OpenDSS-G

A graphical view of OpenDSS

Version 2.3.1
 OpenDSS-G
A graphical view of OpenDSS
Version 2.3.1
Technical Update, September 2018

D. Montenegro
R. Dugan

ELECTRIC POWER RESEARCH INSTITUTE

3420 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, California 94304-1338  PO Box 10412, Palo Alto, California 94303-0813  USA
800.313.3774  650.855.2121  [email protected]  www.epri.com
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 ABSTRACT
OpenDSS-G is the graphical interface for EPRI’s Open Source Distribution System Simulator,
OpenDSS. Because OpenDSS has been evolving into a parallel processing software (OpenDSS
V8) the need to develop a better interface for assessing future smart grid requirements for
planning and operation studies was identified. OpenDSS-G is a comprehensive interface for
facilitating the use of the advanced features of OpenDSS, providing a development environment
which mimics a control room surrounded by graphical tools that can be intuitively interpreted by
the users.
It is intended that OpenDSS users will quickly identify with this interface. The interface is much
more flexible and dynamic than previous versions, providing an extensive set of tools making the
simulation environment simple while covering the needs of comprehensive studies. The
OpenDSS-G interface aims to demonstrate a path for the industry in terms of the methods and
models used in electric power system analysis, all while presenting graphical tools for situation
assessment, distribution planning and operation studies, and transforming data into useful
information.
OpenDSS-G will continue evolving to facilitate the interaction between professionals involved in
the operation and planning of electrical power systems with advance features in OpenDSS and
EPRI research products.
Keywords
Advanced analysis, co-simulation, distribution system analysis, operation studies, planning
studies, power system simulation, power system studies, real-time simulation.

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 NOMENCLATURE

CSV Comma-separated-values
CPU Central Processing Unit
DBus EPRI’s Data Bus communication Interface
DI Reports Demand Interval Reports
DRIVE Distribution Resource Integration and Value Estimation
DSS Distribution System Simulator
FLISR Fault Location, Isolation and Service Restoration
IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IP Internet Protocol
LL Line to Line
LN Line to Neutral
OpenDSS EPRI’s Open Source Distribution System Simulator
OS Operating System
PC Personal Computer
PCE Power Conversion Element
PDE Power Delivery Element
pu per unit
QM Quick Measurements
QSTS Quasi Static Time Series
ROI Region of Interest
TCP Transmission Control Protocol
THD Total Harmonic Distortion

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 CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................... III
NOMENCLATURE ................................................................................................................... IV
1 INSTALLING OPENDSS-G ..................................................................................................1-1
The OpenDSS-G installer ...................................................................................................1-1
Troubleshooting .................................................................................................................1-4
When starting OpenDSS-G it says that the ODBC cannot be found .............................1-4
OpenDSS-G does not start and reports that the database is not running or cannot be
found ............................................................................................................................1-4
2 INTRODUCTION TO OPENDSS-G ......................................................................................2-1
Brief History and Objectives of OpenDSS-G ......................................................................2-1
OpenDSS-G Architecture ...................................................................................................2-1
The Graphical Environment in OpenDSS-G .......................................................................2-3
The Graphical panel .....................................................................................................2-4
The Tools Palette .........................................................................................................2-9
Navigating in OpenDSS-G ..........................................................................................2-14
3 BUILDING A CIRCUIT MODEL ............................................................................................3-1
Before starting ....................................................................................................................3-1
Importing an OpenDSS model into OpenDSS-G ................................................................3-2
Building a Circuit from Scratch ...........................................................................................3-4
Editing/Creating PDE....................................................................................................3-7
Creating/Editing Transformers ......................................................................................3-8
Creating a simple circuit .............................................................................................3-10
Creating/Editing controlled switching elements ...........................................................3-15
Using the Inspector window..............................................................................................3-20
Showing PCE and PDE on the feeder ..............................................................................3-23
Placing flags on the feeder ...............................................................................................3-27
Updating a project built with a previous version of OpenDSS-G .......................................3-28
4 SIMULATING YOUR CIRCUIT .............................................................................................4-1
Configuring the simulation ..................................................................................................4-1
Monitors .............................................................................................................................4-2
Energy Meters ....................................................................................................................4-6
Monitors and Energy Meters in harmonics simulation mode ...............................................4-8
The OpenDSS Console ......................................................................................................4-9
Provided test cases ..........................................................................................................4-10
Finding elements ..............................................................................................................4-11
Setting simulation time and starting over ..........................................................................4-13
Operating switching devices .............................................................................................4-14
Adding faults ....................................................................................................................4-16

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 Using parallel processing .................................................................................................4-18
5 VISUALIZING RESULTS ......................................................................................................5-1
Heat maps..........................................................................................................................5-1
Graphics.............................................................................................................................5-2
Quick reports ......................................................................................................................5-5
The simulation Explorer ......................................................................................................5-7
Real-Time simulation........................................................................................................5-11
The FLISR simulator ........................................................................................................5-12
Using DRIVE ....................................................................................................................5-15
Co-Simulating with OpenDSS-G.......................................................................................5-16
Finding application examples ...........................................................................................5-16
Checking the OpenDSS-G version ...................................................................................5-16
6 REFERENCES .....................................................................................................................6-1

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 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1-1 Welcome to the installation of OpenDSS-G.............................................................1-1
Figure 1-2 Defining the installation directory ............................................................................1-2
Figure 1-3 Installation successful of OpenDSS-G ....................................................................1-2
Figure 1-4 Database installation window ..................................................................................1-3
Figure 1-5 Configuring the database installation ......................................................................1-3
Figure 1-6 Firebird ODBC Installation ......................................................................................1-4
Figure 1-7 Opening the control panel (Windows 10) ................................................................1-5
Figure 1-8 Firebird Server is running ........................................................................................1-5
Figure 2-1 The OpenDSS-G architecture .................................................................................2-2
Figure 2-2 OpenDSS-G front panel ..........................................................................................2-4
Figure 2-3 Additional tools available in the graphical panel ......................................................2-5
Figure 2-4 Right Clicking on a Bus within the graphical panel ..................................................2-6
Figure 2-5 Layers in OpenDSS-G ............................................................................................2-6
Figure 2-6 Menu options within a lower layer ...........................................................................2-7
Figure 2-7 Using the Link Bus to transition to an upper layer ...................................................2-7
Figure 2-8 Red square indicating the location of a Bus ............................................................2-8
Figure 2-9 Show Element Names option ..................................................................................2-9
Figure 2-10 Tools Palette versions: Constructor (left) and Simulator (right)............................2-10
Figure 2-11 Tip strips when hovering the mouse cursor on top of a button.............................2-13
Figure 2-12 Mode changing buttons: Enable Simulator (left), enable Constructor (right) ........2-13
Figure 2-13 Simulator mode showing closed switches with red squares ................................2-14
Figure 2-14 Click-and-grab, Click-and-drop............................................................................2-15
Figure 2-15 Drag and drop for moving the diagram to the right ..............................................2-15
Figure 2-16 Rotating 3D objects .............................................................................................2-16
Figure 2-17 Zoom in for 3D objects ........................................................................................2-16
Figure 2-18 Moving 3D objects ..............................................................................................2-17
Figure 2-19 Select tools subpalette located at the Constructor and Simulator palettes...........2-17
Figure 2-20 Selection subpalette ............................................................................................2-18
Figure 2-21 Selecting a single Bus in a large-scale circuit ......................................................2-18
Figure 2-22 Selecting a single bus using the Select One tool .................................................2-19
Figure 2-23 Selecting a group of elements with the Select Several tool .................................2-19
Figure 2-24 Moving a group of selected elements in OpenDSS .............................................2-20
Figure 3-1 OpenDSS help in the Tools Palette .........................................................................3-1
Figure 3-2 General OpenDSS Definitions in the Tools Palette in Constructor mode .................3-2
Figure 3-3 OpenDSS to OpenDSS-G translator button ............................................................3-2
Figure 3-4 OpenDSS to OpenDSS-G translation tool ...............................................................3-3
Figure 3-5 Circuit preview before translation ............................................................................3-4
Figure 3-6 Palettes needed for building a new circuit from the scratch .....................................3-5
Figure 3-7 Window for creating a new substation .....................................................................3-6
Figure 3-8 Selecting General OpenDSS Definitions for complementing an element’s
description..........................................................................................................................3-7
Figure 3-9 Connections diagram for the new element ..............................................................3-7
Figure 3-10 Dialog box asking to click on a bus .......................................................................3-8
Figure 3-11 Transformer editor ................................................................................................3-9
Figure 3-12 Defining the connection Bus for a transformer winding ..........................................3-9
Figure 3-13 Transformers block .............................................................................................3-10
Figure 3-14 Creating the reference bus ..................................................................................3-10
Figure 3-15 Adding a Substation ............................................................................................3-11

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Figure 3-16 Placing the substation .........................................................................................3-11
Figure 3-17 Adding a transformer to the model ......................................................................3-12
Figure 3-18 Substation and transformer added to the model ..................................................3-12
Figure 3-19 New bus added to the model for placing a line ....................................................3-13
Figure 3-20 Adding a line to the model ...................................................................................3-13
Figure 3-21 Placing the line in the model ...............................................................................3-14
Figure 3-22 Substation, Transformer and line placed .............................................................3-14
Figure 3-23 Configuring the new load ....................................................................................3-15
Figure 3-24 The finding the switching elements at the PDE sub-palette .................................3-16
Figure 3-25 Test system considered for installing a new switching device .............................3-16
Figure 3-26 Recloser editor window .......................................................................................3-17
Figure 3-27 TCC Curve editor ................................................................................................3-18
Figure 3-28 Setting up the recloser ........................................................................................3-18
Figure 3-29 Window informing the user that a destination bus is required ..............................3-19
Figure 3-30 Placing the new recloser .....................................................................................3-19
Figure 3-31 Phase organizer window .....................................................................................3-20
Figure 3-32 Creating a new inspector window ........................................................................3-21
Figure 3-33 Inspector Window ...............................................................................................3-21
Figure 3-34 Options available for the active inspector window ...............................................3-22
Figure 3-35 Totalizing load using the inspector window .........................................................3-22
Figure 3-36 Generating an Inspector window for a specific bus .............................................3-23
Figure 3-37 Graphical options in OpenDSS-G .......................................................................3-23
Figure 3-38 Graphical options in OpenDSS-G for (a) Constructor and (b) Simulator modes ..3-24
Figure 3-39 Window for selecting PCE elements to be displayed ...........................................3-24
Figure 3-40 Activating loads to be displayed on the feeder model using light blue .................3-25
Figure 3-41 Displaying load locations on the feeder ...............................................................3-25
Figure 3-42 Displaying multiple PCE types on the feeder .......................................................3-26
Figure 3-43 Selecting PDE menu (a) to be shown/hidden (b) on the feeder ...........................3-26
Figure 3-44 Showing PDE and PCE on a feeder ....................................................................3-27
Figure 3-45 (a) Flags option at the graphics menu and (b) flags option menu ........................3-27
Figure 3-46 CSV file format for using the flags option in OpenDSS-G, (a) using excel and (b)
using notepad...................................................................................................................3-28
Figure 3-47 IEEE 123 Bus test feeder with flags added to different buses .............................3-28
Figure 3-48 Updating tool included with OpenDSS-G.............................................................3-29
Figure 4-1 Simulator palette .....................................................................................................4-1
Figure 4-2 Configuration panel .................................................................................................4-2
Figure 4-3 Menu for adding and handling monitors and energy meters in OpenDSS-G ...........4-2
Figure 4-4 Monitor configuration form ......................................................................................4-3
Figure 4-5 Monitor aspects depending on the selected mode ..................................................4-4
Figure 4-6 Visualizations included in the standard meter mode (Monitor).................................4-5
Figure 4-7 General options for meter objects ...........................................................................4-5
Figure 4-8 Creating a new energy meter ..................................................................................4-7
Figure 4-9 The energy meter....................................................................................................4-8
Figure 4-10 Meter in harmonics mode ......................................................................................4-8
Figure 4-11 Accessing to the OpenDSS Scripting tool .............................................................4-9
Figure 4-12 OpenDSS Scripting tool (OpenDSS Console) .......................................................4-9
Figure 4-13 Using the Do Select command with the OpenDSS Console ................................4-10
Figure 4-14 Getting access to the model statistics .................................................................4-11
Figure 4-15 Search menu in the Constructor and Simulator palettes......................................4-12
Figure 4-16 Element selector window to find an element in the feeder model ........................4-12
Figure 4-17 Finding an element on the feeder using OpenDSS-G..........................................4-13

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Figure 4-18 Compilation and time editing options...................................................................4-14
Figure 4-19 Setting up the simulation time .............................................................................4-14
Figure 4-20 Switching devices in (a) Constructor and (b) Simulator modes............................4-15
Figure 4-21 Automatic simulation menu .................................................................................4-15
Figure 4-22 Switch panel .......................................................................................................4-15
Figure 4-23 Fault menu ..........................................................................................................4-17
Figure 4-24 Selecting the faulted area ...................................................................................4-17
Figure 4-25 Displaying the fault’s location on the schematic ..................................................4-18
Figure 4-26 Getting access to the parallel processing menu ..................................................4-19
Figure 4-27 CPU configuration menu .....................................................................................4-19
Figure 4-28 Temporal parallelization enabled ........................................................................4-19
Figure 4-29 Yearly simulation with (a) single core and (b) 6 cores .........................................4-20
Figure 5-1 Heat maps included in the graphics menu...............................................................5-2
Figure 5-2 Heat maps generated using OpenDSS-G ...............................................................5-2
Figure 5-3 Selecting the graphics engine using the configuration panel ...................................5-3
Figure 5-4 Graphics menu using (a) OpenDSS-Viewer and (b) DSS-View ...............................5-4
Figure 5-5 Graphics generated using OpenDSS-G [14] ...........................................................5-4
Figure 5-6 Quick reports menu and voltage report generated ..................................................5-5
Figure 5-7 Selecting the region of Interest................................................................................5-6
Figure 5-8 Quick Measurements panel ....................................................................................5-6
Figure 5-9 Selecting an element on the Quick Measurements panel ........................................5-7
Figure 5-10 Extras menu and simulation explorer ....................................................................5-8
Figure 5-11 Simulation explorer windows Synchronized ..........................................................5-9
Figure 5-12 Voltage violations using the simulation explorer ..................................................5-10
Figure 5-13 Overloads using the simulation explorer .............................................................5-10
Figure 5-14 Recreating 2 different time instants to visualize overloaded infrastructure...........5-10
Figure 5-15 Summarizing overloads on a 10-year period using the summary window............5-11
Figure 5-16 Real-time simulation module ...............................................................................5-12
Figure 5-17 FLISR simulator module......................................................................................5-12
Figure 5-18 Test case for FLISR ............................................................................................5-13
Figure 5-19 Applying a fault at bus 98 ....................................................................................5-14
Figure 5-20 Final configuration after applying the restoration configuration ............................5-15
Figure 5-21 Configuration file edited with excel and notepad++ .............................................5-15
Figure 5-22 Opening EPRI DRIVE™ from OpenDSS-G .........................................................5-16
Figure 5-23 Checking the OpenDSS-G version ......................................................................5-17

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 LIST OF TABLES
Table 2-1 Identifying PDElements by color...............................................................................2-8
Table 3-1 OpenDSS to OpenDSS-G translation tool options ....................................................3-3

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INSTALLING OPENDSS-G
The OpenDSS-G software is supported by two pieces: the NI LabVIEW Run-Time and the
Firebird database. All the installers are provided with the OpenDSS-G. This section provides an
overview of the complete OpenDSS-G installation process. All the needed software packages are
provided with the OpenDSS-G installer.

