The Smart Energy System Control Laboratory combines theory with practice. Many questions of the energy transition can only be answered with extensive simulations and complex models of energy networks, feeders, storage facilities and consumers. Precise models of the plant components are an important prerequisite for this. The physical presence of the plants in the SESCL creates a constant reference to reality and thus facilitates the implementation of the research results in real network environments. Since the experimental field is galvanically isolated from the public power grid, control strategies in borderline areas can be approved and investigated there. In addition, operating points that approach the stability limits can be controlled. Such experiments would not be permitted in the public grid.

The energy transition cannot be planned on computers alone, nor can all new ideas be tested in the public power grid. SESCL was established with funds from the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts (MWK). In SESCL, representatives of the most important machines and devices of power grids and heat supply systems are installed. Because electricity will be of great importance in the heating market and for mobility in the future, heat pumps and charging stations, for example, were purchased and implemented.

Of course, only a limited number of components can be physically connected to a network in a laboratory environment. Therefore, adjacent power grids are simulated using Power Hardware in the Loop (PHIL) systems. Behind this there are fast computers and electronics that can realize a calculated power consumption or power injection. Within SESCL, the busbar matrix is the central element for the intelligent connection of the energy technology components, such as power generators, consumers, storage devices, lines and other network equipment. The busbar matrix allows new experiments to be interconnected and thus configured very quickly. 27 switchgear cabinets are filled by the required switchgear.