Dr.Venkat

The growing adoption of utility-scale renewable energy plants has increased demand for Inverter-Based Resource (IBR) and Power Plant Controller (PPC) models compiled directly from actual controller source code, enabling more accurate electromagnetic transient (EMT) studies. Despite this demand, rigorous validation of such models against the performance of their corresponding hardware controllers is rarely provided; it is often assumed that a model built from actual source code, or an identical block diagram, will replicate hardware performance, an assumption not universally accepted given the fundamental differences between simulation and hardware computing platforms. Field testing, while useful, typically provides only limited validation coverage and cannot fully capture controller behavior across the range of conditions relevant to EMT studies, underscoring the need for a more thorough, systematic validation approach. This presentation examines methodologies for validating IBR and PPC EMT models against their hardware counterparts, including the use of real-time digital
simulation as an effective tool, with emphasis on establishing confidence in model fidelity and addressing the gap between simulated and actual controller performance for end users.

Biography:

Venkat Lakshminarayanan, Ph.D., Senior Engineer: Venkat received his 5 years integrated M. Tech degree in Power Systems from SASTRA University, India, in 2014 and received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA, in 2018. He joined Nayak in September 2018 and is currently a senior engineer and provides PSCAD and RTDS study services, training, and support.  His study projects since joining Nayak include PSCAD, RTDS and PSSE model development for renewable plants, model validation and benchmarking. He also worked on several EMT based studies including but not limited to transient overvoltage, lightning overvoltage, black start studies using PSCAD. He has also worked on Hardware in Loop (HIL) testing including power plant controller, inverter controller, relay coordination and other studies using RTDS. He was previously a Post-Doctoral fellow in the Power Electronics, Microgrids, and Subsea Electrical Systems (PEMSES) Center, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA. His areas of expertise include power system simulation and modeling, real-time simulations, energy management in microgrids, electric vehicle-to-grid integration, renewable energy systems, and smart-grid systems.