As renewable energy systems, electric vehicles, and distributed energy resources continue to reshape the electrical grid, manufacturers face an increasingly complex challenge: ensuring their products can operate reliably under both normal and abnormal grid conditions. Addressing this need, Pacific Power Source has developed a portfolio of regenerative grid simulators that accurately emulate real-world electrical grid behavior, enabling engineers to validate the performance, compliance, and reliability of grid-connected equipment before deployment.
Unlike conventional AC power sources that primarily provide stable power, Pacific Power Source's grid simulators are designed to reproduce dynamic grid events such as voltage sags, brownouts, frequency deviations, harmonic distortion, phase imbalance, and other power disturbances. This allows developers to evaluate how products such as solar inverters, energy storage systems (ESS), EV chargers, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) systems, UPS equipment, and smart-grid devices respond to real-world operating scenarios and comply with international grid standards.
The company technology focuses on RGS Series and GSZ Series regenerative grid simulators. Both platforms operate as four-quadrant regenerative systems, meaning they can both source and absorb power. This bidirectional capability is particularly valuable for testing modern power electronic systems that continuously exchange energy with the grid, including bidirectional EV chargers, battery storage systems, and renewable energy inverters. Instead of dissipating returned energy as heat, the simulators regenerate it back to the utility grid, significantly improving energy efficiency while reducing operating costs. The systems achieve regeneration efficiencies exceeding 90%, making them suitable for high-power laboratory and production test environments.
The RGS Series offers power ratings from 12 kVA to 1.296 MVA and supports single-, split-, and three-phase configurations. It can generate AC voltages up to 606 VAC line-to-line, DC outputs up to ±500 VDC, and frequencies ranging from DC to 200 Hz. Its optional integrated AC/DC electronic load further simplifies test setups by combining power source and load capabilities within a single platform.
For larger-scale applications, the GSZ Series extends output capability to 1.1 MVA and beyond while adding Power Hardware-in-the-Loop (PHIL) functionality. PHIL enables real-time interaction between physical hardware and digital simulation models, allowing engineers to validate complete power systems—including controllers, converters, and grid-support functions—under highly realistic operating conditions before field deployment. This capability is becoming increasingly important for validating advanced grid-forming inverters, microgrids, and distributed energy resources.
A key advantage of Pacific Power Source's grid simulator technology is its flexibility. Engineers can configure a wide range of grid scenarios using programmable AC, DC, or combined AC+DC operating modes while independently controlling voltage, frequency, phase relationships, and harmonic content. This enables comprehensive testing for compliance with global standards such as IEEE 1547, UL 1741, and other international grid interconnection requirements. The systems also support testing for low-voltage ride-through (LVRT), anti-islanding, interoperability, flicker, harmonic immunity, and other grid certification procedures required by utilities worldwide.
Beyond regulatory compliance, the company's regenerative architecture helps accelerate product development. The integrated source-and-load functionality reduces external equipment requirements, simplifies laboratory configurations, and enables engineers to emulate complete microgrid environments with bidirectional power flow. This makes the platform suitable for evaluating solar PV systems, residential and commercial energy storage, EV charging infrastructure, V2G applications, industrial power converters, and smart-grid technologies under repeatable laboratory conditions.
Pacific Power Source also integrates its SmartSource Suite control platform across its latest product portfolio, allowing users to remotely configure, monitor, automate, and manage complex test sequences. Combined with the company's regenerative hardware, this software-driven approach provides a scalable solution for laboratories developing next-generation power electronics and grid-connected energy systems.
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About Pacific Power Source
Founded in 1971, Pacific Power Source develops programmable AC and DC power test equipment for industries including renewable energy, electric vehicles, aerospace, defense, industrial automation, and power electronics. Its portfolio includes AC/DC power sources, regenerative electronic loads, grid simulators, EMC test systems, and automated test solutions.
