A Review of PHIL Testing for Smart Grids—Selection Guide, Classification and Online Database Analysis

Abstract

The Smart Grid is one of the most important solutions to boost electricity sharing from renewable energy sources. Its implementation adds new functionalities to power systems, which increases the electric grid complexity. To ensure grid stability and security, systems need flexible methods in order to be tested in a safe and economical way. A promising test technique is Power Hardware-In-the-Loop (PHIL), which combines the flexibility of Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) technique with power exchange. However, the acquisition of PHIL components usually represents a great expense for laboratories and, therefore, the setting up of the experiment involves making hard decisions. This paper provides a complete guideline and useful new tools for laboratories in order to set PHIL facilities up efficiently. First, a PHIL system selection guide is presented, which describes the selection process steps and the main system characteristics needed to perform a PHIL test. Furthermore, a classification proposal containing the desirable information to be obtained from a PHIL test paper for reproducibility purposes is given. Finally, this classification was used to develop a PHIL test online database, which was analysed, and the main gathered information with some use cases and conclusions are shown.