Duke Energy Smart Grid Laboratory

Duke Energy Smart Grid Laboratory

The Duke Energy Smart Grid Laboratory (DESGL) at the Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC) primarily supports the education, research and outreach activities to modernize the power grid. Centered in the Charlotte region the lab supports utilities, vendors and agencies in the region, nationally and internationally. The laboratory is a state‐of‐the‐art facility designed to perform advanced testing and evaluation of smart grid enabling technologies and energy systems.

The laboratory includes a real‐time digital simulation test‐bed that can perform smart grid device functional testing, system integration, real‐time power system analysis, under-graduate and post‐graduate education and professional training in grid modernization. Several hardware components for grid level studies such as generator exciters, protective relays, power converters, smart meters, etc. can be tested under real-time grid conditions in this facility. Power amplifiers are used to perform power hardware-in-the loop testing. Control hardware and software devices are used for testing high-speed communications and real‐time system studies. The smart grid laboratory serves as the primary network communications node that bridges a powerful high-performance server backbone and additional power analysis laboratories within the EPIC facility.

Primary Faculty: Robert Cox

Collaborators: Valentina Cecchi, Mahdav Manjrekar, Babak Parkhideh, Badrul Chowdhury, Maciej Noras, Somasundaram Essakiappan, Ehab Shoubaki and Sukumar Kamalasadan

Location: EPIC 1250