Design of a Virtual Power Plant in the presence of microrenewables and electric vehicles in a microgrid concept for real-time simulation as part of a Remote Lab

In the upcoming years, an opportunity for a wide range of electricity management solutions arises, thus several researchers have focused their efforts on studying and analyzing various subjects related to the operation of microgrids, smart grids, Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G), responsive demand, among others. On the other side, especially at engineering courses, these topics are primarily covered from a theoretical standpoint only, without a complementary laboratory approach. To this end, this work considers the development of a small-scale prototype consisting of a set of hardware and software tools that enable the students, either in an undergraduate or postgraduate level, to have a better understanding of the operating principles of these concepts. In this context, various distributed energy resources, including a mini photovoltaic panel, a mini wind generator, a stationary battery, an electric vehicle model, as well as household loads, are collectively run by a central control unit in the form of a Virtual Power Plant. This paper presents the design and development of the hardware and software platform for simulating the operation of a Virtual Power Plant, which serves as the base for a Remote Lab for educational purposes.