Real time control centre lab for research and training for power system operation and control

Controlling a power system network through a control centre using a SCADA system is a quite different philosophy from controlling through distributed team of local operators, local panels and phone call orders. Thus control centre engineers is required to know the power system and automation system in details for the efficient operation and handling of the SCADA system. Therefore there is a great need of a training system that resembles the real control center environment and can be extensively used to train and educate the operators and students about the dynamics of power system and automation system under single roof. This paper proposes development of a real time control centre lab for research and training for power system operation and control, by integrating the OPAL-RT power system simulation system with computer based real time control system and customized open source SCADA system available under GNU license scheme. The control centre lab will not only provide an insight into the contemporary SCADA systems but will extend the capabilities of developing, testing traditional and advanced control algorithms for a large and complex power system models. To show the extended capability of the lab a sample power industry automatic generation control is discussed and procedure to implement on the proposed system is presented.