Physics-Informed Neural Network Models for EMT Simulators

Abstract

This is the first paper, to the best of our knowledge, to propose a framework that integrates Physics-Informed Neural Network (PINN) models in Electromagnetic Transient (EMT) simulations. Both industry and EMT simulation tools face emerging challenges, as the share of inverter-based resources in power grids rapidly grows. Vendors need to protect the Intellectual Property (IP) of their control design when sharing their component models with customers and system operators. EMT simulation tools need to increase computation speed while maintaining numerical stability. NN surrogates offer numerically stable models with higher degrees of IP protection, as they do not expose the underlying model structure and control parameters. We show that NN surrogates can accurately capture the dynamic behavior of both open-loop and closed-loop controllers, producing identical results in both a validated in-house EMT solver and commercial tools, such as PSCAD. Compared with the artificial delay methods used by commercial solvers, we show that NN surrogates are more numerically robust. Compared with iterative numerical solvers, we show that NN surrogates replacing components with algebraic loops (e.g., closed-loop controllers) increase computation speed by 40\% on average. We demonstrate our methods on PSCAD and the IEEE 39-bus system. Although the speed advantage vanishes when NN surrogates replace only a few components in large scale systems, NN-based models continue to offer enhanced IP protection and numerical stability. Our source code, in-house EMT solver, and the code for seamless integration to PSCAD are made publicly available.