The OpenDSS-G installer

The OpenDSS-G installer can be download from the OpenDSS-G website at sourceforge.net
(available on 02/07/2018):
https://sourceforge.net/projects/dssimpc/
After decompressing the installation file double click on the setup.exe file (preferably using
administrator privileges). The installation wizard will appear to proceed with the installation as
shown in Figure 1-1.

Figure 1-1
Welcome to the installation of OpenDSS-G

The installer will ask the user for the installation destination for both OpenDSS-G and the NI
LabVIEW Run-Time, the default is C:\Program Files\OpenDSS-G and C:\Program
Files\National Instruments, respectively, as shown in Figure 1-2. The installation directory can

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be changed from the default to the user’s preference. However, it is recommended to keep the
default values.

Figure 1-2
Defining the installation directory

The user is then required to agree to the licensing agreements before the installation will
continue. The installation will be canceled if the user does not agree. Finally, the installer will
start the installation process. The installation may take some time depending on the machine.
When the installation is finished, the message shown in Figure 1-3will display.

Figure 1-3

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Installation successful of OpenDSS-G

At this point, only OpenDSS-G has been installed. The Firebird database server and Firebird
ODBC still needs to be installed. The respective installers will start once you click on the Next
button at the bottom right side of the latest notification window (shown in Figure 1-3).
The first installation will be the database installation, the installation window for this purpose is
shown in Figure 1-4.

Figure 1-4
Database installation window

The installation process is very standard and should be done using the default values, however,
there is one step that needs to be reviewed: the database configuration. The firebird installer
comes with an option asking the user to copy the firebird client into the system folder
C:\Windows\System32. Make sure the box is checked before clicking Next. This option is
normally unchecked and needs to be manually checked by the user during the installation
process. The window showing this option “un-checked” is shown Figure 1-5, do not forget to
check the box before clicking Next.

Figure 1-5
Configuring the database installation

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After the Firebird database installation completes, the Firebird ODBC installer will start as
shown in Figure 1-6. This installation does not require additional configuration and the user can
click the Next button until the installation finishes.

Figure 1-6
Firebird ODBC Installation

Once all the packages have been installed, the user is ready to start with OpenDSS-G.

Troubleshooting
While the installation process is straightforward, errors may occur. This section provides a brief
explanation and solution to the most common issues.
When starting OpenDSS-G it says that the ODBC cannot be found
The error occurs because the check box circled in Figure 1-5 did not get checked during the
installation process. To fix this, go to the \bin folder in the Firebird installation directory, the
default is: C:\Program Files\Firebird\Firebird_2_5\bin. Copy the file fbclient.dll from this
folder into the C:\Windows\System32 folder. Now OpenDSS-G should run without error.
OpenDSS-G does not start and reports that the database is not running or cannot
be found
Check the database status by going to the control panel as shown in Figure 1-7. There find the
Firebird Server Manager and make sure that the server is running as shown in Figure 1-8. This
should solve the issue.

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Figure 1-7
Opening the control panel (Windows 10)

Figure 1-8
Firebird Server is running

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2
INTRODUCTION TO OPENDSS-G
Brief History and Objectives of OpenDSS-G
The original version of OpenDSS-G, DSSim-PC, was born in 2013 as part of Davis
Montenegro’s Ph.D. thesis at Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) and Université Grenoble-
Alpes (France) [1]. In the initial work there were several versions of DSSim: -PC, -RT and -MT.
Most of the work was made on the RT version for creating a Real-Time simulator for distribution
studies and interconnection with external equipment. The simulator was based on OpenDSS and
all the matrixes used for this simulator were provided by OpenDSS [2] in the RT version,
however, it was important to make it easily operational so we decided to develop the graphical
interface. This platform was used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the A-Diakoptics method
for accelerating simulations of medium and large-scale distribution systems [3, 4].
Nevertheless, one of the goals was also to make it portable, which led to the development of the
PC version. It was able to run under windows environments and the aim was to return something
to the open source community in gratitude of OpenDSS being open source. DSSim-PC has been
made public in June of 2013 and was well received by the web community as an alternative for
interacting graphically with EPRI’s OpenDSS. The interface was functional but it was not able to
display all the advanced features of OpenDSS to help perform studies that may require fast
simulation but no Real-Time.
This led to the design of the next generation of DSSim-PC (recently evolved into OpenDSS-G)
in the second half of 2015. Part of the development was a Real-Time Distribution Management
System (DMS). It was then that EPRI agreed DSSim-PC was a perfect vehicle for developing
new applications based on OpenDSS, and for introducing the advanced features of OpenDSS by
simplifying the language between the program and the users.
As a result, the new developing architecture of OpenDSS integrates all the algorithms and
processing power inside OpenDSS, transforming DSSim-PC into OpenDSS-G, an interface that
canalizes and facilitates the utilization of these algorithms and methods using a graphical layer.
OpenDSS-G is now focused on translating data into information, it is a testbed for new situation
awareness methodologies, planning and operation studies and control room emulation.
Finally, because all the parallel processing algorithms are being translated into OpenDSS,
OpenDSS-G will be the only version (RT-and MT are deprecated) that will include all the
features and capabilities needed for implementing simulators in different time domains: Real-
Time, Fast simulation and off-line simulation among others. The OpenDSS-G (G for graphical)
name was chosen to create a family of tools around OpenDSS that can be easily identified.

OpenDSS-G Architecture
The OpenDSS-G architecture is developed using the actor model for handling parallelism and
coordinating multitasking. In the actor model, as in object oriented programming, everything is
an actor [5]. However, in this case each actor is a program executed in a separate thread that is
executed concurrently with other actors. In order to coordinate and guarantee consistency, these

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actors communicate with each other by sending messages [6]. Therefore, with OpenDSS-G, it is
possible to start a simulation and at the same time request the simulation progress, and have
access to the variables inside the simulation without breaking the simulation loop, thus avoiding
the unwanted overhead observed in traditional co-simulation.
As opposed to OpenDSS, which controls the thread execution priority and the thread processor
affinity; the execution priority in OpenDSS-G is handled by the operating system. As a result, it
is expected that OpenDSS-G will not interfere with the performance of the simulations.
OpenDSS-G is developed using National Instruments’ (NI) LabVIEW (G language); it utilizes
the Direct DLL interface of OpenDSS to minimize the overhead between both platforms and
simplify the portability and compatibility between platforms. The general architecture of
OpenDSS-G is shown in Figure 2-1.

Figure 2-1
The OpenDSS-G architecture

OpenDSS has become a multicore processing simulation engine that integrates multiple
technologies using a modular and scalable architecture. OpenDSS-G is a tool for allowing users
to have rapid and accurate access to the classic and advance functionalities without
compromising the simulation performance. Many applications and studies can be implemented

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using this interface, and it is expected to provide an interactive simulation experience to get the
maximum performance of simulations for electric power system engineering.
There are four main components or actors in OpenDSS-G: The OpenDSS manager, the graphical
user interface (GUI), the Database server, and the TCP Server. These actors interact by sending
messages to each other, creating and destroying actors when needed to handle data, launching
simulations, exchanging data, and handling the user actions, among other functionalities. The
communication between actors is handled with queues to avoid data loses when several actors
send data to a single actor.
Each OpenDSS process is handled and centralized by the OpenDSS actor; if an actor requires to
interact with OpenDSS it will have to send a message to the OpenDSS actor. This process
maintains the simulation consistency with all the actors around OpenDSS, including those
outside of OpenDSS-G such as co-simulation platforms and external code, through the TCP
server.
Additional functionalities were added to the TCP server in OpenDSS-G in order to provide
access from external programs to the functionalities of OpenDSS. These new commands are
documented in the TCP/IP interface for OpenDSS-G documentation [7].
In OpenDSS-G the graphical environment variables are included in the database actor, allowing
the graphical environment to be customized with variables in the database. As a result, if the user
wants to translate OpenDSS-G into another language the only requirement is to translate the
content of the records of certain tables of the Database included with OpenDSS-G. This
operation can be performed even when the program is running, and does not require modification
of the program’s source code. The instructions for modifying these tables and a description of the
content of each table is provided as separate documentation at [8].
In OpenDSS-G, the GUI uses a high contrast approach, emulating the control room experience
which highlights the circuit’s features using color scales on a black background. The color scales
can be customized remotely and the colors for each line on the circuit can be manipulated
individually. The GUI uses a floating control palette to control the simulation environment, a
floating window for showing a scaled representation of the circuit, and other graphical controls
for making OpenDSS-G an intuitive graphical experience for data exchange between the
simulation and the user. All of the interactive panels have been designed to emulate real
equipment for ease of use and interaction.
Current OpenDSS users should find OpenDSS-G to be intuitive to use. The script based
interfaces of OpenDSS have a graphical representation in order to provide access to all the
functionalities included in OpenDSS. OpenDSS-G also includes module recognition, which
checks for the installed modules of OpenDSS such as the DSS Advanced Visualization Tool and
DSS GIS, among others, and enables menus to have access to these modules.

The Graphical Environment in OpenDSS-G

OpenDSS-G delivers a graphical representation of the script-based environment previously
available in OpenDSS. The three main components of the OpenDSS-G environment are shown
in Figure 2-2.

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Figure 2-2
OpenDSS-G front panel

As can be seen in Figure 2-2, the front panel in OpenDSS-G has 3 main components:

1. The graphical panel. In this panel the user can create new circuits, edit existing circuits,
see the status of the circuit, search for elements, and display the names of the elements
among many other actions related with the circuit’s creation, editing, navigation,
simulation and visualization.
2. The Tools Palette is the set of tools available for OpenDSS-G. This panel is a floating
panel that changes depending on the type of action required by the user: While editing the
circuit the Tools Palette will show the building tools, and while simulating the circuit the
panel will change to display the simulation related options.
3. The mini-view panel is a floating panel that shows the entire circuit when the graphical
panel is zoomed to a particular portion of the feeder. This panel is not static and can be
closed and opened as required.

The Graphical panel

The graphical panel provides all of the tools for the graphical interaction with OpenDSS. These
tools replace traditional scripting in OpenDSS using an interactive schematic. OpenDSS-G is
tightly connected to OpenDSS; every time an action is performed in OpenDSS-G the underlying
OpenDSS script in modified in Real-Time.
The graphical panel contains additional tools that are not available in OpenDSS. These tools
were designed for working with medium and large-scale circuits graphically, and are available
by right-clicking on empty space (not while hovering the mouse over a circuit element) as shown
in Figure 2-3. The same tools are also available in the Tools Palette.

2-4
Figure 2-3
Additional tools available in the graphical panel

The pop-up menu that appears after right clicking the graphical panel has two versions
depending on if the mouse cursor is over the black screen or over a circuit’s bus. When located
over the black screen, the pop-up menu will display options:
1. Enable Simulation, this option the system will change the environment for simulating the
circuit.
2. Create Bus, this option will pop-up the dialog for creating a new Bus.
3. Zoom, this option enables the user for zooming an area by drawing a square on the
screen.
4. Zoom all, this option will scale the system view so the entire feeder can be seen on the
screen.
5. Show Element Names, shows the names of the transformers, reactors (connected in
series), capacitors (connected in series) and buses visible on the screen.
6. Show Line Names, shows the names of the lines visible on the screen.
7. Find Element, pops-up the dialog for finding an element on the feeder.
8. Export as Image. pops-up a dialog for exporting the image on the screen as a PNG file.
If the mouse located over a Bus instead of the black background when a right-click is performed,
the pop-up menu will have a different set of options, as shown in Figure 2-4. In this menu the
options to Edit Bus, Delete Bus, Inspect Bus (see section 3 Using the Inspector Window), and Go
to Next Layer are available. The Inspect Bus option is a functionality that graphically represents
all of the elements connected to the selected Bus directly and indirectly through the current and

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other layers. For working with medium and large-scale circuits OpenDSS-G introduces the
concept of layers. Large circuits can be split into various interconnected layers with the paths
connecting the layers being defined at Buses as shown in Figure 2-5. The Go to Next Layer
option is designed to allow the user to go to a different layer connected to the selected Bus. If the
Bus is not a connection point between layers the graphical panel will turn black and the selected
Bus will appear at the top-left corner of the screen.

