dertwin 0.1.2

Digital twin simulator for distributed energy resources — BESS, PV inverters, energy meters

DER Twin

Digital Twin infrastructure for modern energy systems.

DER Twin is a lightweight simulator for Distributed Energy Resources (DER) — BESS, PV inverters, energy meters, and grid models — exposed via Modbus TCP. Use it for EMS development, protocol testing, integration validation, and control algorithm sandboxing without touching real hardware.

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⚡ Quickstart

Option A — pip install

pip install dertwin

Bring your own site config and register maps:

dertwin -c path/to/your/config.json

You should see:

INFO | Building site: my-site
INFO | Starting Modbus server | 0.0.0.0:55001 | unit=1
INFO | Simulation engine started | step=0.100s

The simulator is now accepting Modbus TCP connections on the ports defined in your config.

Option B — Run from source

git clone https://github.com/AlexSpivak/dertwin.git
cd dertwin
python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .
python -m dertwin.main -c configs/simple_config.json

Option C — Run with Docker

git clone https://github.com/AlexSpivak/dertwin.git
cd dertwin
python generate_compose.py configs/simple_config.json
docker compose up --build

generate_compose.py reads the config and generates a docker-compose.yml with the correct ports automatically. No manual port configuration needed.

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🔌 Connect an EMS

With the simulator running, start the example EMS from a second terminal:

cd examples
python main_simple.py

You'll see the EMS connecting over Modbus and cycling the BESS between 40–60% SOC:

[EMS] Connected to BESS
[EMS] Starting in CHARGE mode
[EMS] STATUS=1 | SOC= 42.30% | P=  -20.00 kW | MODE=charge
[EMS] STATUS=1 | SOC= 44.10% | P=  -20.00 kW | MODE=charge
...
[EMS] Reached 60% → switching to DISCHARGE

For a full multi-device site (dual BESS + PV + energy meter + external models):

python -m dertwin.main -c configs/full_site_config.json
# in another terminal:
python examples/main_full.py

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🧱 Features

• Async Modbus TCP server built on pymodbus
• Config-driven site topology — add devices by editing JSON
• Irradiance, ambient temperature, grid frequency, and grid voltage models
• Multi-device support across independent ports
• External model events (voltage sags, frequency deviations)
• Simulation start time control (start_time_h) — start at noon, peak load, etc.
• Docker support with auto-generated Compose files
• Deterministic simulation with seeded random models
• Fully tested with pytest

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📦 Repo Structure

dertwin/
├── configs/
│   ├── register_maps/       # Modbus register definitions (YAML)
│   ├── simple_config.json   # Single BESS — good starting point
│   ├── demo_config.json     # Full three-device site
│   └── full_site_config.json# Dual BESS + PV + meter + external models
├── dertwin/
│   ├── core/                # Clock, engine, register map loader
│   ├── controllers/         # Site and device orchestration
│   ├── devices/             # BESS, PV, energy meter, external models
│   ├── protocol/            # Modbus TCP server
│   ├── telemetry/           # Telemetry dataclasses
│   └── main.py
├── examples/
│   ├── simple/              # Single BESS EMS example
│   ├── full/                # Multi-device EMS example
│   └── protocol/            # Shared Modbus client
├── tests/                   # Full test suite
├── generate_compose.py      # Docker Compose generator
└── Dockerfile

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⚙️ Configuration

Sites are defined in JSON. Each asset declares its type, parameters, and Modbus protocol binding:

{
  "site_name": "my-site",
  "step": 0.1,
  "real_time": true,
  "start_time_h": 12.0,
  "register_map_root": "register_maps",
  "external_models": {
    "irradiance": { "peak": 1000.0, "sunrise": 6.0, "sunset": 18.0 },
    "grid_frequency": { "nominal_hz": 50.0, "noise_std": 0.002, "seed": 42 }
  },
  "assets": [
    {
      "type": "bess",
      "capacity_kwh": 100.0,
      "initial_soc": 60.0,
      "protocols": [{ "kind": "modbus_tcp", "ip": "0.0.0.0", "port": 55001, "unit_id": 1, "register_map": "bess_modbus.yaml" }]
    }
  ]
}

real_time: true — engine runs its own loop, use for dertwin CLI and EMS examples
real_time: false — caller drives the clock via step_once(), use for tests
start_time_h — sets simulation clock on startup (e.g. 12.0 for noon). All external models start from this time.
register_map_root — path to register map directory, resolved relative to the working directory where you run dertwin
ip: "0.0.0.0" — required when running inside Docker so port mapping works. Use 127.0.0.1 for local-only.

Register map fields:

Field	Required	Description
name	yes	Human-readable label, used in logs and the EMS client
internal_name	yes	Maps to the device's internal telemetry or command field — must match the attribute name in the corresponding telemetry class (see dertwin/telemetry/README.md)
address	yes	Modbus register address
type	yes	uint16, int16, uint32, int32
scale	yes	Multiplier applied on read, divisor applied on write
count	yes	Number of registers (1 for 16-bit, 2 for 32-bit)
func	yes	Function code: 0x04 input read, 0x03 holding read, 0x06 single write, 0x10 multi-register write
direction	yes	read or write
unit	no	Physical unit label (V, kW, Hz, etc.)
description	no	Free-text note
options	no	Enum mapping for status/mode registers

name and internal_name can differ — name is what the EMS client sees, internal_name is what the device simulator uses internally. For example, on_grid_power_setpoint (name) maps to active_power_setpoint (internal_name) on the BESS device.

For detailed architecture and per-package docs, see dertwin/README.md.

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🐳 Docker

# Generate docker-compose.yml from any config
python generate_compose.py configs/full_site_config.json

# Ports are read automatically from the config — no manual editing
docker compose up --build

# Override config at runtime without rebuilding
docker run \
  -v /path/to/my/configs:/app/configs:ro \
  -e CONFIG_PATH=/app/configs/my_site.json \
  -p 55001:55001 \
  dertwin-simulator

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🧪 Tests

pytest

The test suite covers device physics, register encoding, external models, and full end-to-end site integration via Modbus TCP. See tests/ for structure.

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📈 Roadmap

• Scenario engine — scripted event sequences
• REST API + web dashboard
• IEC 61850 support
• MQTT integration
• Published PyPI package

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🧠 Use Cases

• EMS algorithm development and validation
• SCADA/HMI integration testing
• Protocol compliance testing
• DER fleet orchestration prototyping
• Frequency and voltage response simulation

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Before diving in, read dertwin/README.md — it covers the simulator architecture, how devices are modeled, the engine and clock design, and how to add new device types or protocols.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for full guidelines.

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📜 License

MIT License

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👤 Author

Oleksandr Spivak