Power system benchmark generation methodology

Benchmark grids are power system parameter datasets, that are suitable for testing, publishing and comparing network planning and operation solutions and algorithms. A large amount of benchmark grids already exists. However, due to continuous development of new technologies and associated power systems changes, e.g. inverter-coupled distributed energy resources (DER) or controllable medium voltage (MV)-low voltage (LV) transformers, extended or new benchmark grids are required recurrently. To easily generate appropriate future benchmark grids, detailed descriptions of benchmark grid generation methodologies are required. Existing benchmark publications, however, lack such descriptions. Therefore, in this paper, an appropriate and comprehensible methodology to generate current and future benchmark grids is proposed. First results from the first application of the methodology in the project SimBench demonstrate its ability to generate an open-source, up-to-date, benchmark dataset that can be upgraded in future using the methodology.