Figure 2-4
Right Clicking on a Bus within the graphical panel

Figure 2-5
Layers in OpenDSS-G

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A layer is a detailed representation of a part of the feeder describing elements that would not be
shown in the feeder’s medium voltage schematic such as low voltage loads and networks. The
aim with layers is to include all the feeder’s elements graphically without making the feeder’s
graphical aspect more complex.
When navigating within a lower layer and a right click is performed over the black screen, the
pop-up menu will add the Go to Base Layer option as shown in Figure 2-6. The link bus at the
top-left corner of the screen can also be used to go back to the previous layer when right clicking
on it as shown in Figure 2-7 (Go to Upper layer), however, this option will take the visualization
only 1 layer up, while using Go to Base Layer will redirect the user to the top-most layer. Please
consider this when working with models using more than 2 layers.

Figure 2-6
Menu options within a lower layer

Figure 2-7
Using the Link Bus to transition to an upper layer

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OpenDSS-G integrates a simple reference system for accelerating the graphics display which is
especially helpful when working with large-scale circuits. In normal mode, which does not show
the line or element names, all of the Power Delivery Elements (PDE) will be shown as lines with
different colors corresponding to the type of element. The elements and corresponding colors are
described in Table 2-1.
Table 2-1
Identifying PDElements by color

Type Description Color

Line N –phases line White
Transformer N-phases, N-windings Light Blue
Capacitor N-phases, series capacitor Pink
Reactor N-phases, series reactor Yellow
Opening branch Switch, recloser, fuse, relay Light green

OpenDSS-G does not mark buses or the elements connected to the buses by default in the
graphical panel. The connections between buses have been eliminated and only PDE are required
to serve a connection links between buses as in OpenDSS.
There are two ways for displaying bus locations in the graphical panel:
a. By placing the mouse cursor over a bus, causing a red square to highlight the bus (Only
in Constructor mode).
b. By showing the elements names from the pop-up menu options or Tools Palette
OpenDSS-G opens in Constructor mode by default. In the Constructor mode, if the user moves
the mouse over a bus OpenDSS-G will draw a red square around the bus, as shown in Figure 2-8.
Using the red square as a guide, the user can select the bus to edit, delete, or inspect using the
pop-up menu or the Tools Palette.

Figure 2-8
Red square indicating the location of a Bus

Whether in Constructor or Simulator mode, the Show Element Names option is available
through the graphical panel pop-up menu. The Show Element Names option displays only the

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names of Buses, transformers, capacitors (connected in series), reactors (connected in series),
switches, reclosers, fuses and relays. For displaying the line names there is an option called
Show line names. These two options are separated to simplify the amount of information
displayed to the user but if desired, both can be active simultaneously. This option can be helpful
depending on the zoom level selected by the user as shown in Figure 2-9

Figure 2-9
Show Element Names option

As can be seen in Figure 2-9 if the circuit is relatively small showing the element names does not
clutter the diagram. However, for large circuits showing element names can be distracting when
viewing the entire circuit, but is still useful when zoomed in to a small section of the circuit.
The Tools Palette
The Tools Palette is a floating panel that contains controls, forms, editors and tools available for
building, editing, and simulating a circuit. The Tools Palette will display different options to the
user in Constructor and Simulator modes. The mode in OpenDSS-G can be changed using two
methods:
a. By selecting the Enable Simulator or Enable Constructor option after right click the
graphical panel.
b. By clicking on the Constructor/Simulator icon inside the Tools Palette, located at the
lower right corner, shown in Figure 2-12.

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The Constructor and Simulator versions of the Tools Palette are shown in Figure 2-10.

Figure 2-10
Tools Palette versions: Constructor (left) and Simulator (right)

The commands included in the Constructor and Simulator palettes are described as follows:
The Constructor Palette
a. New Bus: This menu allows users to create a new bus to be placed in the graphical panel.
b. Edit Bus: With this menu it is possible to edit the name of a bus, this command was
inherited from DSSim-PC and its functionality in the OpenDSS-G architecture is still
under development.
c. Move Power Delivery Element (PDE): Using this command the user can click on a PDE
terminal to disconnect it from the current bus and connect it again on a different bus.
d. Controls: Menu that includes all the options for creating a new controller.
e. Edit Controls: Menu that includes all the options for editing existing controllers in the
model.
f. Open Project: This command is used to open an existing OpenDSS-G project.
g. Active Layer: This indicator displays the name of the current layer.
h. Zoom: This menu contains all the options for zooming in/out and for zooming an area of
the model.

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i. Extras: The Extras menu contains all the options for importing models from OpenDSS,
updating models built using DSSim-PC and using the DBus client (DBus is a co-
simulation interface built by EPRI).
j. Create PDE: This menu provides access to the tools needed for graphically creating PDE
in the model such as lines and transformers, among others.
k. Edit PDE: This menu provides access to the tools needed for graphically editing an
existing PDE in the model.
l. OpenDSS Command: This command will bring into the screen the OpenDSS console,
used to send OpenDSS commands directly to the model (See section 4 -The OpenDSS
Console).
m. Configuration: This command will bring the configuration window. In this window the
user can change the simulation features, the hardware configuration as well as graphical
features (see section 4 -Configuring the simulation).
n. General OpenDSS Definitions: This menu includes all the tools needed for
creating/editing general OpenDSS definitions such as spectrum, load shape, wire data and
line codes, among others.
o. Save: With the user can save the project changes into and OpenDSS project. If the project
is a new project OpenDSS-G will ask the user for the destination folder of the project,
otherwise, it will save the project changes in the active model’s folder.
p. Inspector: This command enables the user for using a new inspector window (See section
3 -Using the Inspector window).
q. Help: This menu includes the commands for showing the OpenDSS help window, the
OpenDSS-G about window and the error report tool.
r. New Power Conversion Element (PCE): This menu provides access to the tools needed
for graphically creating a new PCE such as loads, photovoltaic systems, storage devices
and generators, among others.
s. Edit PCE: This menu provides access to the tools needed for graphically editing an
existing PCE in the model.
t. Find Element: This tool can be used to localize an existing element in the model (See
section 4 -Finding elements).
u. Mini-View: This command will bring back the mini visualizer in case of being previously
closed by the user (see -The Graphical Environment in OpenDSS-G in this section).
v. Select Options: This menu provides the tools for selecting one or several elements
simultaneously when editing the circuit topology (See -Navigating in OpenDSS-G in this
section).
w. Save as: With this command the user will be prompted for a new destination folder to
save the active model.

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 x. Highlight: This menu provides the tools for visualizing PCE and PDE in the active model
as well as electrical features of the system using a color palette (see section 3 -Showing
PCE and PDE on the feeder and section 5 -Heat maps).
y. Enable Simulator Mode: This command enables the simulator mode.
The Simulator palette
A. Run Simulation: This command will start a simulation considering the features specified
in the configuration window (See section 4 -Configuring the simulation).
B. Program Control: This menu provides access to the tools for recompiling the model and
setting the simulation time (see section 4 -Setting simulation time and starting over).
C. Generate Fault: This menu provides access to the tools needed for graphically generating
a fault in the model (see section 4 -Adding faults).
D. Extras: This menu provides access to a set of analysis tools provided with OpenDSS-G
(see section 5 -The simulation explorer and section 4 -provided test cases).
E. Simulation mode: This indicator displays the current simulation mode in OpenDSS-G.
F. Status: This indicator displays the status of the latest simulation performed, it can be one
of the following: Simulating, Solved or Not Solved.
G. Active Layer: This indicator displays the name of the current layer.
H. Zoom: This menu contains all the options for zooming in/out and for zooming an area of
the model.
I. Meter: This menu provides access to the tools needed to graphically create, show, hide
and localize Monitors and energy Meters (see section 4 -Monitors and -Energy Meters).
J. Graphics: This menu provides access to the different graphics that can be generated using
OpenDSS-G (see section 5 -Graphics).
K. Reports: This menu provides access to different reports and reporting tools that can be
used in OpenDSS-G to obtain instantaneous information about the model status (see
section 5 -Quick reports).
L. OpenDSS Command: This command will bring into the screen the OpenDSS console,
used to send OpenDSS commands directly to the model (See section 4 -The OpenDSS
Console).
M. Configuration: This command will bring the configuration window. In this window the
user can change the simulation features, the hardware configuration as well as graphical
features (see section 4 -Configuring the simulation).
N. Inspector: This command enables the user for using a new inspector window (See section
3 -Using the Inspector window).
O. Help: This menu includes the commands for showing the OpenDSS help window, the
OpenDSS-G about window and the error report tool.

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 P. GIS Options: This menu provides access to the GIS tool. The GIS tool is not provided
with the standard installation of OpenDSS-G.
Q. Automatic Simulation: This menu provides access to the automated simulation and Real-
Time simulation tools included in OpenDSS-G (see section 5 -Real-Time simulation and -
The FLISR simulator).
R. Find Element: This tool can be used to localize an existing element in the model (See
section 4 -Finding elements).
S. Mini-View: This command will bring back the mini visualizer in case of being previously
closed by the user (see -The Graphical Environment in OpenDSS-G in this section).
T. Highlight: This menu provides the tools for visualizing PCE and PDE in the active model
as well as electrical features of the system using a color palette (see section 3 -Showing
PCE and PDE on the feeder and section 5 -Heat maps).
U. Enable Constructor Mode: This command enables the Constructor mode in OpenDSS-G.
The icons on each button were designed to facilitate the identification of the functions available
on the panel however, hovering the mouse over a button will display a tip-strip to further identify
the button, as shown in Figure 2-11.

Figure 2-11
Tip strips when hovering the mouse cursor on top of a button

Figure 2-12
Mode changing buttons: Enable Simulator (left), enable Constructor (right)

The buttons for switching between the Constructor and Simulator modes are located at the lower
right corner of the Tools Palette. These buttons are shown in Figure 2-12 and can be used at any
time for moving from one mode to the other.
Activating the Simulator or Constructor mode will result in changes on the graphical panel.
When OpenDSS-G is operating in Simulator mode the breaking elements (switch, recloser, etc.)
will be highlighted with green/red squares depending on the state (open/close); the colors can be
configured in the configuration panel (see section 4 -Configuring the simulation). These breaking

2-13
elements can be edited by selecting them with the cursor, allowing the user to open or close the
breaking element, as shown in Figure 2-13.

Figure 2-13
Simulator mode showing closed switches with red squares

In Constructor mode the breaking elements will be shown as empty green boxes; any color
combinations active in Simulator mode are disabled, showing the circuit’s diagram in white and
the normal colors for the PDE according to Table 2-1.
Navigating in OpenDSS-G
In OpenDSS-G the conventions for moving objects and moving the diagram, or navigating the
circuit, are slightly different. For moving objects in OpenDSS-G, the click-and-grab, click-and-
drop convention is used in order to be more ergonomic when translating objects. This method
consists of three steps and is illustrated in Figure 2-14. To move a bus, single-click (click and
release) the bus to ‘grab’ it once it is enclosed in a red square which will turn the cursor into a
pointing hand, and a large cross acting as a big cursor reference will appear on the screen. If the
Bus has link branches to other buses these branches will turn into dotted lines. Move the mouse
to the desired location and single-click to ‘drop’ the bus in the new location. Once the bus is
moved the dotted lines will be solidified, the reference cursor will disappear and all the attached
lines and buses will have their new coordinates. To cancel a move, the escape (Esc) key can be
pressed before the second click. The process of moving a bus is shown from left to right in
Figure 2-14.

2-14
Figure 2-14
Click-and-grab, Click-and-drop

Navigating in the graphical panel is achieved by moving the diagram across the screen with the
classic drag and drop convention. Simply click and hold on the screen where there is no element,
hold while moving the screen to the desired position and release when the new position is
reached. During this action the mouse cursor will turn into a grabbing hand so the user can
identify if the screen movement is taking place. This functionality is illustrated in Figure 2-15.

Figure 2-15

2-15
Drag and drop for moving the diagram to the right

OpenDSS-G has several 3D object panels for illustrating equipment as a general idea of how a
model would look in the real world. The 3D object container is a window that allows objects to
be rotated 360 degrees around a reference axis as shown in Figure 2-16. To do it, click and hold
on the 3D picture, then move the mouse around holding and release when the desired rotation
has been reached.
It is also possible to zoom in, zoom out, and move up or down relative to the object. To zoom
press and hold the Shift key, click and hold the 3D object window, and move the mouse up or
down to zoom in or out, respectively, as shown in Figure 2-17. To move a 3D object up or down
press and hold the Ctrl key, click and hold the 3D object window, and move the mouse up or
down, as shown in Figure 2-18.

Figure 2-16
Rotating 3D objects

Figure 2-17
Zoom in for 3D objects

2-16
Figure 2-18
Moving 3D objects

OpenDSS-G incorporates mouse scroll wheel integration for zoom in /out on the graphical panel;
by rotating the mouse wheel the diagram will zoom in/out depending on the direction of the
wheel rotation.
Other features included in OpenDSS-G are the selection options. In the past, it was possible to
select just a single element by clicking it. While this method is effective if the circuit is not too
large or the zoom level is appropriate to capture the click over the Bus with high precision it
becomes a limiting feature when handling large-scale circuits at inappropriate zoom levels. The
selection tools can be found in the Constructor and Simulator palettes, as shown in Figure 2-19.
The selection tools open a subpalette which offers 2 options, as shown in Figure 2-20.

