PyGridSim: A Functional Interface for Distributed System Simulation

Abstract

This thesis details the development of PyGridSim, an open source python module that leverages OpenDSS capabilities to provide an efficient and scalable functional interface for building distributed system simulations. Distributed power systems encompass all components that power an electrical system— from larger power plants to microgrids—and represent the network of electric consumption and production in a system. Simulations of such power systems allow experts to analyze potential faults and risks in a fast, reproducable, and cost-efficient way. Thus, the accessibility of such simulations is critical to supporting the safety and reliability of power systems. While existing packages built for distributed system simulation provide the necessary computing power and customizability of a distributed system simulator, their interfaces are hard to scale over many nodes and often have difficult-to-learn syntax. PyGridSim aims to build on these existing modules—maintaining customizability while providing a flexible, intuitive, and scalable syntax structure.