Green city: A low-cost testbed for distributed control algorithms in Smart Grid

As a type of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs), Smart Grid has been adding more communication and control capabilities to improve power efficiency and availability. Especially, more and more distributed control algorithms have been developed for Smart Grids because of their flexibility and robustness. In order to deploy them in real electric power systems, distributed control algorithms must be tested, not only in theoretical simulations, but also in testbeds subject to real world constraints that can provide feedback to make the algorithm robust. Implementations of these algorithms in a Smart Grid environment are facing many cyber-physical challenges such as possible communication failures or imperfections, noisy signals, etc. These challenges can lead to increasing economical expenditure or cause failure of the power system. There exist different approaches for testing distributed control algorithms, from using state-of-the-art facilities to software or hardware-in-the-loop simulations. To better emulate real-world electric grid operation scenarios with low capital investment, in this paper the Green City (GC) testbed is proposed as a suitable platform for both control theory researchers in Smart Grid, and for engineering education, allowing students to learn through hands-on experiences. GC has been conceived as a multi-agent networked CPS with the following main features: 1- Smart Grid environment emulation with low-cost physical elements; 2- Fast prototyping capability of distributed control algorithms for Smart Grid.