Towards consistent smart grid architecture tool support: From use cases to visualization

Abstract

The complexity of today's power systems is continuously increasing due to the paradigm shift towards Smart Grids. This leads to a large number of use cases that need to be covered by holistic future energy systems of which power grids are just one subsystem. However, providing information about those use cases in a structured way in order to obtain a common basis for information exchange has often not been considered in the past. Covering this gap has led to the development of use case templates in the IEC and the Smart Grid Architecture Model in the EU Mandate M/490. Furthermore, regarding the usability of these two approaches, the SGAM Toolbox and the Use Case Management Repository have been developed as appropriate tool support. In this paper, a third component for visual analysis purposes is introduced. The overall goal of the approach proposed in this paper is to integrate these three components into a comprehensive toolchain that supports the whole process from use case development to visualization in compliance to the findings of EU Mandate M/490.