OpenDSS basic commands

Command Description
Clear Clear all previously defined circuits or objects
New Circuit.MyCircuit BasekV=69 pu=1.05 phases=3 Makes a 3-phase circuit called “MyCircuit” by creating a 3-
~ mvasc3=1000 phase voltage source and changes the voltage to 69 kV ,1.05
pu and the short-circuit apparent power to 1000 MVA (a way
of defining the source impedance)
Set DefaultBaseFrequency=50 Set Default Base Frequency to 50 Hz.
set voltagebases=[12.47, 4.16] Set the voltage base values of the circuit to 12.47 kV and
calcvoltagebases 4.16 kV and calculate the pu voltages of the circuit using
these values.
P.S.: These commands must be put just before the “solve”
command
Solve Solves the present circuit with the present solution mode
(Snapshot is the default mode)
Set Mode=Daily Stepsize=15m number=96 Set the mode to Daily and solve 96 steps at a 15 min interval
Solve (one full day)
Set Mode=dynamic Stepsize=.001 number=2000 In two commands, set the mode to Dynamic and then solve
Solve 2000 steps at a 1 ms interval (the default unit on Stepsize
option is sec)
Set Mode=Harmonic Set the mode to harmonic and solve (solve for each
Solve frequency of the input spectrum)
Solve Mode=FaultStudy Solve the present circuit in FaultStudy mode and display the
Show FaultStudy fault current. Includes Loads as linear elements if they are
defined and enabled.
Plot Circuit Power Max=2000 C1=blue 1ph=3 Plots the active circuit (if bus coordinates defined) with line
Plot Circuit Power Max=2000 C1=$00FF0000 1ph=3 thicknesses proportional to power. 2000 kW = width of 7.
Colors may be specified as standard color name or RGB
integer number (Hexadecimal format shown: 00BBGGRR)
New Line.MyLine Bus1=FromBus.1.2.3 Bus2=ToBus.1.2.3 Typical Line object definition. A good idea to define units on
~ LineCode= 400 Length=2.5 Units=Mi both the LineCode and Line objects. Units don’t have to
match. OpenDSS will take care of conversions
New linecode.400 nphases=3 basefreq=60 units=mi Define a LineCode called 400 of a 3-phase cable by its
~ rmatrix = (.4576 | .1559 .4666 | .1535 .1580 .4615 ) resistance, reactance and capacitance matrices.
~ xmatrix = ( 1.078 | .5017 1.0482 | .3849 .4236 1.0651 )
~ cmatrix = (15.04 | -4.8706 15.855 | -1.8655 -3.1008 14.3 )
New line.line1 geometry=4wire length=100 units=ft Define a line “line1” with a specific geometry called “4wire”,
~ bus1=sourcebus bus2=n1 a length of 2000 feet connecting bus “sourcebus” to bus
“n1”
New linegeometry.4wire nconds=4 nphases=3 Define the geometry “4wire” of a line (number of wires and
~ cond=1 wire=conductor units=ft x=-5 h=28 the position of each wire inside the line).
~ cond=2 wire=conductor units=ft x=0 h=28 The two wires used here (“conductor” and “ neutral”) are
~ cond=3 wire=conductor units=ft x=5 h=28 defined later.
~ cond=4 wire=neutral units=ft x=0 h=24
New wiredata.conductor Runits=mi Rac=0.4 Radunits=in Define two wires “Conductor” and “neutral”. The first one
~ Diam=0.7 has diameter of 0.7 inch and a resistance of 0.4 Ohm/mile.
New wiredata.neutral Runits=mi Rac=0.6 Radunits=in The second one has a diameter of 0.5 inch and a resistance
~ Diam=0.5 of 0.6 Ohm/mile.
New Load.MyLoad Bus1=LoadBus.1.2.3 kW=250 PF=.95 Typical Load definition (3-phase is default). Don’t forget kV
~ kV=12.47 vminpu=0.9 property. For phases > 1, specify L-L kV.
“Vminpu” stands for the minimum pu voltage to keep
assuming a constant P and Q model for the load.
New Load.My1phLoad Phases=1 Bus1=SecBus.1 kW=25 25 kW 240-V single-phase load
~ kV=0.24 PF=0.99
New Load.MyLLLoad Phases=1 kV=12.47 Bus1=MyLoadBus.1.2 1-phase L-L connected load at 12.47kV level with a
~ kW=25 kvar=5 spectrum=load_spectrum spectrum called load_spectrum
New Spectrum. load_spectrum " NumHarm=9 Define a spectrum of a load (the number and the magnitude
~ harmonic=( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) of each harmonic in percentage)
~ %mag =(100, 0, 0.1708, 0, 1.3882, 0, 0.6694, 0, 0.0002)
New Transformer.T1 Phases=1 Windings=2 Xhl=6 Define a single-phase transformer called T1 with two
~ wdg=1 bus=bus_1.1.0 conn=Wye kv= 7.20 kva=2000 %r=0.5 windings and a percent reactance high-to-low (winding 1 to
~ wdg=2 bus=bus_2.1.2 conn=Delta kv= 4.16 kva=2000 %r=0.5 winding 2) equal to 6.
For each winding, specify the type of connection (wye or
delta), to which bus it is connected (bus_1 or bus_2), the
voltage, the apparent power and the percent resistance.
New Monitor.M1 Element=Line.MyLine Terminal=1 Equivalent syntax for defining a default Monitor object
New Monitor.M1 Line.MyLine 1 connected to terminal 1 of the Line object named MyLine.
New Monitor.M1 Line.MyLine The default mode (0) captures Voltages and Currents in
Magnitude/Angle at the terminal.
Other monitor modes :
0: Voltages and Currents
1: Powers
2: Transformer taps (Transformer elements only)
plot profile phases=primary Various Plot Profile command examples. Requires an
plot profile phases=all Energymeter object at the head of the feeder.
plot profile phases=1
New EnergyMeter.voltage_profile element=Line.line_1 Define an energy meter for capturing the voltage profile
~ terminal=1 throughout the circuit (must be placed at the head of the
circuit).
Export p_byphase Export the power values by phase at each bus of the circuit
to a csv file.
Export losses Export the losses at each line of the circuit to a csv file
Export voltages Export the voltage values by phase at each bus of the circuit
to a csv file.
Export currents Export the current values by phase at each bus of the circuit
to a csv file.