Figure 2-19
Select tools subpalette located at the Constructor and Simulator palettes

2-17
Figure 2-20
Selection subpalette

The two options offered in the selection subpalette are to select a single element or to select
several elements. The operation of each selection tool will change if OpenDSS-G is in
Constructor or Simulator mode.

Figure 2-21
Selecting a single Bus in a large-scale circuit

In Constructor mode the selection tools can be used to select and move one or several objects.
For example, the circuit shown in Figure 2-21 is a large-scale circuit and it is desired to move a
Bus, indicated by the orange arrow, from its current position to somewhere on right side of the
screen. This operation may take a lot of time when working a closer zoom, and might not result
as expected.
The Select One tool simplifies the process by allowing the user to draw a square or area around
the bus location, as shown in Figure 2-22. Once the area has been selected OpenDSS-G will
search for and select the first bus in that area as stored into the database, allowing the user to
move the bus without having to change the zoom level, as shown in Figure 2-22.

2-18
Figure 2-22
Selecting a single bus using the Select One tool

With the Select Several tool the user can select several objects in an area and move them around
the screen. After the Select Several option is selected, the user can draw a square over an area,
and single-click to select it, as shown in Figure 2-23. The elements within the selected area will
be highlighted in purple, and can be moved as a group using the click-and-grab, click-and-drop
method, as shown in Figure 2-24. When moving elements with the Select Several tool, the link
branches to the elements in the moving area will dynamically change in the same way they do
with a single bus. The select tools can also be used to select one or several elements when
working in Simulator mode, which is helpful when introducing faults or other functions during
simulations.

Figure 2-23
Selecting a group of elements with the Select Several tool

2-19
Figure 2-24
Moving a group of selected elements in OpenDSS

2-20
3
BUILDING A CIRCUIT MODEL
To build a new circuit in OpenDSS-G Constructor mode must be enabled. There are two
methods for creating a circuit from the Tools Palette:
a. Importing an existing OpenDSS model into OpenDSS-G
b. Building a circuit from scratch

Before starting
There are several sources of information for help with OpenDSS:
a. The OpenDSS/G help that can be found at the Tools palette as shown in Figure 3-1.
b. The OpenDSS user’s manual included with OpenDSS or online at
https://sourceforge.net/p/electricdss/code/HEAD/tree/trunk/Distrib/Doc/OpenDSSManual
.pdf
c. The OpenDSS forum at https://sourceforge.net/p/electricdss/discussion

Figure 3-1
OpenDSS help in the Tools Palette

The General OpenDSS Definitions are objects that can be used as reference and complementary
information when defining a model, which can be used to simplify the element creation or
complement a model. These definitions include LineCodes, LineSpacing, XfmrCodes
LoadShapes, TempShapes, TCCCurves, Spectrums, and PriceShapes as explained in [9]. These
definitions can be created, edited or inspected directly when editing a new Power Conversion
Element (PCE) or PDE, and they can also be created or edited from the Tools Palette in
Constructor mode, as shown in Figure 3-2.

3-1
Figure 3-2
General OpenDSS Definitions in the Tools Palette in Constructor mode

Importing an OpenDSS model into OpenDSS-G

OpenDSS-G includes a tool for importing existing OpenDSS models. The Translation Tool has
evolved into a flexible and easy to use method for importing existing OpenDSS models into
OpenDSS-G. The Translation Tool can be found using the Add-ons button in lower left-hand
corner of the Tools Palette (in Constructor mode), as shown in Figure 3-3. From the Add-ons
menu the OpenDSS to OpenDSS-G Translation Tool button will launch the translator. The front
panel of the Translation Tool is shown in Figure 3-4.

Figure 3-3
OpenDSS to OpenDSS-G translator button

3-2
Figure 3-4
OpenDSS to OpenDSS-G translation tool

The OpenDSS to OpenDSS-G Translation Tool offers several options for visualizing the model
before it is imported, which allows the user to select the orientation of the model on the screen
and simplifies the translation routine by requiring only the Master.dss file to be specified.
The options available within the translation tool are described in Table 3-1.
Table 3-1
OpenDSS to OpenDSS-G translation tool options

Draws a preview of the model considering the information

provided by the buscoords file. If the circuit does not have a
buscoords file, the translator will give you a set of patterns based
on the number of buses (the automated pattern option is still under
development)

Starts the translation once the reference files have been declared by
the user

Shows the credits and version of the tool

To define a new reference file for the translation, enter the path in the Master File Path field or
click file browser button to the right of the Master File Path field. Make sure that the bus
coordinate (BusCoord.dss) definition is inside the master file (buscoords buscoords.dss/*),
otherwise, the translator will not be able to extract the coordinates and will assign a random set
of coordinates to the existing buses using a linear distribution. Additionally, if there is no
BusCoord.dss file linked to the project the preview option will not be available. If the
BusCoords.dss file exists, the user will be able to preview the model and define the schematic
orientation before the translation starts, as shown in Figure 3-5.

3-3
Figure 3-5
Circuit preview before translation

Once the master file is defined and the user is satisfied with the projection, the translation
process is initiated by clicking on the Start Translation button at the top left corner of the front
panel. The progress of the translation will be displayed at the top right of the panel; when the
translation is finished the user will be notified by a dialog box requesting the name and location
of the new OpenDSS-G project folder. The Translation Tool will save the new OpenDSS master
file as master.dss and will create a separate file for each class used in the circuit such as
PVSystem.dss, load.dss, etc. The DSS files will all be saved in the folder specified by the user
when asked for the project’s name.

Building a Circuit from Scratch

Building a circuit from scratch requires several subpalettes from Tools Palette. There are four
palettes that need to be considered: The Bus, PCE, PDE and the Controls sub-palettes. There are
other sub-palettes such as the General OpenDSS Definitions sub-palette and Reconnect PDE
sub-palette that are not required but can simplify the work when building the circuit from
scratch. These sub-palettes are shown in Figure 3-6.
a) Move PDE allows the user to graphically modify the connection buses of a PDE.
b) The New Bus sub-palette, is used to create a new bus in the model.
c) The PDE sub-palette pops-up the options for creating a new PDE in the model.
d) The PCE sub-palette pops-up the options for creating a new PCE in the model.
e) The controls sub-palette pops-up the options for creating a new control in the model.

3-4
 f) The General OpenDSS Definitions sub-palette pops-up all the options for defining a new
OpenDSS definition in the model.

Figure 3-6
Palettes needed for building a new circuit from the scratch

Building a circuit from scratch starts by placing the first bus of the system. To do this, select the
Bus creation tool (item (b) in Figure 3-6) and create the new Bus. The only thing required by
OpenDSS-G will be the name of the Bus. Then proceed to create the new substation by selecting
the Substation in the PCE palette (item (d) in Figure 3-6). Once selected the Substation form will
appear on the screen for defining the parameters of the substation, as shown in Figure 3-7. The
substation panel includes (like other elements) the most common fields for creating a VSource
object (the substation is a VSource in OpenDSS). It also includes a 3D preview of your device
and a text field for extra OpenDSS definitions that you may want to include for the model (these

3-5
definitions can be found in the OpenDSS user’s manual). In case of being unsure about what is
the equivalent name for each control in OpenDSS just move your mouse over the control and the
tip strip will tell you the name of the variable in OpenDSS.
The form includes controls that bring other forms to facilitate the navigation within the
OpenDSS objects. Examples are the Daily profile, Yearly profile, Duty profile and Spectrum
controls shown in Figure 3-7. By clicking on the magnifier button at the right of the field
OpenDSS-G will take you to the editor to select/edit/create the profile, spectrum, linecode, etc.
object that you want to link to the active element (in this case the substation). For example, in
Figure 3-8 the user clicked on the spectrum magnifier button and the spectrum editor appears so
the user can select/edit/create a spectrum and send the name to the editing element’s window.
Once the desired profile/spectrum/linecode/etc. has been selected, click on the Select button at
the left bottom corner of the screen as shown in Figure 3-8 and the name of the selected object
will be sent to the window in which the user is creating/editing the element.
After the parameters of the Substation have been entered by the user (not all the parameters need
to be specified, specifying those known by the user is enough and the rest will be calculated or
will be assigned by default in OpenDSS), the user will click on the Save button. Then OpenDSS-
G will ask to the user to make click on the Bus where the Substation will be connected. When the
user makes click on the bus the dialog shown in Figure 3-9 will appear asking for the connection
order per phase of the element created.

Figure 3-7
Window for creating a new substation

3-6
Figure 3-8
Selecting General OpenDSS Definitions for complementing an element’s description

Figure 3-9
Connections diagram for the new element

In Figure 3-9 the terminals at the bottom of the screen correspond to the terminals of the element
and the terminals at the top are the bus terminals. Next to each set of terminals is the name of the
element. As a reference, each time the user clicks on an element’s terminal a graphic showing the
element’s connection type (wye/delta) will highlight in red the selected element’s terminal.
To select a different phase, click on the element’s terminal, then click on the Bus terminal where
you want to connect the phase. Sometimes the user wants to connect to bus terminals with
numbers far than 4, to do it click on the number of the node at the bus and specify the new
number where you want to connect the element’s terminal, this will be interpreted by OpenDSS.
The same procedure and features applies for every PCE in OpenDSS-G.
Editing/Creating PDE
The forms for PDE are pretty similar to the ones for PCE, however, once the element features are
defined and the user clicks on Save, OpenDSS-G will ask to make click on the first and second

3-7
Buses where the PDE will be connected, this applies for all the PDE except for transformers and
transformer blocks. To create a new PDE follow the next steps:
1. Select the PDE to be created from the PDE sub-palette (Figure 3-6 -> C).
2. Fill all the needed fields to describe your PDE.
3. Click the save button at the bottom right corner of the form.
4. Click on the bus where terminal 1 of the PDE will be connected (if enabled, a dialog box
will appear asking you to perform this action as shown in).
5. Select the way in which the PDE terminals will be connected to the bus as shown in
Figure 3-9.
6. Click on the bus where terminal 2 of the PDE will be connected (if enabled, a dialog box
will appear asking you to perform this action).
7. Select the way in which the PDE terminals will be connected to the bus as shown in
Figure 3-9.
8. End.

Figure 3-10
Dialog box asking to click on a bus

Creating/Editing Transformers
Transformers can be very complex due to their number of windings and configurations,
sometimes a certain transformer dispatched in the field is characterized with 3 or more
transformers in parallel with different features or separate regulators per phase, among other
configurations. In this case we have covered this graphically with the transformer and
transformer blocks.
The forms for defining a transformer is shown in Figure 3-11. In this form the connection buses
need to be specified in the field marked with the green arrow in Figure 3-11. To define a bus,
double click on the text bus1, bus2, busx (depending on the number of windings) within the field
called Buses per winding as pointed out with a green arrow in Figure 3-11, then the bus selector
form will appear to select the bus where the winding will be connected. Finally, define the
connection diagram for the winding as shown in Figure 3-12.

3-8
Figure 3-11
Transformer editor

Figure 3-12
Defining the connection Bus for a transformer winding

When creating transformers, the configurations can vary from one model to other. A common
configuration when modeling transformers working as voltage regulators is to use single phase
transformers per phase to regulate the voltage on each phase separately.
These transformers are connected in between the same pair of buses but in different terminals,
for example, assume a 3 phase regulator built with 3 single phase transformers connected
between buses a1 and b1. The first transformer will be connected in a1.1 and b1.1 (bus a1
terminal 1 and bus b1 terminal 1), the second transformer will be connected to a1.2 and b1.2 and
the third transformer to a1.3 and b1.3.
In this configuration to show all the transformers at the same time using the schematic view is
complicated and is for this type of situations that we created the transformer block. In
transformer blocks (Figure 3-13) the user can select and see all the transformers grouped in that
block, a block can be defined as a set of transformers connected between the same pair of buses,
these transformers can be edited and created using the block interface.

3-9
Additionally, if the user wants to edit a transformer contained in a transformer block and selects
the edit transformer option, the block editor will appear as the interface to gain access to the
transformer.
The transformer block button can be found next to the transformer button in the PDE sub-palette.
By clicking on this button the user will pop-up the transformer block editor for adding,
removing, editing transformers contained in the active block.

Figure 3-13
Transformers block

Creating a simple circuit

This section is aimed to create a simple circuit step by step to illustrate the process of creating a
circuit model from the scratch. The circuit will include a substation, a transformer, a line and a
load.
Adding a Substation
The first step to create a model in OpenDSS-G is to define the reference bus of the circuit, which
is the bus to which the substation will be connected. From the Tools Palette click on the New Bus
command as shown in Figure 3-14 -a.

Figure 3-14
Creating the reference bus

3-10
After this operation a dialog window will appear asking for the name of the new bus, in this case,
the bus will be called Sourcebus. By clicking in the OK button as shown in Figure 3-14 -b
OpenDSS-G allows the user to place the bus in the graphical panel as shown in Figure 3-14 -c.
With the reference bus it is possible to add a substation.

Figure 3-15
Adding a Substation

To add the substation, click on the New PCE menu and select the Substation as shown in Figure
3-15 -a. Then the substation editing form will appear to setup the new substation. The values
inserted are the ones shown in Figure 3-15 -b, the undefined values will adopt the OpenDSS
default values if needed [9].

Figure 3-16
Placing the substation

Clicking on the Save button shown in Figure 3-15 -b OpenDSS-G will allow the user to click on
the destination bus, which is Sourcebus in this case. Followed by this, a new dialog will appear
for specifying the way the terminals of the substation are connected to the bus, in this example
the terminals will be connected one to one from the Substation terminals to the bus nodes as
shown in Figure 3-16 -a.

3-11
Adding a transformer
The next step is to create and place the transformer. The transformer will be a stepping down
wye-wye transformer from 4.2 kV to 480 V. Before creating the transformer, you need to create
another bus to connect the transformer secondary (second terminal). The second bus is called tr2
in this example as shown in Figure 3-17 -a.
Then, to create the new transformer use the PDE menu as shown in Figure 3-17-b. There
configure the transformer using the information provided in. For setting the bus names use the
method explained in the previous sub-section Creating/Editing Transformers.

