DERMS Teaching Voltage control, solar hosting & interactive simulation
Interactive DERMS Infographic

See How Smart Inverters Pull Voltage Back Into Bounds

Learn the DERMS story through charts, KPIs, and guided visuals built from OpenDSS feeder simulations. The site now leads with the numbers: where voltage breaks, when controls react, and which strategy wastes the least solar.

Open Playground Follow Guided Scenarios
24h feeder timeline 288 simulation steps 4 control strategies
Voltage Recovery
97%
Violation-minute reduction when optimization replaces the uncontrolled baseline.
Best Outcome
0 min
Optimization removes all overvoltage minutes while staying under 1.05 p.u.
Worst Baseline
1.075
Peak feeder voltage during midday PV export without coordinated control.
Curtailment Gap
970x
Heuristic control wastes orders of magnitude more solar than the optimized dispatch.
13-bus IEEE feeder used across all lessons
5 min Simulation cadence for every chart and heatmap
1.05 p.u. ANSI upper threshold shown on every voltage view
Real CSV OpenDSS QSTS outputs loaded directly in the browser
Voltage Basics
Start with the core signal: nominal voltage, ANSI limits, and why PV export pushes the envelope upward.
Open Concept →
Control Strategy Map
Compare Volt-VAR, curtailment, optimization, and batteries as a single visual decision landscape.
See Comparison →
Interactive Playground
Flip between scenarios, move through the day, and watch the same feeder re-draw itself live.
Start Exploring →
Story-Driven Scenarios
Follow four short narrative modules that explain the problem, the rule-based fix, and the optimized solution.
Start Learning →
PV Integration
See reverse power flow, duck-curve behavior, and the hosting-capacity ceiling as connected grid effects.
View Infographic →
Hosting Capacity
Track how DERMS turns one feeder into a larger solar host without defaulting to heavy infrastructure upgrades.
Inspect Capacity →
Quick Visual
From Violation Zone to Compliant Envelope
A single chart captures the full story: uncontrolled PV pushes above the ANSI ceiling, optimized DERMS keeps the feeder under it.
Three Ways to Learn
  • 1
    Concept cards
    Learn the visual logic of voltage rise, PV export, and hosting limits.
  • 2
    Scenario stories
    Follow the same feeder through four control strategies with minimal text overhead.
  • 3
    Playground controls
    Test the charts directly and compare dispatch, violations, and curtailment yourself.
Simulation Snapshot

Engine

OpenDSS QSTS simulation with browser-rendered Plotly charts.

Time Window

24 hours of feeder behavior sampled every 5 minutes.

Control Set

Baseline, heuristic, optimization, and heuristic plus battery storage.

Why This Format Works Better
Infographic Shift

The site now uses metric bands, visual cards, and chart annotations first. Text remains, but only to explain the picture, not replace it.

Bus heatmaps Dispatch curves Curtailment KPIs Hosting-capacity deltas