Using an Advanced Distribution Management System Test Bed to Evaluate the Impact of Model Quality on Volt/VAR Optimization

In this paper, we present a test bed for evaluating existing and future advanced distribution management system (ADMS) applications in a realistic laboratory setting, including other utility management systems and field equipment. We present an example of using it to evaluate the impact of the ADMS network model quality on a Volt/ VAR optimization (VVO) application. The test bed integrates a commercial ADMS with a real-time simulation model of a utility distribution feeder. Representative power and controller hardware are integrated through hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) techniques. Initial results indicate that a higher model quality achieves the highest possible energy savings while avoiding voltage exceedances, whereas a lower model quality results in increased energy savings but at the expense of more voltage exceedances.