Figure 3-17
Adding a transformer to the model

As a result, the new transformer will be added to the model as shown in.

Figure 3-18
Substation and transformer added to the model

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Adding a line
For adding the line, it is necessary to create a new bus in order of having a destination bus when
creating the line. The new bus is called ld1 in this example as shown in Figure 3-19.

Figure 3-19
New bus added to the model for placing a line

After adding the bus ld1, click on the PDE menu to add a new line as shown in Figure 3-20 -a.
Configure the line considering the desired features for the line, in this example the line has been
configured as shown in Figure 3-20 -b.

Figure 3-20
Adding a line to the model

Clicking in the button Create Line will enable the user to draw the line in the graphical panel
using the mouse cursor. First, click on the bus called tr2 and specify the connection as shown in
Figure 3-21 -a. Then, make click on the bus ld1 as shown in Figure 3-21 -b, and specify the
connection of the line in the same way the previous terminal was defined.

3-13
Figure 3-21
Placing the line in the model

The final result of placing the line is shown in.

Figure 3-22
Substation, Transformer and line placed

Adding a load
It is recommended to save the model before adding PCE, this way, the system will be notified
that there is a system in memory. For adding a load click on the PCE menu and select a new load
as shown in Figure 3-23 -a. The load creation panel will appear and there all the features of the
load can be defined. In this example the load is configured as shown in Figure 3-23 -b.
After configuring the load, click on the button called Save. Then OpenDSS-G will expect for the
user to click on the destination bus for the load, which is ld1 in this case. After clicking on the
bus ld1 the same dialog shown in Figure 3-21 -a will appear to let the user to specify the load
connection to the bus. Once this operation is performed, the model is ready for being simulated.

3-14
Figure 3-23
Configuring the new load

Creating/Editing controlled switching elements

Controlled switching elements (switch, relay, recloser and fuse) are a particular type of controller
that can be attached to an existing PDE in OpenDSS. These controllers allow to open/close the
PDE depending on the parameters set for the controller and the monitored location. In OpenDSS-
G there are two ways for creating these kind of devices:
1. By creating the controller and the PDE simultaneously
2. By creating the controller and linking it to an existing PDE
3. Creating the controller and the PDE simultaneously
To create a controlled switching element, go to the PDE sub-palette at the Constructor palette as
shown in Figure 3-24. In Figure 3-24, the switching elements are wrapped by a red dotted line
and can be identified just by placing the mouse cursor on top of each button to know which is the
correct one. For showing how to create a new switching device let’s consider the power system
shown in Figure 3-25. The aim in this exercise is to create a recloser for connecting buses 13 and
152.

3-15
Figure 3-24
The finding the switching elements at the PDE sub-palette

Figure 3-25
Test system considered for installing a new switching device

The first step will be to click on the button Recloser at the PDE palette. Then, a new window will
appear asking for the recloser parameters according to the conventions and variables defined in
OpenDSS, this window is shown in Figure 3-26.

3-16
Figure 3-26
Recloser editor window

By default, OpenDSS-G will assign a name to the recloser considering the existing number of
recloser in the circuit, however, if desired the user can change the name just by modifying the
text in the field called Recloser Name. To check the values needed for configuring the recloser
please check the OpenDSS user’s manual or the help in OpenDSS-G as mentioned at the
beginning of this chapter.
In this case we will keep some of the default values for the recloser specifying only the TCC
curve and a multiplier to adjust the tripping point of the curve to a certain current level.
OpenDSS includes a set of default TCC curves that can be inspected using the TCC curve editor
included in the General OpenDSS sub-palette. Nevertheless, it can be difficult to remember the
name of the TCC curve to link to this recloser, so in this case to link an existing/new TCC curve
to this recloser for the ground delayed trip make click on thee magnifier pointed out with the
orange arrow in Figure 3-26. This action will bring the TCC curve editor window as shown in
Figure 3-27.
As shown in Figure 3-27, the user can create a new TCC Curve by specifying the X,Y pairs in
the list pointed out with the grey arrow or using the options below. Also, an existing TCC Curve
can be edited by pressing the button pointed out with the black arrow. The list pointed out with
the yellow arrow corresponds to the list of existing TCC curves and can be selected by clicking
on the name of the curve. Finally, to select a curve and send it back to the calling form (in this
case the Recloser editor) the user will have to click on the Select button pointed out with the blue
arrow. This button is only available when the TCC curve editor is called by another editor
window, but if launched from the General OpenDSS Defs sub-palette the Select button will be
disabled.
For this example, we have selected the tlink TCC curve as shown in Figure 3-28. Also, we have
decided to apply a multiplier of 380 to the curve for the ground and phase TCC curves. In this
example we are not specifying the fields called The Monitored Object is different and Link this
Recloser to an existing Element, which will tell to OpenDSS-G that the controller will need a
new PDE after the user clicks on the Create button on this form.

3-17
As a result, after clicking on the Create button OpenDSS-G will ask to the user to specify the
connection points for the new line (switch type -> switch=yes) to be placed as shown in Figure
3-29, which in this case will correspond to buses 13 and 152.

Figure 3-27
TCC Curve editor

Figure 3-28
Setting up the recloser

3-18
Figure 3-29
Window informing the user that a destination bus is required

Then the user will have to make click on the first bus, release the mouse button and move the
mouse to the second location to make click on the second bus as shown in Figure 3-30. Every
time the user clicks on a bus for connecting the new PDE OpenDSS-G will ask for the order in
which the phases are connected to the Bus as shown in Figure 3-31.

Figure 3-30
Placing the new recloser

3-19
Figure 3-31
Phase organizer window

Using the Inspector window

The inspector window is a valuable tool that can facilitate the graphical editing of a feeder in
OpenDSS-G. This tool was introduced in version 2.2.
When handling medium and large-scale feeders it is interesting to have quick information about
the PCE/PDE on a certain area. This information can be used for visualizing the number of
elements in the area, the type of elements, their basic features, to edit an element, to find
elements on the feeder, among many other options. For this purpose, we have created the
inspector window.
To launch a new inspector window, click on the magnifier with the house in the middle
highlighted with a blue arrow in Figure 3-32. After clicking on the inspector window button a
new sub-palette will appear to specify the type of elements to be considered in the inspected zone
to build the new window. The type of elements could be (from left to right) Lines, Transformers
and PCE. Depending on which of these is selected the new inspector window will search for all
the elements that match with the type contained in the area to be specified next.
The next step is to draw a rectangle for specifying the area to be inspected. When the rectangle is
finished a new window will pop-up containing all the elements within the specified area even if
they are in different layers interconnected to the buses in the area. If there are no elements in the
specified area a notification will pop-up mentioning that there are no elements of the selected
type in the zone. An example of the inspector window is shown in Figure 3-33.

3-20
Figure 3-32
Creating a new inspector window

Figure 3-33
Inspector Window

As can be seen in Figure 3-33, the window will show the name and other features of the elements
connected to the buses within the defined area. To select an element, make click on top of it and
to see the options available for the element/s included in the window make right click on the
inspector window as shown in Figure 3-34.
The options available for the window allow to edit the selected element, to find the element
location in the schematic and totalize the amount of load in the area (kW) among others. For
example, if we select the option Get total kW (load) in the window presented in Figure 3-34
OpenDSS-G will calculate the total kW using the loads contained in the area that defines the
inspector window, then it will pop-up a notification telling the user the total amount of load per
phase as shown in Figure 3-35.

3-21
Figure 3-34
Options available for the active inspector window

Figure 3-35
Totalizing load using the inspector window

Another method for generating an inspector window is in Constructor mode, by right clicking on
a bus the pop-up menu will show an option called Inspect Bus as shown in Figure 3-36, if this
option is selected it will create an inspector window showing all the PCE connected to the bus
and to the buses contained in the layer of the selected bus.

3-22
Figure 3-36
Generating an Inspector window for a specific bus

Showing PCE and PDE on the feeder

One of the features that every GUI for power system modeling/analysis requires is to be able to
find and locate elements easily. In OpenDSS-G these functionalities are available so the user can
graphically locate elements on the feeder. The graphical options are located at the lower right
part of the Tools Palette and they are identified by a red marker as shown in Figure 3-37.

Figure 3-37
Graphical options in OpenDSS-G

Depending on the program mode (Constructor/Simulator), the graphical palette will display
different options. In Constructor mode the graphical palette allows to show PCE, PDE, to flag
buses on the feeder, to show islands created after placing Energy Meters on the feeder and to
show the line thickness on the feeder to differentiate single phase from 2 and 3 phase lines. In
Simulator mode the options mentioned before are also available plus other related to the
simulation results such as heat map for voltage, overloaded infrastructure, power flow through
the feeder, power flow direction and isolated areas. These last options will be discussed in

3-23
chapter 3. The graphical palette contents for Constructor and Simulator modes are shown in
Figure 3-38.
For displaying PCE elements make click at the bottom left of the graphical options sub-palette
(pointed out with a blue arrow in Figure 3-38), this action will raise a window like the one shown
in Figure 3-39. In this window the user can select what PCE type (1) and the color (2) to be used
when painting the PCE on the feeder.

Figure 3-38
Graphical options in OpenDSS-G for (a) Constructor and (b) Simulator modes

Figure 3-39
Window for selecting PCE elements to be displayed

By default, the color for each PCE is black, however, when the user clicks on the color box (blue
arrow 2) a color palette will appear so he can select the color for the PCE on the schematic as
shown in Figure 3-40. It is important to remark that for showing the PCE its icon needs to be
active (green) and a color selected as shown in Figure 3-40. As a result, the selected PCE will be
displayed on the feeder considering the specified features as shown in Figure 3-41.

3-24
Figure 3-40
Activating loads to be displayed on the feeder model using light blue

Figure 3-41
Displaying load locations on the feeder

Several PCE can be selected simultaneously and they will not overlap on the feeder model,
OpenDSS-G includes an algorithm for drawing PCE one next to the other when connected to the
same bus to make clearer the location of the PCE as shown in Figure 3-42. OpenDSS-G will
show the PCE connected at a bus even if the PCE is connected to a bus contained at the bus
layer. The PCE shown will refresh automatically when the user navigates through different
layers on the feeder showing only the PCE at the current layer and back layers.

3-25
Figure 3-42
Displaying multiple PCE types on the feeder

Figure 3-43
Selecting PDE menu (a) to be shown/hidden (b) on the feeder

For displaying PDE the process is simpler. The colors are automatically assigned following the
conventions specified in Table 2-1. For selecting a PDE to be shown make click on the button
next to the PCE (with the tower icon), this action will pop-up a sub-panel showing the PDE that
can be selected as shown in Figure 3-43. By clicking on the PDE the user is able to display/hide
PDE for being shown on the feeder. An example of a feeder showing both PCE and PDE is
shown in Figure 3-44.

3-26
Figure 3-44
Showing PDE and PCE on a feeder

Placing flags on the feeder

There is another tool called flags that can be useful in case the user needs to highlight certain
buses on the feeder using colored flags. The flags tool can be activated by clicking on the button
with the red flag next to the PDE display button as shown in Figure 3-45. This action will bring a
window in which the user can specify the path of the CSV files that contain the names of the
buses to be marked with a flag. Also, the user can select the color of the flag per file to highlight
different zones in case of being necessary.
The file format corresponds to the name of the buses separated by comma as shown in Figure
3-46. For example, let’s suppose that we want to place 10 flags on the IEEE 123 bus test feeder,
2 green flags at buses 7 and 23, 2 red flags at buses 54 and 58, 2 light blue flags at buses 40 and
49, 2 magentas at buses 80 and 68 and finally 2 white flags at buses 103 and 105. After adding
the files as shown in Figure 3-45 (b) and if the file format is correct the result will be as shown in
Figure 3-47.

Figure 3-45
(a) Flags option at the graphics menu and (b) flags option menu

3-27
Figure 3-46
CSV file format for using the flags option in OpenDSS-G, (a) using excel and (b) using notepad

Figure 3-47
IEEE 123 Bus test feeder with flags added to different buses

Updating a project built with a previous version of OpenDSS-G

Projects built with previous versions of OpenDSS-G are not compatible with this version,
however, no worries, we have included a tool to migrate your project to the new version. The
access to the update tool is shown in Figure 3-48. Once you click on the updating tool
application button OpenDSS-G will ask you for the original project file (the one built with the

3-28
previous version of OpenDSS-G), then, after upgrading the project OpenDSS-G will ask you for
the destination folder for the new project.
I recommend to specify a different folder from the one with the previous version in case
something goes wrong. You will notice that in the new project the OpenDSS project is defined in
a file called master.dss and that all the classes used in the model are in separate files, this is
because this is the order used by OpenDSS and the conventions are defined by the save
command (see OpenDSS user’s manual for details). Once the translation is done and of there are
no error messages you are ready to start with OpenDSS-G. If there is any error or issue, please
let us know through the discussion forum at https://sourceforge.net/p/dssimpc/discussion.

Figure 3-48
Updating tool included with OpenDSS-G

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4
SIMULATING YOUR CIRCUIT
Configuring the simulation
In this chapter we are going to present the complementary tools added in OpenDSS-G to
facilitate the simulation process and the results extraction among other interesting features.
Once the model is ready and the simulation mode is active click on the configuration button at
the Simulator palette as shown in Figure 4-1 (blue arrow). Once this function is activated the
panel shown in Figure 4-2 will appear.

