gives utilities a representation of the dynamic effects of using ANM on their network and an opportunity to visualise the end-to-end implementation of the solution prior to its use on live networks.