Section 3. Importing and Exporting A Project in Powerfactory
Section 3. Importing and Exporting A Project in Powerfactory
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3 IEEE CDF
PSS/E
Company A
Importing/Exporting a Project
DIgSILENT
InterPSS
CIM
3.1 Introduction
Database and data structure are a very important aspect when consider the use of a power system analysis software. Company A
The database represents an organized collection of data, generally stored and accessed electronically from a computer Format PSAT
system. In general, majority of the proprietary or commercial power system analysis software has its own specific
data format for the database. On the other hand, a data structure refers to the data organization, management, and Company B
storage format that enables efficient access and modification. The way data are organized and structured affects the Format
aspect of the resulting data file [1]. Figure 3.1. Current state of data exchange structure. Adapted from [1].
One important aspect of the database and data structure between the commercial software used for power system
The IEEE Common Data Format (CDF) is not only not flexible, is also limited to static data, which makes it useless
analysis is the possibility of transferring data between software with different database approaches, as a consequence,
for dynamic and market studies. On the other hand, software companies use their own internal data format. Most of
many of the commercial power system analysis software has enabled a functionality dedicated to import/export.
these formats are proprietary and generally are not freely documented.
This section is dedicated to a general overview on how import a project previously developed in DIgSILENT®
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As a consequence, the power system community needs a modern, completely free, flexible and well-documented format
PowerFactory.
for power system analysis data exchange.
3.2 Import/Export functionality in Power System Analysis Software The Open Model for Exchanging Power System Simulation Data, ODM - Open Data Model for short, is a
Many commercial software used for power system analysis such as DIgSILENT® PowerFactory[2], PSS/E [3], possible solution of a more flexible way for power system data exchange, it uses the extensible markup language
PowerWorld [4], etc and most open-source tools, such as UWPFLOW [5], In-terPSS[6] and PSAT [7], develop and (XML).
provide adapters to import data. However, the data interchange is mainly limited to one direction “importing”, On the other hand, a modern tendency of a data exchange in power system is the use of the called “Common
importing data in different formats into power system analysis applications is possible, but exporting data to different Information Model (CIM)”.
data formats is a limited to very few cases. The CIM is a large body of standards published by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) specifying
data exchange messages and protocols for the electrical industry. As a gross simplification, the three main standard
DIgSILENT PowerFactory uses the concept of “Project” as the basic unit of data in the database, a project us designed series are: IEC 61970 electric transmission, IEC 61968 electric distribution, IEC 62325 energy markets.
to store all data that defines a power system model and its simulations. PowerFactory uses a structure that is easy to The ODM is designed to represent a power network in a logic way for power system simulation, and the CIM is a data
use, avoids data redundancy, and simplifies the task of data management and validation for users and organisations. object model, designed to model/describe physical power networks
3.2.1 Export a Project from DIgSILENT PowerFactory
Currently there are many formats for storing data for power system simulation. Among them, DIgSILENT The ability to export a project ((or any folder in the database) can be a convenient way of transferring data from one
PowerFactory [2], PSS/E [3] has proprietary style formats and one of the well-known common data format is the IEEE installation to another. DIgSILENT PowerFactory has a functionality to allow export a project.
Common Data Format (CDF) [8]. When exporting in DIgSILENT PowerFactory the file format is *.pfd (PowerFactory Data) by default, or by exception
for older applications by using the *.dz format.
Software companies and open-source groups, such Inter-PSS and PSAT, developed and provides utilities to import The user’s manual of PowerFactiy recommends the use of PFD format (*.pfd) whenever possible when exporting
data in these formats into their applications. projects: the consumption of memory resources is significantly lower than with the old file format (*.dz) and functions
As stated before, the direction is mainly one way, importing data in different formats into their simulation such as historic data, time stamps and former versions are not supported by the old *.dz format.
applications, but not in the other way, exporting data to different data formats. This has made robust and reliable Exporting a project inside DIgSILENT PowerFactory environment is very simple.
power system simulation study case information exchange very difficult, if not impossible. 1. Make sure no project is active.
Except IEEE CDF, these data formats are often not well documented. The IEEE CDF was originally designed as a 2. Select File–> Export–> Data (*.pfd, *.dz) from the main menu and select the project to export.
Common Format for the exchange of solved load flow cases and because the CDF is very well documented, it has a
success for many years. Today, it is easy to find many of the very well-known test system data in CDF format. The
University of Washington in the US provides a very well documented and maintained database of the IEEE test case.
The website called “Power Systems Test Case Archive”[9] provides the IEEE CDF files of 14 Bus, 30 Bus, 57 Bus, 118
Bus, and 300 Bus.
Most data format documents are not publicly available. A simple math calculation tells us that if there are N data
formats and M applications, the possible filtering/converting routes in the Figure 1. are NM.
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form without permission of the author. Copyright © 2008-2020. http:www.fglongatt.org
• Interfaces for the exchange of data according to standardised formats:
– UCTE-DEF
– CIM
– OPC
Reader must recognise that formats such as MATLAB, IEEE CDF, etc are not supported.
DIgSILENT PowerFactory is a power tool that allow import data from other power system software.
DigSILENT PowerFactory projects can be exported to old version of the program by enable the option 'Export
to former PowerFactory version', then select the PowerFactory version to which you want to export.
The reader must be aware that exporting projects to old version of PowerFactory might affect the database.
