Suricatta: A platform to model smart grid technologies in the distribution system

This paper introduces Suricatta, a platform to model the power demand of a network of dwellings that accounts for the physical infrastructure connecting them, allowing demand from one dwelling to influence in real time demand from others. The demand of each dwelling is determined by aggregating the demand of individual appliances, enabling the potential impact of demand side management (DSM) to be investigated at both the grid and household level. Data requirements to construct the model are discussed, and a case study evaluating demand of a network of homes is presented. Results show Suricatta performs well against Elexion class 1 power simulations, and is particularly valuable for high frequency and DSM applications.