University partnerships to help decarbonise electricity grid

Teams from Cardiff, Edinburgh, Exeter, Manchester, Southampton and Strathclyde Universities will work with NGET colleagues on topics related to NGET’s work maintaining the electricity network in England, Scotland and Wales.

The five-year partnerships are intended to help enable the transition to a cleaner electricity system through knowledge sharing and creation of a culture of innovation, both between NGET and individual universities and as an entire collective.

The collaborations will also focus on new approaches to NGET’s day-to-day management of the network, calling on the knowledge and expertise of the universities to ensure a continued focus on resilience and security of supply. Other focus areas include low-emissions technologies and new power electronics applications, as well as increasing the digitalisation of the power system, through the use of artificial intelligence and data management and analysis.

The partnerships will help to develop and deliver projects in the following areas:
> Electricity transmission network asset design, operation and maintenance;
> Power system modelling and simulation;
> Power electronics applications for electricity transmission networks;
> Digitalisation of power system including data management and analysis, robotics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence applications for transmission networks;
> Energy system decarbonisation including low-emission technologies and whole system modelling.

Nicola Todd, NGET’s head of strategy and innovation, commented: “Innovation will be crucial in helping to achieve a safe, resilient and decarbonised electricity system. Collaborations such as these will enable us to move faster and further, unlocking new technologies, processes and systems that will make our network cleaner, at the same time as driving costs down for consumers.”