UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Building Energy Efficiency, Solar Power Forecasting and Integration on Distribution Feeders, Microgrid Planning

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The modern power grid faces significant challenges, including climate change, electrification, and the integration of intermittent renewables. To address these challenges, innovative testbeds like DERConnect are crucial. Located at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and funded by the National Science Foundation, 

DERConnect is an advanced testing facility that provides a platform for experimentation and testing in a fully integrated programmable grid environment

, featuring a diverse set of controllable resources such as 

. By leveraging this unique setup, DERConnect accelerates the development of a more decentralized, resilient, and sustainable energy system.

DER Management System Virtual Power Plant (VPP)

Our DERMS platform has built-in tools such as FLISR, hosting capacity, and load flexibility calculators as well as the ability to develop and run custom tools. Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) are decentralized energy systems that aggregate and optimize the output of multiple distributed energy resources (DERs), such as solar, energy storage, and demand response assets, to provide a reliable and flexible source of power to the grid.

The testbed is equipped with a real-time simulator that is capable of simulating large distribution or transmission networks or high-fidelity models of DER systems. The ability for the simulations to run in real-time enables real power systems to interact with the simulations through our amplifier.

Users can bring hardware to the testbed and connect it for testing and validation. Hardware can operate alongside real-time simulations through our amplifier and with real power systems onsite such as the batteries, ultra-capacitor, and Typhoon HIL system to run tests with real controllers.

The testbed can simulate and analyze the performance of large data centers and their impact on the grid, including load management and energy efficiency strategies.

The testbed is equipped with over 2,000 edge computing nodes and controllable devices as well as a testing environment for the deployment and testing of decentralized control algorithms.

High-quality data is available for training and testing machine learning and AI algorithms. The testbed can be used to evaluate the performance of these algorithms in real-time, including their ability to predict system behavior, optimize control strategies, and improve system reliability.

The reliability of DER systems can be tested under various attack scenarios, including denial of service attacks, data tampering, and other cyber threats. The testbed can also be used to evaluate the performance of cybersecurity solutions in real-time, including intrusion detection and prevention systems, secure communication protocols, and other security measures.

To maintain a safe and productive working environment for all, external users are required to adhere to DERConnect's lab rules.

DERConnect at UCSD

Recognized as one of the top 20 research universities worldwide, our culture of collaboration sparks discoveries that advance society and drive economic impact. Everything we do is dedicated to ensuring our students have the opportunity to become changemakers, equipped with the multidisciplinary tools needed to accelerate answers to our world’s most pressing issues.

At the University of California San Diego, we prefer the path less traveled. And it has led us to remarkable new ways of seeing and making a difference in the world.

Keaton Chia

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Keaton Chia

Adil Khurram

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