A unified platform enabling power system circuit model data transfer among different software

Diversity of software packages to simulate the power system circuits is considerable. It is challenging to transfer power system circuit model data (PSCMD) among different software tools and rebuild the same circuit in the second software environment. This paper proposes a unified platform (UP) where PSCMD are stored in a spreadsheet file with a defined format. Script-based PSCMD transfer applications, written in MATLAB, have been developed for a set of software to read the circuit model data from the UP spreadsheet and reconstruct the circuit in the destination software. This significantly eases the process of transferring circuit model data between each pair of software tools. In this paper ETAP, OpenDSS, Grid LabD, and DEW are considered. In order to test the developed PSCMD transfer applications, circuit model data of a test circuit and an actual sample circuit from a Californian utility company, both built in CYME, were exported into the spreadsheet file according to the UP format. Thereafter, circuit model data were imported successfully from the spreadsheet files into all above mentioned software using the PSCMD transfer applications developed for each software individually. Finally, load flow analysis is performed in all software and the obtained results match with each other.