We test the compliance of equipment to be installed on the electricity grid to ensure the quality of energy system products and service providers.
The main services of the department are the following:
• DLMS/EDP complementary standard tests for smart energy meters;
• Energy meter laboratory checks;
• Meter field audits;
• Accuracy testing of energy meter clocks;
• Calibration services in power/energy, current/voltage and current transformers.
The Metering Laboratory is accredited by the Portuguese Accreditation Institute according to the European Standards, being a standard reference laboratory in Portugal. Since 2013, it is recognised by the National Metrology Institution (IPQ) as a Metrological Verification Body to perform the first operations of energy meter verification.
Qualification:
• Elaboration of technical and functional specifications for equipment used in the electrical network;
• Qualification processes for energy equipment;
• Preparation of test procedures and technical specifications;
• Consulting services for the installation of new laboratory units.
Inspections:
• Factory acceptance tests for electrical equipment;
• Technical inspections to suppliers of electrical equipment;
• Technical inspections of electrical installations;
• Supervision tests on installations, commissioning and putting into service;
• Cold commissioning of LV, MV and HV transformer boards;
• Functional tests of protection relays;
• Primary and secondary injection tests;
• Quality diagnosis of PLC/PRIME and PLC/BPL communications;
• Maintenance work and technical audits on energy metering systems.
The SMARTLAB is a smartgrid integration facility that serves as a test center for technology demonstration and validation. This infrastructure is at the forefront of new technologies for the energy systems of the future. It consists of four different areas: Digital Grids, Energy Metering, Substation Automation Systems, and Storage & Mobility.
Digital Grid Laboratory
Structured in four different areas to simulate a low voltage network, the lab offers a wide range of resources to test solutions according to customer needs.
Some examples:
• Four hundred smart meters (PLC Prime and GPRS) with four Transformer Stations and eight network analysers;
• Infrastructure for automated functional tests (Hardware and Software) and programmable sources and loads (AC/DC);
• DC intelligent control software;
• Supervisory control of the entire infrastructure with real-time data acquisition;
• Power cable 1 km long, divided into 250 m segments, to simulate communication over long distances;
• New cybersecurity testing approaches, covering all smart metering infrastructures.
Energy Metering Laboratory
The Energy Metering Laboratory is a standard reference laboratory in Portugal. Since 2013 it is recognized by the National Metrology Institution(IPQ) as a Metrological Verification Body to perform the first operations of energy meter verification.
Main accredited services:
• Energy meter verifications in laboratory;
• Energy meter audits in the field;
• Tests of accuracy of energy meter clocks.
Quality control of electricity meters:
• Factory acceptance tests;
• Forensic analysis of equipment with signs of manipulation;
• Communications performance, meter relay and stress tests;
• Ageing tests.
Storage and Mobility Laboratory
The Storage and Mobility Laboratory is focused on the validation of Electric Energy Storage Systems (EESS) and Electric Vehicle Charging Systems (EVCS) specifications (both energy and communications) and the improvement of renewable energy integration.
It has a wide range of activities:
• EESS tests according to IEC 62933 part 1;
• EVCS tests according to IEC 61851 part 1, 23 and 24;
• Integration and interoperability testing of EESS, EVCS, photovoltaic (PV) systems and smart appliances in the low voltage distribution network;
• VFunctional validation of Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS), PV and battery inverters.
Substation Automation Systems Laboratory
Equipped with state-of-the-art devices and tools, the laboratory is able to offer the following services and tests:
• Basic and detail engineering of Protection and Automation Solutions (PAS) based on customer standards and requirements;
• Engineering according to IEC 61850 and IEC 61131;
• Modelling and simulation of power systems using the hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) technique;
• Product / system evaluation - functional validation, performance tests and Rapid-Control-Prototyping (RCP)
• Interoperability testing, protocol testing and multi-vendor IED integration.
Equipment and tools:
• Real-Time Power System Simulator (RTPSS), combined with power amplifiers, an expansion chassis up to 12 high-performance cores and software with the ability to perform real-time simulations;
• Time synchronisation hardware used to synchronise all equipment and laboratory devices under test (DUT) based on the following protocols: NTP, IRIG-B, PPS and PTP;
• IEC 61850 software tools.