Figure 4-1
Simulator palette

In the configuration panel the user can specify all the features of the simulation such as the
simulation mode, the step size and the number of iteration among other features. The user can
also configure the processor utilization and parallel processing features of the simulation, as well
as the graphics engine and other esthetical features. The interesting about this panel is that the
user will see the side effects when changing any property, for example, when changing the
simulation mode from snap to daily the step size will change to 1 hour and the number of
iterations will change to 24, something that cannot be easily appreciated with the scripting tool
leading users to fail when starting with OpenDSS.
After configuring the environment, the user can see the simulation mode active as shown in
Figure 4-1 (orange arrow), the result of the simulation (black arrow) and the active layer or better
said, the name of the layer that we are seeing (green arrow). To start the simulation just make

4-1
click on the play button (yellow arrow) and wait for the results. There are several interesting
functionalities in this panel that can be explored by the users.

Figure 4-2
Configuration panel

Monitors
The preferred tool in OpenDSS for storing and analyzing results are the monitors and Energy
Meters, and OpenDSS-G uses the same Monitors and Energy Meters by giving them a graphical
interface. Monitors can be linked to both PCE and PDE to record different values such as
voltage, current, power and state variables among others. To add a new monitor in OpenDSS-G
the Simulator mode must be enabled, then the menu for adding and handling monitors and
energy meters will appear at the bottom left corner of the Simulator Tools Palette as shown in
Figure 4-3 -> green arrow.
With this menu the user can add a new monitor (1), add a new energy meter (2), locate the
monitors on the feeder (3), hide the monitors (4), bring back the monitors (5), clear the monitors
(6) or delete all monitors (7) at will.

Figure 4-3
Menu for adding and handling monitors and energy meters in OpenDSS-G

4-2
To create a new monitor, click on button (1) shown in Figure 4-3. This action will trigger the
form shown in Figure 4-4 to specify the features of the monitor. The fields that compose this
form are the following:
a. Monitor’s Name: In this field the user specifies the name of the monitor
b. Type of Element: In this field the user selects the type of PDE or PCE to populate the list
Element’s Name, this is, if the user selects Load in the field the Element’s Name list will
be populated with the name of all the loads present in the active circuit. This field is a list
with auto-complete properties, so if the user types Lo the list will bring the text Load
automatically and the user will not have to navigate through the entire list.
c. Element’s Name: This is the name of the element to which the monitor will be linked. It
is populated considering the Type of Element selected in field (b). This list has also auto-
complete properties, if the user writes a few characters the list will filter and bring
automatically the name of the element to link the monitor.
d. Terminal: Is the terminal of the selected element to which the monitor will be attached.
See the OpenDSS user manual for details.
e. Metering Mode: Is the mode in which the monitor will operate. There are 7 basic modes
in which the monitor can operate and these are described using text in this list.
f. Custom Mode: By enabling this check box, the using will specify a customized mode for
the monitor using the combinations available described in the OpenDSS user manual. In
case of doubts the user can click on the button help, which will bring the OpenDSS help
window to see the properties of the elements in OpenDSS as well as a brief explanation
for each one.

Figure 4-4
Monitor configuration form

4-3
Once all the data is entered in the form the new monitor will be created and defined in OpenDSS.
Depending on the monitor mode it will have different menus available and the aspect and
information in the monitor will be delivered in different ways. All the different aspects of the
monitors available in OpenDSS-G are presented in Figure 4-5 and these are:
a. Standard (monitor mode 0)
b. Powers (monitor mode 1)
c. Capacitor switching counter (monitor mode 6)
d. Storage state variables (monitor mode 7)
e. Transformer tap position (monitor mode 2)
f. Custom monitor modes (modes 3, 4, 5 and customized modes)
Each monitor aspect includes a different visualization options that vary depending on the
monitor type. The standard monitor is the one that offers the vast majority of the visualizations
(12 visualization options), each visualization changes the monitor aspect allowing to visualize
different quantities in multiple ways. The multiple options included with the stander monitor are
shown in Figure 4-6.
The monitors also come with other tools that can be useful for aligning the monitors on the
screen, to hide them, to bring them back to the screen and to export the monitor content. These
options are located at the lower right corner of the monitor no matter its mode as shown in Figure
4-7.

Figure 4-5
Monitor aspects depending on the selected mode

4-4
Figure 4-6
Visualizations included in the standard meter mode (Monitor)

Figure 4-7
General options for meter objects

The general options for meter objects include the following options:
1. Distributed alignment: With this option the user can align all the meters using the active
meter as reference on the screen (the active meter is the one from which the user is
sending the command), and from there counts 7 meters horizontally and if there are more
meters, it will create a new row starting on below the active meter to align other 7 meters.
As a result, depending on the number of meters they will distributed on the screen in a
matrix with 7 columns and N number of rows.

4-5
 2. Horizontal alignment: With this option the user can align the meters horizontally starting
from the active meter’s position on the screen.
3. Vertical Alignment: With this option the user can align the meters vertically starting from
the active meter’s position on the screen.
4. Name of the monitored element: This option will bring the name of the object monitored
by the active meter (e.g. Line.ABCD).
5. Export: This option includes the options for exporting the content of the active meter or
all the meters at once. If OpenDSS-Viewer in installed locally
(https://epri.box.com/s/o4itfn23txv73iyo3y1ukbs9nmgsspgo), the meter data will be
displayed as a waveform and from there the user will be able to analyze and/or export the
data in the desired format. Otherwise, OpenDSS-G will ask for the destination folder in
which save the data in CSV format. This button works as the export command in
OpenDSS, however, there is an extra in this case. To avoid duplicated data OpenDSS-G
flushes the monitors and energy meters once a simulation is done, this is, if after a
simulation the user sends an export monitor command using the OpenDSS script
interface through OpenDSS-G the output will be empty. This being said, all the data that
you need is in the graphical meters when working with OpenDSS-G.
6. Group meters: With this command the user can hide all the monitors behind the active
meter.
7. Synchronize: With this option the user can display the same information in all the meters
contained in the active simulation. This synch process will take place only on the meters
working on the same mode, this is, assume that we have 3 standard meters, 2 transformer
tap meter and 1 storage meter. If after selecting one of the standard meters and set this
meter in Voltage LL visualization the user decides to synchronize all the meters, only the
other 2 standard meters will change to Voltage LL visualization, the other 3 meters will
remain unchanged.
Monitors are a very useful tool for tracing your simulation and evaluate the simulation behavior
in the points of interest. The tools presented here are an extension of the monitors to facilitate
their utilization.

Energy Meters
The energy meter is a powerful tool that can be use not only to totalize the energy consumed
using an element as reference, but also includes options for storing demand interval information
such as power consumed kW, kvar and losses among others. Please check the OpenDSS user
manual for details.
To create a new energy meter, click on button (2) shown in Figure 4-3. This action will trigger
the form shown in Figure 4-8 to specify the features of the energy meter. The fields that compose
this form are the following:
a. Energy Meter’s Name: In this field the user can specify the name for the new energy
meter.

4-6
 b. Type of Element: In this field the user selects the type of PDE or PCE to populate the list
Element’s Name, this is, if the user selects Load in the field the Element’s Name list will
be populated with the name of all the loads present in the active circuit. This field is a list
with auto-complete properties, so if the user types Lo the list will bring the text Load
automatically and the user will not have to navigate through the entire list.
c. Element’s Name: This is the name of the element to which the monitor will be linked. It
is populated considering the Type of Element selected in field (b). This list has also auto-
complete properties, if the user writes a few characters the list will filter and bring
automatically the name of the element to link the monitor.
d. Energy Meter Configuration: It is composed by two fields, the field on the left is a table
with YES/NO 1 / 2 options that can be changed by the user by double clicking at the
name of the option in the table. The field on the right is a text box in which the user can
script additional configuration properties using DSS language. To know more about the
energy meter properties, check the OpenDSS user manual or click on the help button.

Figure 4-8
Creating a new energy meter

The appearance of the energy meter is the same for all energy meters and provides 4 different
visualizations as shown in Figure 4-9.

4-7
Figure 4-9
The energy meter

Monitors and Energy Meters in harmonics simulation mode

When the user changes the simulation mode to harmonic/harmonicT using the configuration
panel (Figure 4-2) all the monitors and energy meters active will change their appearance to the
harmonics meter. This meter includes 7 visualization modes as shown in Figure 4-10. If after
setting harmonic/harmonicT mode the user goes back to another simulation mode, the meter will
go back to its original mode.

Figure 4-10
Meter in harmonics mode

The harmonics meter includes the magnitude spectrum for voltage, magnitude spectrum for
current, THD calculation in voltage, THD calculation in current, the data table of the meter and
the waveform reconstruction in voltage and current. These visualizations are calculated and

4-8
delivered by phase following the color code indicated at the bottom left of the meter (black phase
1, red phase 2 and blue phase 3).

The OpenDSS Console

Sometimes it is faster to send a command in the form of a script than opening a panel or is just
that some users prefer using DSS language to interact with OpenDSS. OpenDSS-G includes a
tool called the OpenDSS scripting panel which is a panel from which the user can send DSS
commands live and affect the current simulation model. All the changes sent with this panel will
have immediate effect on the simulation and the graphical environment of OpenDSS-G. To have
access to the OpenDSS scripting panel click on the DSS button shown in Figure 4-11. The
OpenDSS Scripting tool (OpenDSS Console) in shown in Figure 4-12.

Figure 4-11
Accessing to the OpenDSS Scripting tool

Figure 4-12
OpenDSS Scripting tool (OpenDSS Console)

4-9
The OpenDSS console has 2 fields: The field at the top is the input where the user types the DSS
command and the field at the bottom is the output sent by OpenDSS after processing the
command sent. There are two ways for executing commands using this console:
1. By clicking on the Execute button at the bottom of the console. Clicking on the Execute
button will send all the commands written at the input field to OpenDSS. The feedback
from OpenDSS will correspond to the last command processed by OpenDSS.
2. By right clicking on the line to be processed and select the Do Selected option from the
pop-up menu. The user can select a section of the code typed at the input field and then
right click on it, then a pop-up menu will appear and if the user clicks on the option Do
Selected OpenDSS-G will send only the selected lines of text to OpenDSS to be
processed. Again, the feedback from OpenDSS will correspond to the las command
processed by OpenDSS. This is shown in Figure 4-13.

Figure 4-13
Using the Do Select command with the OpenDSS Console

It is not recommended to use the solve command from the console, the side effect could be the
lack of synch between meters and the latest results, however, after executing a new simulation in
OpenDSS-G using the play button (Figure 4-1) everything should go back to normal. However,
this can be tricky if using advanced features such as parallel processing.

Provided test cases

OpenDSS-G includes several test feeders to start simulating right after the installation process
(see chapter 4). The test cases can be found in the folder where OpenDSS-G is installed, there,
the user will find a subfolder called Test_Systems that includes all the test feeders provided with
OpenDSS but in OpenDSS-G (by default, the folder should be located at C:\Program
Files\OpenDSS-G\Test_Systems.
In case that the user wants to modify these systems it is highly recommended to make a copy of
them in another folder to keep the originals intact in the Test_Systems folder. This will also
reduce the probability of having issues when modifying or creating data inside the Program Files
system folder.
Once a feeder model is opened using the Constructor palette (Figure 4-14a), the user can enable
the Simulator palette directly and check the properties of the feeder as shown in Figure 4-14b.

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The menu shown in Figure 4-14c is the statistics window and it provides information about the
feeder features in terms of the size and amount of components present in the feeder as shown in
Figure 4-14d.
This information results interesting if the user wants to verify the feeder characteristics and to
compare feeders when trying to determine if the active feeder is an adequate model for the type
of study that will be conducted.

Figure 4-14
Getting access to the model statistics

Finding elements
In chapter 2 we presented the tools for highlighting the location of PCE and PDE and how to get
their properties in detailed and summarized ways. However, sometimes the user needs go to just
know where to find a specific element in the model. To do this there is the search option located
in both Constructor and Simulator palettes as shown in Figure 4-15.
After clicking in the search button a new dialog will appear requesting the user to specify the
element type (Line, load, transformer, etc.) and the name of the element as shown in Figure 4-16.
By entering the type of element (class) the second list will be populated with the name of the
active objects that compose the selected class.
Both fields, the Type of Element and Element’s Name are auto-complete, so it is enough to start
typing the first characters of the type/name and the field will bring the text that better matches
the characters entered, which can be very useful when working with long and complex names.

4-11
Figure 4-15
Search menu in the Constructor and Simulator palettes

Figure 4-16
Element selector window to find an element in the feeder model

After both, the Type of Element and the Element’s Name have been specified by the user, click
on the Select button and OpenDSS-G will search for the element on the feeder.
No matter if the element is in a different layer, OpenDSS-G will find it and scroll the screen
centering the location of the element drawing a red square at the element’s location as shown in
Figure 4-17.

4-12
Figure 4-17
Finding an element on the feeder using OpenDSS-G

Setting simulation time and starting over

When performing time based simulations such as QSTS [10] in OpenDSS/OpenDSS-G the user
may be interested into setting the simulation time. OpenDSS offers several commands to modify
the current simulation time before solving a simulation step. Commands such as hour=, sec=
and time= are useful for this purpose. These commands can be sent to OpenDSS by using the
OpenDSS console in OpenDSS-G, however, we have created a menu to set the simulation time
using default values or user defined values, this menu can be found at the Simulator palette as
shown in Figure 4-18.
After working around with the feeder model and performing several changes the user may want
to go back to the initial model of the feeder. To do this the user can click option (1) in Figure
4-18, which will recompile the active feeder model bringing the system to the initial conditions.
When using option (1) everything will go to the original model, closing meters and other
elements that do not exist in the original OpenDSS script, it is a whole new start.
Option (2) will trigger another window to specify the time using the year, hour, minutes and
seconds as shown in Figure 4-19. Option (3) can be used when the user wants to set the time to 0,
this is, when the user clicks on this option the simulation time will be set to 0,0 (hour=0 and
sec=0).

