Final Meeting of the PROGRESS Project at PSI Software AG Dortmund
The final meeting of the PROGRESS (Erprobung kurativer Entlastungsmaßnahmen in Höchst- und Hochspannungsnetzen) research project took place on March 17, 2026, and marked an important milestone with its closing session at PSI Software AG in Dortmund. Project partners from academia and industry gathered to present and validate the developed system, thereby officially concluding the project phase.
The conference provided an opportunity to review the progress made during the project and to present a fully integrated real-time platform for the advanced monitoring and control of modern power supply systems. In addition to technical presentations, the event facilitated discussions on system performance, implementation challenges, and future paths toward practical application.
Project Overview
The PROGRESS project focused on the development of a real-time experimental platform for Wide Area Monitoring, Protection and Control (WAMPAC) and Hybrid State Estimation (HSE). With increasing integration of renewable energy sources and growing system complexity, modern power grids require faster, more reliable, and data-driven monitoring and control strategies.
To address these challenges, the project aimed to design and validate a system capable of continuously monitoring grid conditions, detecting disturbances across the network, and triggering automated corrective control actions. At the same time, the platform enables the evaluation of communication and processing performance under realistic operating conditions.
Integrated Experimental Setup
The experimental platform developed at OVGU combines real-time simulation, communication infrastructure, and control hardware into a unified architecture. A dynamic power system model is executed on the OPAL-RT real-time simulator, generating both synchronized PMU measurements and conventional SCADA data. These measurements are transmitted through the PSIcontrol/PSIconnect platform, which acts as the central data integration layer.
At the supervisory level, a MATLAB-based operator processes incoming data streams and executes monitoring and control algorithms. The resulting control parameters are transferred to an SEL Real-Time Automation Controller (RTAC), which implements the control logic and interacts directly with the simulated grid environment.
The system integrates multiple industry-standard communication protocols, including IEEE C37.118 for synchrophasor data and IEC 60870-5-104 for SCADA communication. This architecture enables a closed-loop setup in which measurement acquisition, data processing, and control actions are performed continuously in real time.
Figure 1: Laboratory setup for the PROGRESS project
Key Achievements
Over the course of the project, several important milestones were achieved. A real-time WAMPAC framework was successfully implemented, enabling automated detection of critical grid conditions and execution of corrective control actions. In parallel, a Hybrid State Estimation approach was developed, combining high-frequency PMU data with conventional SCADA measurements to improve system observability.
The project demonstrated the integration of multiple communication protocols within a unified system architecture and validated a complete end-to-end workflow, from measurement acquisition to control execution. Furthermore, dynamic disturbance scenarios were analyzed, confirming the ability of the system to track and respond to transient grid behavior. Initial evaluations of communication delays and processing performance also provided valuable insights into the timing constraints of real-time control applications.
Use Case Highlights
As part of the WAMPAC implementation, a Special Protection Scheme (SPS) was developed based on precomputed curative actions derived from contingency analysis. The system is capable of identifying critical operating conditions and triggering corrective measures in real time, demonstrating its potential for fast and automated grid protection.
In addition, the Hybrid State Estimation framework was validated using both Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) approaches. During simulated disturbance scenarios, both methods successfully tracked system dynamics, highlighting the benefits of combining synchronized PMU data with slower SCADA measurements for accurate and reliable state estimation.
Final Validation in Dortmund
During the final meeting at PSI Software AG, the complete system was demonstrated in an integrated environment. The validation focused on the interaction between simulation, data processing, and control components, as well as on the evaluation of system response and timing behavior.
The demonstration confirmed the practical feasibility of the developed approach and emphasized the importance of coordinated communication and control in modern power system operation. The meeting also highlighted the value of close collaboration between academic institutions and industry partners in advancing innovative solutions for future energy systems.
Outlook
Although the project phase has officially concluded, several aspects remain open for further development. Future work will focus on optimizing system latency, extending the approach to larger grid models, and integrating additional functionalities such as cybersecurity and predictive control strategies.
The results of the PROGRESS project represent a significant step toward more resilient, automated, and intelligent power system operation and contribute to bridging the gap between research and real-world implementation.
Figure 2: Research group of the PROGRESS project