Prof. F Gonzalez-Longatt 3. Importing and Exporting a Project.docx Page 3 of 9 Prof. F Gonzalez-Longatt 3. Importing and Exporting a Project.docx Page 4 of 9
Section 3: Importing/Exporting a Project Section 3: Importing/Exporting a Project
PowerFactory’s DGS interface is strictly based on the PowerFactory data model. Data can be imported and exported 3.4 Example: Importing a Project to DIgSILENT PowerFactory
with DGS using different file formats and database schemas. This practical example is dedicated to show how to import a pre-built project into DIgSILENT PowerFactory.
In this example, a project named “PM_Anderson_9_Bus_System.pfd” is used for illustrative purposes. The Nine-
bus System was introduced in the book Power System Control and Stability by P. M. Anderson and A. A. Fouad [1].
It represents a small transmission system which consists of 9 buses (nodes), 3 generators, 3 loads, 6 lines and 3
transformers.
The reader can download this file from the GitHub repository of Professor Francisco Gonzalez-Longatt:
https://github.com/fglongatt
UCTE stands for “Union for the Coordination of Transmission of Electricity”, and it is the names used for the • Select File → Import. . .→ Data. . . from the main menu
association of transmission system operators in continental Europe, but the name today has changed to ENTSO-E,
the European Network of Transmission System Operators.
PowerFactory import/export filter for UCTE (Union for the Co-ordination of Transmission of Electricity) standard.
• Limitations for UCTE-DEF:
– Supports basic load flow and short-circuit data exchange only,
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form without permission of the author. Copyright © 2008-2020. http:www.fglongatt.org
– Important network elements missing, e.g. Shunts, 3W-Transformers,
– Unique identifier for network elements not supported.
PowerFactory has the capacity to several proprietary formats, however, some drawback about proprietary formats:
• The user can select the type of file to import from the Files of type field in the Open dialog which pops up.
(i) Version dependent, formats and data model not well specified, (ii) Official test cases not available, no IOP tests.
Prof. F Gonzalez-Longatt 3. Importing and Exporting a Project.docx Page 5 of 9 Prof. F Gonzalez-Longatt 3. Importing and Exporting a Project.docx Page 6 of 9
Section 3: Importing/Exporting a Project Section 3: Importing/Exporting a Project
After performing the above actions, the project needs to be activated:
• Select, File → Activate Project
Then a new pop-up will appear, and select the project imported and click ok. For better understanding follow the
next graphical steps.
After completing all the above steps, the project is open and ready whatever you want to perform, Load flow analysis,
short circuit analysis and soon.
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form without permission of the author. Copyright © 2008-2020. http:www.fglongatt.org
Alternatively, projects can be imported by selecting Import. . . on the project context-sensitive menu (only available
for inactive projects).
An alternative way to activate a project is by selecting Import. . . on the project context-sensitive menu.
Prof. F Gonzalez-Longatt 3. Importing and Exporting a Project.docx Page 7 of 9 Prof. F Gonzalez-Longatt 3. Importing and Exporting a Project.docx Page 8 of 9
Section 3: Importing/Exporting a Project
3.5 References
[1] F. Milano, Power system modelling and scripting, 1st ed. New York: Springer, 2010.
[2] “PowerFactory - DIgSILENT.” [Online]. Available: https://www.digsilent.de/en/powerfactory.html. [Accessed: 28-
Feb-2020].
[3] “Siemens PTI Online Store.” [Online]. Available: https://pss-
store.siemens.com/store?Action=list&Locale=en_IE&SiteID=sipti&ThemeID=4816868000&categoryID=4844334
200&s_kwcid=AL!462!3!286720319459!e!!g!!pss
e&ef_id=Cj0KCQiAkePyBRCEARIsAMy5ScsBim0dLfOnLWOHW3q_-
20uEEvocyDJsiIVWu2wfAhM4BMZPNsh7eAaAk9qEALw_wcB:G:s. [Accessed: 28-Feb-2020].
[4] “Simulator Overview » PowerWorld.” [Online]. Available:
https://www.powerworld.com/products/simulator/overview. [Accessed: 28-Feb-2020].
[5] “GitHub - OpportunityLiu/UWPFlow: UW Continuation Power Flow (c)1992,1996,1999, 2006 C. Canizares, F.
Alvarado and S. Zhang.” [Online]. Available: https://github.com/OpportunityLiu/UWPFlow. [Accessed: 28-Feb-
2020].
[6] SourceForge, “InterPSS.” [Online]. Available: http://www.interpss.org/.
[7] “Federico Milano.” [Online]. Available: http://faraday1.ucd.ie/psat.html. [Accessed: 28-Feb-2020].
[8] “Common format for exchange of solved load flow data,” IEEE Trans. Power Appar. Syst., vol. PAS-92, no. 6, pp.
1916–1925, 1973.
[9] “Power Systems Test Case Archive - UWEE.” [Online]. Available: http://labs.ece.uw.edu/pstca/. [Accessed: 28-Feb-
2020].
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form without permission of the author. Copyright © 2008-2020. http:www.fglongatt.org
Email: fglongatt@fglongatt.org
GitHub: https://github.com/fglongatt
ResearchGate (project repository): https://www.researchgate.net/project/My-documents-of-DIgSILENT-PowerFactory
Source:
DOI:
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