4-13
Figure 4-18
Compilation and time editing options

Figure 4-19
Setting up the simulation time

Operating switching devices

One of the most common operations when working with power system simulators is operating
switching devices, and in OpenDSS-G there are 3 ways to do it. When the simulation is active
the switching devices that used to be shown as empty green boxes in Constructor mode will be
filled with a colored box as shown in Figure 4-20. The color can be customized at the
configuration panel shown in Figure 4-2 and it is used to identify if the switching device is open
or closed. To change the device status, the user can click on the colored box and it will change
color and status (if open it will close and vice versa) even when the simulation is running.
Nevertheless, sometimes the switching devices are not visible because they are in different layers
or they are not reachable through the mouse click because of the zoom level when the user wants
to keep the aspect ratio. In this case there is a switching palette located in the automatic
simulation menu as shown in Figure 4-21. After clicking option (4) the switch panel shown in
Figure 4-22 will appear.

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Figure 4-20
Switching devices in (a) Constructor and (b) Simulator modes

Figure 4-21
Automatic simulation menu

Figure 4-22
Switch panel

4-15
The switch panel brings 3 different options for each switch present in the feeder model. By
clicking in (1) the user will locate the position of the switch on the feeder model, this is very
useful to identify the location of the switch and to know if the switch that the user wants to
modify is the one on the panel. Clicking option (2) will change the state of the selected switch
and both, the switch on the feeder model and button (2) will change color to represent the state of
the switching device. Finally, the name of the switching device is shown in field (3). With this
panel the user is able to modify the state of all the switching devices in the model no matter if
they are not visible in the active layer.
Another way to modify the state of a switching device in OpenDSS-G is though co-simulation
using the TCP/IP server or the DBus interface. These options are discussed ahead when
presenting the co-simulation capabilities incorporated in OpenDSS-G.

Adding faults
A very common part of distribution system analysis is the incorporation of faults. Faults can be
very diverse and include phase to phase or phase to ground single and multi-phase. In OpenDSS,
faults are simulated as small impedances connected in a certain configuration (delta/wye) in
between phases or phase to ground (OpenDSS user’s manual).
For generating a new fault in OpenDSS-G locate the Fault menu in the Simulator palette as
shown in Figure 4-23. By clicking on this menu a new sub-palette will appear to select the type
of fault that the user wants to incorporate, the types of fault are (starting on the upper left):
1. 3 phase to ground (wye connection) fault.
2. 2 phase to ground (wye connection) fault.
3. Single phase to ground (wye connection) fault.
4. 3 phase, phase to phase (delta connection) fault.
5. 2 phase, phase to phase (delta connection) fault.
6. Single phase, phase to phase (delta connection) fault.
7. Clear all active faults.
8. Show the active Fault’s locations in the schematic.
When the user clicks on one of the multiple fault options at the fault sub-palette the mouse cursor
will change from a small pointer to a hand so the user can select the area in which the fault will
be connected. The area methodology to place a fault was adopted thinking on the need of placing
a fault when the feeder’s aspect ratio is to low making difficult for the user to click on a
particular bus. As a result, when the user draws the rectangle to define the zone where the fault
will be applied OpenDSS-G will pick the first bus on the bus list within the selected area to apply
the fault. This process is shown in Figure 4-24.
Once the area has been drawn a dialog window as the shown in Figure 3-9 will appear to define
the fault connection to the faulted bus. After this action, the fault will take place for the next
simulation step no matter if the simulation is off-line, remote driven or real-time.

4-16
Figure 4-23
Fault menu

Figure 4-24
Selecting the faulted area

To display the location of the active faults, click on option (8) shown in Figure 4-23. Then,
OpenDSS-G will display the location of the faults using a yellow lightning as shown in. To stop
visualizing the faults use the option (8) again. The faults will also be removed from the
schematic after the utilization of the Clear Faults option (7).

4-17
Figure 4-25
Displaying the fault’s location on the schematic

Faults can also be created by using the OpenDSS console in case that the available options do not
fulfill the user requirements for a specific type of fault. No matter the method used to generate
the fault, the Clear fault method (Figure 4-23-> 7) can be used to clear all the circuit faults.

Using parallel processing

OpenDSS-G includes parallel processing capabilities that can be used through the configuration
menu. Using the configuration menu check the option CPU as shown in Figure 4-26. After
clicking on this option a new menu called CPU Configurator will appear as shown in Figure
4-27, this menu contains all the different options that apply for working with parallel processing
features.
By Using the CPU Configurator menu, the user can select the preferred CPU for executing
simulations when running in single processor mode. This menu also informs the user about the
amount of logical processors (threads, normally 2 threads per core) that can be used in the
machine. To activate the parallel processing features, click on the red button labeled Temporal
parallelization OFF, this action will activate the disabled fields and will turn the red button into
green button changing the label for Temporal Parallelization ON as shown in Figure 4-28.

4-18
Figure 4-26
Getting access to the parallel processing menu

Figure 4-27
CPU configuration menu

Figure 4-28
Temporal parallelization enabled

OpenDSS-G offers temporal parallelization [11] as the method for using the parallel processing
features; other parallelization methods such as spatial parallelization will be available once they
are available in OpenDSS.
Once the temporal parallelization is enabled, the user is able to determine if he wants to limit the
number of CPUs to be used when splitting the QSTS [12] simulation, also, the user can specify if

4-19
for the parallelization process the new actors [13] will be allocated in a single core or if their
distribution will be done using the available threads. By default, OpenDSS-G will use N-1
threads being N the total number of threads (CPU) in the host computer.
However, if the user decides to separate cores he will note that the # of Existing CPUs field will
be divided by the half if the host computer is a standard architecture with 2 threads per core.
There are other architectures in which there is one thread per core in which checking the Use
Separate Cores for better performance is not required or will not improve the performance as
expected.
After clicking the OK button OpenDSS-G will split the system according to the user
specifications recompiling the feeder on each actor created, it is important to remark that any
change not saved before doing executing this procedure will be lost and will not have any effect,
that being said, please click on the Save button before using the parallel processing features. On
the other hand, after activating the parallel processing features every command sent through the
OpenDSS Console or the Configuration panel will affect all the actors.
Additionally, when setting the number of iterations using the Configuration panel this number
will be divided and distributed in the active actors, e.g. if the user wants to perform a yearly
simulation with a 1-hour step time (8760 iterations) and there are 4 active actors, each actor will
perform 2190 iterations and each one will start at a different time to cover a different time
interval of the simulation. Afterwards enabling the parallel processing features the active actor is
actor 1.
When the parallel processing features are enabled the simulation progress bar will be filled
depending on the number of actors created to perform the simulation as shown in Figure 4-29. If
there is more than 1 active actor the progress bar that shows the first of the active load shapes
will be colored in different sections representing each one of the active actors in real-time.
Otherwise, the progress animation will be colored from left to right as a single section.
We highly recommend not to use all the available cores of the PC when using parallel processing
to avoid freezing other resources such as the screen, mouse and keyboard among others, due to
the lack of processing resources.

Figure 4-29
Yearly simulation with (a) single core and (b) 6 cores

4-20
5
VISUALIZING RESULTS
Heat maps
OpenDSS-G includes several graphical aids for displaying the state of the feeder after a
simulation. These graphical aids or heat maps can be found in the graphics menu as shown in
Figure 5-1. These options will be enabled when working in Simulator mode and any active heat
map will be removed from the feeder diagram when changing to Constructor mode. The
available heat maps are:
1. Overloaded infrastructure: This heat map will change the color of the PDE shown on the
screen. The overloaded PDE will be colored in red otherwise, the color will be blue.
2. Power flow direction: This heat map will color the feeder in blue adding a yellow arrow
to each PDE showing the direction of the power flow on each PDE.
3. Voltage level (pu): This heat map assigns a color using a 24-bit color scale to represent
the voltage level in pu for each PDE shown on the screen.
4. Power consumption: This heat map assigns a color using a 24-bit color scale to show the
power consumption level from the lowest to the highest power (kW) calculated for each
visible PDE.
5. Active color scale: This option will launch a window showing the values and the active
color scale.
6. Isolated elements: This heat map will show the isolated or non-energized zones of the
feeder using green and red to color each visible PDE. The red color means that the PDE
is energized, otherwise, the PDE is de-energized and will be shown on the screen in
green.
7. Islands: The islands are created when placing energy meters across the feeder. Energy
meters can be used in OpenDSS as elements for tracking sections of the feeder handling
the PCE and PDE after the meter as a sub-feeder. This is a very powerful tool when
working with large-scale feeders and there is interest in a particular section of it. When
selecting the Islands option of the graphics menu OpenDSS-G will assign a color to each
one of the zones created when several energy meters are introduced to the active
simulation. To do it, OpenDSS-G tracks each PDE using the energy meters as separated
zones by following the circuit tree delivered by each energy meter.
8. Clear feeder: This option clears the active visualization/heat map.
9. Show Line thickness: This option redraws the feeder to highlight the line thickness of
each line. The thickness is proportional to the number of phases of the line.
Figure 5-2 shows examples of the heat maps that OpenDSS-G can deliver.

5-1
Figure 5-1
Heat maps included in the graphics menu

Figure 5-2
Heat maps generated using OpenDSS-G

Graphics
OpenDSS-G includes the graphics provided by OpenDSS and more depending on the installed
complementary tools. Using the Configuration menu, the user is able to select the graphics
engine for transforming data into waveforms for further analysis as shown in Figure 5-3.
Nowadays, OpenDSS counts with 2 visualization packages for displaying waveforms and the
system information:

5-2
  DSS-View: This program is included with the OpenDSS distribution and offers a classic
set of graphics for showing the circuit topology and other graphs using GIS, monitor’s
data using waveforms and voltage profile among others.
 OpenDSS-Viewer (DSS Visual): This program is a recent update for the graphical tools in
OpenDSS and can be downloaded at
https://epri.box.com/s/o4itfn23txv73iyo3y1ukbs9nmgsspgo, its distribution and license
are freeware and is a complementary program to OpenDSS.
The options for selecting the graphics engine will depend on the installed packages detected by
OpenDSS. If OpenDSS-Viewer is not installed there will be no options available to select the
graphics engine at the Configuration panel. Otherwise, the user will be able to change the engine
on the run to match his preferences on how to display the acquired data.
After the graphics engine has been selected (this action needs to be done only once), the graphics
menu will offer a different set of available options as shown in Figure 5-4. Using the graphics
menu, the user can generate instantaneous visualizations of the feeder status or to generate a
waveform describing the data stored in the monitors deployed across the feeder model.
Several options are available and depending on the simulation and model features the user will
have access to them, e.g. by including an energy meter at the feeder head the user will be able to
obtain the feeder’s voltage profile after a simulation [9], using DI reports the user will be able to
generate 3D graphs for showing the yearly behavior of the power demand and many others.
Examples of graphs generated using the graphics menu are shown in Figure 5-5. The additional
functionalities added to graphical objects when using OpenDSS-Viewer are documented at the
OpenDSS-Viewer user manual.

Figure 5-3
Selecting the graphics engine using the configuration panel

5-3
Figure 5-4
Graphics menu using (a) OpenDSS-Viewer and (b) DSS-View

Figure 5-5
Graphics generated using OpenDSS-G [14]

5-4
Quick reports
After a simulation it is interesting to get some quick values to evaluate if the model is correct or
just to extract the information that the user considers useful without post processing. These kind
of quick reports are implemented in OpenDSS as options for the Show command, enabling
combinations such as Show voltages element LN to generate a simple report of the voltages per
element in the feeder in line-to-neutral format.
This menu will keep evolving to bring quick measurements in a more interactive fashion. For the
moment, every time the user clicks on each one of these options he will get a report with the
format presented above. Other show options can be used through the OpenDSS console using
standard OpenDSS commands.
Some of these options have been implemented in OpenDSS-G as quick access buttons in a menu
called quick reports. This menu located at the Simulator palette is shown in Figure 5-6, there the
user can find 4 basic reports plus 1 measurement panel:
1. Voltage per element in line-to-neutral format
2. Currents per element
3. Powers per element
4. Losses per element
5. Quick Measurements
The Quick Measurements option allows the user to create a measurement panel to take
instantaneous measurements from a group of elements. The values reported in the new
measurement panel are voltage, current, power and losses. These values are the ones obtained
when selecting the element and calling its voltages, currents, power and losses using the
OpenDSS scripting tool.

Figure 5-6
Quick reports menu and voltage report generated

5-5
When clicking on the Quick measurements button the user will be requested to draw the Region
of Interest (ROI) where the measurements will be taken. To do this, draw a rectangle to define
the region of interest as shown in Figure 5-7. After defining the ROI, a new panel will show up
containing all the elements interconnected in the area, this panel is shown at Figure 5-8.

Figure 5-7
Selecting the region of Interest

Figure 5-8
Quick Measurements panel

5-6
The Quick Measurements (QM) panel incorporate 2 informative tables and 3 controls for
filtering the information contained in the informative tables. These elements are:
a. The Element’s Name List: This list shows the name of the elements contained in the ROI
defined by the user. Clicking on the name of the element will bring the values for the
selected element. When an element is selected this will be highlighted with 2 yellow
cursors in the circuit’s schematic as shown in Figure 5-9. The cursors will be placed at
the element’s connection buses.
b. The values Table: This table shows the values for the active element considering the
variable selected at the Variable Selected control (d).
c. Filter List by Element: Because the panel shows all the elements contained within a ROI,
if the list of elements is too large it can be difficult to find an element. To facilitate this
process, the user can filter the Element’s Name list by type, showing in table (a) only
lines, loads, transformers, etc. If no filter is required select the option None (default).
d. Variable Measured: With this control the user can select the variable to be displayed in
(b). The variables are voltage, current, power and losses.
e. Search: This button will show up a combo text field for searching an element. This is an
extra option for finding elements within the Element’s Name list.
More than one QM panel can be displayed simultaneously and all the active panels will be
automatically updated after a simulation is completed.

