Background:

Durham Energy Institute is a world leader in smart energy systems and communications, attracting researchers, partners and funding from across the globe. Our state of the art Smart Grids Laboratory provides researchers and industry partners access to the latest research and analysis facilities on machine learning around smarter energy systems.

Durham Energy Institute has collaborated with a range of partners including EDF, EON, Scottish Power, ABB, PB Power, AREVA, Northern Powergrid.

Durham’s smart grid research covers a wide variety of research topics including mathematical modelling and statistics, power systems optimisation and control, ICT-power system integration and demand side management. Examples include:

ICT-Power System Integration: We develop scalable ICT networks to handle massive quantities of smart grid data, and test them in the Smart Grid Laboratory.

Power Electronics: We investigate the ability of local DC networks to improve the overall reliability and flexibility of future power networks.

Demand Response: We study the role of aggregators in the energy market, and develop multi-objective optimisation algorithms capable of empowering various market actors including consumers.

DEI multidisciplinary research also focuses on the emergence and critique of ‘smart’ energy systems and seeks to understand how this relates to broader shifts in systems of infrastructure service provision. The research seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the extent to which Smart can assist in planning, managing and facilitating future energy systems that are flexible, complex and uncertain. It also looks at the extent to which Smart can include emerging technologies, societal participation at reasonable cost and security.

Key Research areas:.

Power Systems:

• Modelling and Optimization
• Renewable Generation Integration
• Power Electronics: We investigate the ability of local DC networks to improve the overall reliability and flexibility of future power networks.
• