Public communication regarding power grid policy is difficult due to the unintuitive behavior of
electricity. This thesis presents the development of an easily understandable yet accurate model of the Dutch electricity network. The topology, production and load of the contemporary grid is studied using publicly available data. An accurate model of the grid is designed using stochastic modeling and data analysis techniques. An attempt is made to simulate the model using DC power flow techniques. The software is developed to be compatible with the Illuminator system, which can visualize the simulation in a physical model. The ultimate implementation of the model was unsuccessful. The design process and attempted simulation of the model is documented in this thesis.

This thesis discusses the integration of the Illuminator software with hardware components, for the purpose of creating a table-top, Plug-and-Play energy system demonstrator. The thesis starts by introducing the motivation for an energy system demonstrator in Chapter 1. An interactive, visual demonstrator can help educate people on energy systems in a way that
is more intuitive. The main product should show the power flow on the table, implement Plug-and-Play dynamics, and be scalable. LED strips are used to visualize power flows in the table-top network, in combination with the Digispark ATtiny85. For determining the topology, static ID pairs were used. A double simulation is used to implement Plug-and-Play dynamics.
The first simulation configures the topology used by the second simulation, based on the hardware connections. The second simulation runs the Illuminator simulation. During this simulation, checks are run to see whether a physical connection has changed, such as a cable being unplugged. The simulation and then starts the reconfiguration process again.
Testing the reliability and run-time of the implementation is documented in Chapter 6, with a focus on how well the implementation scales with the size of the simulation. It was concluded that the Digispark’s communication with the Raspberry Pi would often stall, requiring error correction to be implemented. Even then, the data transfer to the Digispark from the Raspberry Pi fails on the first try an average of 48% of the time. Determining how long a setup takes to reconfigure was estimated using a computer, since the Raspberry Pi’s aren’t powerful enough to simulate dozens of models. It was determined that a reconfiguration of 20 models takes about 100 seconds.

The Energy System Integration Demonstrator, developed by the Illuminator team at TU Delft, is a
modular, tabletop tool designed to educate and engage citizens in the benefits and challenges of the
energy transition. It simulates important aspects of national electricity grids through a combination of
Raspberry Pi control systems, 3D models, and LED visualizations.
The B.Sc. graduation project focused on enhancing the demonstrator’s visualization and interaction
capabilities. The project subgroup developed dynamic 3D models such as houses, windmills, cars,
solar panels, carbon emissions, and batteries. On-screen elements are also created to represent key
simulation agents like the battery state-of-charge and green energy percentage. Multiple dashboard
versions were designed to tailor the experience to different stakeholder audiences. The report details
the design, implementation, and validation of the visualized components.