Figure 5-9
Selecting an element on the Quick Measurements panel

The simulation Explorer

The simulation explorer is a very interesting tool for analyzing the results of the time based
simulations. The use of this tool is useful for planning specially when evaluation mitigation
initiatives that involve new equipment or infrastructure using graphical interfaces.
OpenDSS-G includes tools for distribution planning that based on the data provided by
OpenDSS provides a comprehensive interface for information handling, and one of these tools is
the simulation explorer.
The simulation explorer is a tool that navigates through the files generated when performing
QSTS simulations using DI reports [9]. Based on the DI reports data, the simulation explorer can

5-7
be used to visualize the violation occurrence (voltage, overload) in time, recreating the time
instant in which a violation occurs to highlight the affected infrastructure. The simulation
explorer interface can be accessed using the Extras menu located at the Simulator palette as
shown in Figure 5-10-> blue arrow. The simulation explorer includes several graphical options
and features that can result useful when analyzing violation occurrence during a QSTS
simulation, these options are:

Figure 5-10
Extras menu and simulation explorer

1. The LoadShape visualizer: This visualizer shows the selected load shape as the base for
highlighting violations in time or at the feeder model when recreating the simulation
conditions at a point in time.
2. Synch: This button can be used to synchronize simulation explorer windows opened
simultaneously, this feature is very useful when the planner wants to evaluate the effects
of including technologies or control strategies on the system in the same time base. An
example of this can be found in Figure 5-11. When the Synch option is active every time
that the user zoom’s in, moves the cursor or updates the LoadShape visualizer axis in one
of the active simulation explorer windows, all the other windows will do exactly the same
in their local LoadShape visualizer.
3. Graphical tools: This menu offers all the tools for graphically changing the axis values at
the LoadShape visualizer, add cursors and scroll the screen among other graphical aides
to handle graphical data.
4. Show voltage violations: This checkbox is used to show the voltage violations generated
during the QSTS simulation. These violations will be shown as orange parts in the load
shape as shown in Figure 5-12. By unchecking this checkbox, the load shape shown at
the LoadShape visualizer will go back to grey. In the case the LoadShape visualizer is
showing overloads and the voltage violations check box is checked it will uncheck the
overloads checkbox (5) and vice versa.
5. Show overloads: This checkbox will highlight the overloads generated during the QSTS
simulation. These violations will be shown as red parts in the load shape as shown in
Figure 5-13. By unchecking this checkbox, the load shape shown at the LoadShape
visualizer will go back to grey. In the case the LoadShape visualizer is showing voltage

5-8
 violations and the overloads check box is checked it will uncheck the voltage violations
checkbox (4) and vice versa.
6. Recreate the selected time interval: After clicking on this option, OpenDSS-G will
recreate the simulation only for the time interval selected. The time interval will be
defined by the time window shown at the LoadShape visualizer.
7. Recreate snapshot at the time of interest: With this option the user can recreate the
simulation conditions at the time instant pointed by the cursor at the LoadShape
visualizer. Depending on the active checkbox (voltage violations or overloads), after
simulating the time instant a heat map will show the location of the violations on the
feeder using the voltage level heat map for voltage violations and the overloaded
infrastructure heat mat for overloads as shown in Figure 5-14.
8. Show summary: This option will launch a window showing a summary about the number
of violations per year in the simulated period. This window is shown in Figure 5-15.
9. Load Shape selector: This field allows the user to select a different load shape as the base
for presenting information in the LoadShape visualizer. By default, OpenDSS-G will
select the load shape that better fits on the simulated time period. However, if the user
wants to use another load shape for displaying the violations information the Load Shape
selector will take the user to the Load shape editor where he can select the load shape that
he wants to user as a reference.

Figure 5-11
Simulation explorer windows Synchronized

5-9
Figure 5-12
Voltage violations using the simulation explorer

Figure 5-13
Overloads using the simulation explorer

Figure 5-14
Recreating 2 different time instants to visualize overloaded infrastructure

5-10
Figure 5-15
Summarizing overloads on a 10-year period using the summary window

Real-Time simulation
If the user decides to close the real-time simulation panel during a simulation the simulation will
be aborted. During a simulation driven by this module the user will see the changes in the system
values on the monitors and even when consulting values using the TCP/IP interface included
with OpenDSS-G. This simulation module can be the foundation for other implementation that
require the emulation of the power system in real-time including visualization. This module is
continuously evolving and the new updates will be documented here in future versions.
OpenDSS-G includes a module for real-time simulation. With this module the user can set the
length of the time step for the real-time simulation to experience the simulation performance
advancing at the programmed time and performing all the control actions in real-time.
The real-time simulation console can be found at the automatic simulation menu as shown in
Figure 5-16 -> blue arrow. This module contains the following options:
1. Run: This button starts the simulation considering the programmed parameters. Once this
button is pressed the green led on the panel called running will turn light green (ON),
indicating that the simulation is running.
2. Pause: This button pauses the simulation until the Run button is clicked again or the
panel is closed.
3. Stop: This button stops the simulation and restarts the simulation time to 0.
4. Enable heat map: When enabled, this checkbox will draw a heat map on the feeder
according to the options available in (6). This refresh will happen automatically after
each simulation step.
5. Simulation step time: This is the real time simulation step in milliseconds, the time
interval between simulation steps in real-time.
6. Heat map selected: Is the heat map to be drawn after each simulation step if option (4) is
enabled.

5-11
Figure 5-16
Real-time simulation module

The FLISR simulator

Another real-time simulation case is the Fault Location, Isolation and Service Restoration
(FLISR) simulator. This module allows the user to coordinate protection devices considering the
post-fault conditions. The FLISR simulator module can be found at the automatic simulation
menu as shown in Figure 5-17.The controls in the FLISR simulator module are basically the
same as in the real-time simulation, however, there are a few additional options:
1. Open configuration file: This button opens a dialog window in which the user will
provide the path of the configuration file, the configuration file is a CSV file containing
the post fault (pre-restoration) and restoration configuration of the switching devices on
the feeder. The format of this file will be discussed later in this section.
2. Save configuration file: This button opens a dialog window for saving the current
configuration file at the same/different location. This dialog will ask for the name of the
destination file as well as for the destination path.
3. States table: This table contains the configuration for the pre-restoration and restoration
configurations loaded after opening a configuration file.

Figure 5-17
FLISR simulator module

5-12
After loading a configuration file, the pre-restoration and restoration states will appear in table
(10). The pre-restoration state corresponds to the names of the closed switching devices after a
fault in steady state. The pre-restoration state is the flag to indicate to the module what is the new
configuration that needs to be implemented to isolate and restore the electrical service in many
zones as possible. Consider the following example: The IEEE 123 test bus system is modified by
adding some DER and reclosers in a protection coordination scheme. This example can be
download from
https://sourceforge.net/p/dssimpc/code/HEAD/tree/trunk/Distribution/Examples/IEEE_123_FLI
SR_Case. The feeder under study is shown at Figure 5-18. In this case we have sw1, sw2, sw3,
sw4, sw5 and sw6 as the main feeder protections and reclosers rcl_0, rcl_1, rcl_2, rcl_3, rcl_4
and rcl_5 are the protections used to connect DER and back feeding to supply power to a de-
energized area.

Figure 5-18
Test case for FLISR

After applying a fault, the protections will trip and set a new post-fault configuration that we will
call pre-restoration configuration. For example, if we apply a fault as shown in Figure 5-19, the
system protection scheme will reconfigure the system by opening sw1, sw2 and sw4, leaving the
other reclosers closed. The new state will be declared at the configuration file as
‘sw3:sw5:sw6:rcl_0:rcl_1:rcl_2’, where the name of each closed recloser is separated using a
colon character (:).

5-13
Figure 5-19
Applying a fault at bus 98

The same case applies for every possible pre-restoration configuration that needs to be
considered for the study. On the other hand, if the pre-restoration configuration is defined as 0,
means that the new configuration is the default/normal operation configuration. If after adding a
fault to the system the pre-restoration state is not in the list of pre-restoration states loaded, the
system will not try to restore the power into the isolated zones.
Once the pre-restoration state has been detected the next step is to restore the electricity service
in most of the zones as possible.
The configuration presented in Figure 5-19 requires to isolate the faulted zone and restore the
power in the other zones, to do it, this example proposes to set the configuration
‘rcl_1:rcl_2:sw1:sw2:sw3:sw6’ closing sw1, sw2, sw3 (already closed), sw6 (already closed)
rcl_1 and rcl_2. After identifying the pre-restoration configuration, the module will open all the
switching devices on the feeder and will start closing them using the restoration configuration
one on each simulation step, this is, will first close rcl_1 and run a simulation step, then will
close rcl_2 and run a simulation step and so on. The final configuration for the case discussed in
this example is shown on Figure 5-20.

5-14
Figure 5-20
Final configuration after applying the restoration configuration

As mentioned before the configuration file is CSV file for separating the pre-restoration and
restoration states, in Figure 5-21, we are presenting the configuration file proposed for the
example discussed in the section.

Figure 5-21
Configuration file edited with excel and notepad++

Using DRIVE
From OpenDSS-G the users can have access to other EPRI tools such as EPRI DRIVE™
(Distribution Resource Integration and Value Estimation). To do it, click on the automatic
simulation menu as shown in. EPRI DRIVE™ needs to be installed in ‘C:\DRIVE’ to work
properly when called from OpenDSS-G.

5-15
Figure 5-22
Opening EPRI DRIVE™ from OpenDSS-G

Co-Simulating with OpenDSS-G

OpenDSS-G has a TCP/IP server integrated for co-simulation with other platforms. The
document that describes the protocol and uses can be downloaded from
https://sourceforge.net/projects/dssimpc/files/Documents/DSTCP-Comm.pdf/download. Co-
simulation examples for MATLAB and NI LabVIEW can be found at
https://sourceforge.net/p/dssimpc/code/HEAD/tree/trunk/Distribution/Examples/.

Finding application examples

The application examples can be downloaded from
https://sourceforge.net/p/dssimpc/code/HEAD/tree/trunk/Distribution/Examples/. New examples
are uploaded constantly to serve as the models of what the users can do with OpenDSS-G.

Checking the OpenDSS-G version

To check your local OpenDSS-G version go to the help menu at the bottom of the Constructor
and Simulator palettes as shown in Figure 5-23. click on the About button and a new window
will appear bringing the information about the OpenDSS-G version, the OpenDSS engine
version and other information about the program.

5-16
Figure 5-23
Checking the OpenDSS-G version

5-17
6
REFERENCES
1. D. Montenegro, "Actor's based diakoptics for the simulation, monitoring and control of smart
grids," Université Grenoble Alpes, 2015.
2. R. C. Dugan and T. E. McDermott, "An open source platform for collaborating on smart grid
research," in 2011 IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, , 2011, pp. 1-7.
3. D. Montenegro, G. A. Ramos, and S. Bacha, "Multilevel A-Diakoptics for the Dynamic Power-
Flow Simulation of Hybrid Power Distribution Systems," IEEE Transactions on Industrial
Informatics, vol. 12, pp. 267-276, 2016.
4. D. Montenegro, G. A. Ramos, and S. Bacha, "A-Diakoptics for the Multicore Sequential-Time
Simulation of Microgrids Within Large Distribution Systems," IEEE Transactions on Smart
Grid, vol. 8, pp. 1211-1219, 2017.
5. C. Hewitt, E. Meijer, and C. Szyperski. (2012, 05-15). The Actor Model (everything you
wanted to know, but were afraid to ask). Available:
http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Going+Deep/Hewitt-Meijer-and-Szyperski-The-Actor-
Model-everything-you-wanted-to-know-but-were-afraid-to-ask
6. C. Hewitt, "Actor Model of Computation: Scalable Robust Information Systems," in
Inconsistency Robustness 2011, Stanford University, 2012, p. 32.
7. D. Montenegro. (2013, TCP Communication Protocol For Data Exchange With The Dssim-
XX System, provided as part fo the documentation of DSSim-RT/PC. Available:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/dssimpc/
8. D. Montenegro. (2018, Changing the language of OpenDSS-G. 1, 4. Available:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/dssimpc/files/Documents/Changing_the_language_of_Open
DSS-G.pdf/download
9. R. Dugan and D. Montenegro. (2018). Reference Guide, The Open Distribtuion System
Simulator (OpenDSS). Available:
https://sourceforge.net/p/electricdss/code/HEAD/tree/trunk/Distrib/Doc/OpenDSSManual.pd
f
10. M. J. Reno, J. Deboever, and B. Mather, "Motivation and Requirements for Quasi-Static Time
Series (QSTS) for Distribution System Analysis," presented at the IEEE Power Engineering
Society General Meeting, Chicago, 2017.
11. D. Montenegro, R. C Dugan, and M. Reno, "Open Source Tools for High Performance Quasi-
Static-Time-Series Simulation Using Parallel Processing," presented at the IEEE Photovoltaic
Specialists Conference - 2017, Washington D.C., 2017.
12. J. Deboever, X. Zhang, M. J. Reno, R. J. Broderick, S. Grijalva, and F. Therrien, "Challenges
in reducing the computational time of QSTS simulations for distribution system analysis,"
Sandia National Laboratories SAND2017-5743, 2017.
13. D. Montenegro and R. C. Dugan, "OpenDSS and OpenDSS-PM open source libraries for NI
LabVIEW," in 2017 IEEE Workshop on Power Electronics and Power Quality Applications
(PEPQA), 2017, pp. 1-5.
14. M. E. Hernandez. (2017, Advanced Graphics Module for OpenDSS. 57. Available:
https://epri.box.com/s/0lta0ujkk40z1t3lw7byec4528ugc2op

6-1
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