Offshore
Topological colorings
in the routing system of the
“Veja Mate” offshore wind farm
February 2023
With the completion of software development for the FS-PowerGrid module for the control technology library TIBS LT based on WinCC OA, F&S now has a proprietary tool at its disposal that allows power grids or pipeline networks to be color-coded according to their switching and operational status.
Based on the state of all individual components, all sources and sinks, and the network topology, the network is calculated and visualized using a node-and-edge model. The calculation is based on an iterative approach. With every change in the grid, the entire grid is calculated based on its contained sources. The states of the edges are determined step by step. The various operational states, such as "Off," "On," "Grounded," and "Invalid Information" for power line sections, are displayed in ascending order of priority using predefined colors.
The functionality of the calculations was verified as part of an accompanying thesis. In this thesis, the calculations from FS-PowerGrid were successfully compared with the open-source grid calculation tool pandapower developed by the University of Kassel and the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology in Kassel.
FS-PowerGrid is being deployed for the first time at the "Veja Mate" offshore wind farm off the German North Sea coast. There, the software library has been in productive use since November 2022 as part of the overarching SCADA system, improving the ergonomics of the control system and supporting control room staff in their daily tasks.
