Real-time System How can real-time simulation and emulation support power system operators in ensuring the successful deployment of new solutions?
Real-time simulation-based analyses are crucial in advancing smart energy systems development, enabling the development and validation of new architectures.
Our research focuses on answering the question: How can real-time simulation support power system operators in ensuring the successful deployment of new solutions? By mimicking realistic power system behaviours in lab settings, operators can assess solutions’ performance and reliability without operational risks. The Smart Grid Testing Group leverages real-time simulation to address challenges related to scalability, reproducibility, repeatability, and uncertainties in various use cases, ensuring robust and modular solutions.
Hardware-in-the-loop simulation environment for Validation Distribution System Control Applications
[Source: Otte, M., Krüger, C., Das, P., Rohjans, S., Lehnhoff, S. (2025). Hardware-in-The-Loop-Based Validation of Distribution System Control Applications with Grid Operators, Customer and Market Participants. In: Jørgensen, B.N., Ma, Z.G., Wijaya, F.D., Irnawan, R., Sarjiya, S. (eds) Energy Informatics. EI.A 2024. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 15271. Springer, Cham. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-74738-0_15]
Incorporating hardware into simulated realistic environments enables researchers to create real-world scenarios. A main technical challenge in this field is the shift from offline to real-time simulation. Automation laboratory provides realistic environment, that integrates both simulated and real-world elements, supporting this shift effectively For example, offline power grid simulation provides a conceptual energy system analysis, while hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing ensures hardware and software performance under dynamic conditions. Co-simulation platform further supports the coupling of software and hardware. By emulating communication delays and errors, engineers can replicate realistic challenges, refining system performance. Additionally, collaboration with other laboratories supports geographically distributed real-time simulations, broadening expertise and applications across domains.
Through technology advancements and our research provide valuable insights and methods to power system operators and innovators, helping bridge the gap between conceptual design and real-world deployment.
Flagship Projects
Redispatch 3.0
Redispatch 3.0 project aims to improve coordinated congestion managment the exchange of information between between DSOs and TSOs while considering flexibilities from low-voltage systems. by advancing an existing congestion management Redispatch 2.0 framework. In this project, our research group setup hardware-in- the-loop simulation environment for validating distribution system control applications. This experiment setup represents real-world power systems with key market players such as TSO, DSO, grid operators, meter operator, aggregator, and the customer. The experiment setup includes both physical and virtual devices to replicate realistic environment for testing and validation such as remote terminal unit, energy management system, smart meter gateway, controllable local system (CLS). Several use cases can be tested and validated in real-time manner such as congestion management at low-voltage system, aggregation approaches for coordinating flexibilities.
Industrial project: Conceptual Design and Testing
Our research group provides consultancy services to industrial partners. For example, developing conceptual designs and conducting real-time testing for system integrity protection with a focus on communication architectures and protocols. Even at the initial design stage, we performed hardware-in-the-loop testing with generic industrial devices to perform proof-of-concept evaluations. This included comparing communication performance across different architectures using IEC 61850 protocols. We provided proof-of-concept real-time validation results, including functional and non-functional requirements for devices and systems, to support detailed engineering designs in subsequent stages.
Contact
Selected Publications
- Hardware-in-The-Loop-Based Validation of Distribution System Control Applications with Grid Operators, Customer and Market Participants
- Conceptual design of Special Protection Scheme for Enhancing Renewable energy Integration
- Real-time Test Platform for Enabling Grid Service Virtualisation in Cyber Physical Energy System
Persons 
A
Sharaf Aldin Alsharif
E-Mail: sharaf.aldin.alsharif(at)offis.de, Phone: +49 441 9722-748, Room: Flx-E
K
Dr.-Ing. Jirapa Kamsamrong
E-Mail: jirapa.kamsamrong(at)offis.de, Phone: +49 441 9722-233, Room: E85
O
S
Publications
2025
Load-shifting for cost, carbon, and grid benefits: A model-driven adaptive survey with German and Swiss households
Matteo Barsanti and Jan Sören Schwarz and Faten Ghali and Selin Yilmaz and Sebastian Lehnhoff and Claudia R. Binder; Energy Research & Social Science; 01 / 2025
2024
How can Aggregators Improve the TSO-DSO-Customer Coordination in Digitalised Power Systems?
Otte, Marcel and Kamsamrong, Jirapa and Lehnhoff, Sebastian; ISGAN 2024; July / 2024
A Toolbox for Design of Experiments for Energy Systems in Co-Simulation and Hardware Tests
Schwarz, Jan Sören and Perez, Leonard Enrique Ramos and Pham, Minh Cong and Heussen, Kai and Tran, Quoc Tuan; 2024 Open Source Modelling and Simulation of Energy Systems (OSMSES); 09 / 2024
Challenges in Transitioning from Co-simulation to Practical Application: A Case Study on Economic Emission Dispatch in a Greenhouse Compartment
Clausen, Christian Skafte Beck and Lehnhoff, Sebastian and Schwarz, Jan Sören and Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard and Ma, Zheng Grace; Energy Informatics; 2024
Enhancing Smart Grid Resilience: An Educational Approach to Smart Grid Cybersecurity Skill Gap Mitigation
Pirta-Dreimane, Rūta, Andrejs Romanovs, Jana Bikovska, Jānis Pekša, Tero Vartiainen, Maria Valliou, Jirapa Kamsamrong, and Bahaa Eltahawy; Energies; April / 2024
Hardware-in-The-Loop-Based Validation of Distribution System Control Applications with Grid Operators, Customer and Market Participants
Otte, Marcel and Krüger, Carsten and Das, Pratyush and Rohjans, Sebastian and Lehnhoff, Sebastian; Energy Informatics Academy Conference; October / 2024
Poster Abstract: Coordinating the Heterogeneity of Aggregators in Digitalised Power Systems
Otte, Marcel; DACH+ Conference on Energy Informatics 2024; October / 2024
Poster Abstract: Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation Environment for Validating Distribution System Control Applications
Otte, Marcel and Krüger, Carsten and Das, Pratyush and Rohjans, Sebastian and Lehnhoff, Sebastian; DACH+ Conference on Energy Informatics 2024; October / 2024
Scaling Analysis in a Multi-Energy System
Schwarz, Jan Soeren and Pham, Minh Cong and Tran, Quoc Tuan and Heussen, Kai; 2023 Asia Meeting on Environment and Electrical Engineering (EEE-AM); 01 / 2024
2023
Automated integration process of future automation and monitoring systems in distribution grids
Raczka, Sebastian and Puhe, Frederik and Krueger, Carsten and Arph, Jan and Rehtanz, Christian; ETG Congress 2023; Juli / 2023
