Openlayers 3: Select a feature programmatically

Question

I am trying to upgrade my system from Openlayers 2 to Openlayers 3 and I have having one particular issue that I cannot seem to figure out.

My application has a grid and

Answer 1

var selectInteraction = new ol.interaction.Select(}); 
map.addInteraction(selectInteraction);

function highlightFeature(feat){
   selectInteraction.getFeatures().push(feat);
   selectInteraction.dispatchEvent({
      type: 'select',
      selected: [feat],
      deselected: []
   });
}

works like a char on latest openlayers 4.5