GRIND: An generic interface for coupling power grid simulators with traffic, communication and application simulation tools

The prospective penetration of the electric vehicle fleet will bring about certain repercussions due to their high demand in power. Simulations are, therefore, of importance for making estimations for assessing the impact of the incoming electric vehicle fleet on the power systems and to predict some cost specific values. To analyse the working conditions of power grids, power system simulators are not to be dispensed with. However, to have a complete picture of a charging scenario involving electric vehicles, further aspects should be preferably observed, e.g., traffic, communication and application aspects. So far, no sophisticated tool exists that incorporates the further simulation aspects for a comprehensive investigation of electric mobility. To address this issue, this paper proposes a concept for enabling the coupling of power system simulators with simulators of other domains. The concept is described in form of a specification called Grid Analysis Interface Definitions (GRIND). As a proof of concept, the V2X Simulation Runtime Infrastructure (VSimRTI) and the electrical power system simulator OpenDSS are coupled following the proposed GRIND specification.