Home  »  News  »  Press Releases

Professor Glauco Taranto of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro gave a lecture entitled “SimuLight: Distribution Grid Simulation Software” to the “Computer Methods for Electric Power Engineering” course on Friday, Feb. 13, 2015 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).  Dr. Taranto obtained his PhD in Electric Power from RPI in 1995.  

Abstract: The Simulight program is a software to evaluate the dynamic performance of large power systems, comprising the generation, transmission, sub-transmission and distribution, with the presence of distributed generation connected to the sub-transmission or distribution segments.

The Simulight program user can utilize it to solve power flow problems and simulation of electromechanical dynamics in single and / or three-phase modeling with phasor representation in the fundamental frequency.

The software presents an innovative hybrid formulation for the Newton-Raphson method in the power flow problem. It considers that part of the network is balanced and represented by positive-sequence parameters, whereas the other part of the network is considered unbalanced and represented by three-phase parameters. Filtering of negative- and zero-sequence components is achieved with adequate shunt elements introduced at the interface buses. Electromechanical dynamics simulation also runs using the hybrid, so-called, MonoTri formulation.

The Simulight program is fruit of a long-term collaboration between Prof. Taranto and LIGHT S.E.S.A the electric distribution utility serving the Rio de Janeiro area. The software is under the process of becoming a commercially available program for the industry. An academic version is freely downloadable from the URL www.coep.ufrj.br/~tarang/Simulight.

Bio: Glauco N. Taranto (S’92–M’96–SM’04) received his B.S. degree in 1988 from the State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, his M.Sc. degree in 1991 from the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and his Ph.D. degree in 1994 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, all in electrical engineering.

He has been with the Electrical Engineering Department, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro/COPPE, Brazil since 1995 and is currently an Associate Professor. He was on sabbatical leave as a Visiting Fellow at CESI, Milan, Italy in 2006. His research interests include power system dynamics and controls, intelligent control and robust control design.

Dr. Taranto is a member of the IEEE PES, PSDP Committee, IEEE CSS and CIGRÉ.