Open source supervisory control system platform for distribution grid applications

This report presents the summary of testing activities of an Internet-of-Things (IoT) based 
SCADA system use for microgrids.  
The scope of this activity is to setup and test a prototype SCADA system that includes H/W and 
S/W components. The components are evaluated in terms of interoperability though tests con
ducted on a real microgrid at CRES’ premises in Pikermi. 
Apart from the devices and software installed during the tests, interoperability with third-party 
devices (i.e. commercial PV inverters) was also investigated. Also additional functionalities of 
the SCADA application such as the accuracy of calculating the Solar Azimuth were investigated. 
High-level functionalities such as this calculation are important in order to accurately estimate 
actual environmental conditions and in cases of control actions such as for solar trackers.  
The proposed setup consists of three main parts: the main application used as the interface 
console developed in Node-RED, the main communication protocol (MQTT) and field devices 
used for control and data acquisition (ESP32 microcontrollers). In addition to these parts, incor
poration of communication libraries enables the main application in Node-RED to communicate 
with 3rd party devices, in this case a PV inverter via MODBUS TCP.  
The ultimate goal of this collaboration activity in better understanding of IoT based technologies, 
and use of open-source, open-license and low-cost H/W components for easy replication in 
other systems for research and education purposes. 
In the following sections this report provides an overview of the tested setup and indicative re
sults which showcase the interoperability and ease of use for the proposed tools.