PyAPI-RTS: A Python-API for RSCAD Modeling

Detailed real-time simulation of power systems and components gains significant importance due to the increasing share of renewable energy sources and inverter-based generation in general. This kind of simulation is powered by specialized simulation hardware, such as the NovaCor simulators by RTDS Technologies Inc. These simulators are accompanied by the specialized modeling and simulation software RSCAD, which is focused on the user interaction via a graphical interface. The modeling and simulation of power systems often requires repetitive tasks that can be automated with scripting or an application programming interface (API). However, an automation in RSCAD is not supported. Thus, we present PyAPI-RTS, a programming interface for the programmatic interaction with RSCAD models, and its Python-based implementation in the pyapi_rts package. The developed package enables adding, removing, and editing components of existing models, and the creation of new models from scratch. Furthermore, pyapi_rts organizes models in a graph structure that enables the development of elaborate manipulation and analysis algorithms.