Using Power-Hardware-in-the-Loop Experiments together with Co-simulation for the Holistic Validation of Cyber-Physical Energy Systems

International audience—Composed of a large variety of technologies and applications with unprecedented complexity, the smart grid, as a cyber-physical energy system, needs careful investigation of the interactions between the various domains involved, especially the coupling between the power and information systems. In this paper , two modern ways of modeling and simulating complex cyber-physical energy systems are considered: Co-simulation and Power-Hardware-in-the-Loop experiments. An analysis of these two approaches shows that a complementary and joint setup with realistic behaviors of hardware equipment under a variety of complex environments , co-simulated by several simulators from different domains , create a complete and high performance environment to achieve a holistic approach for smart grid validation and roll out. In the scope of coupling these two techniques, major technical challenges are identified and advanced solutions are outlined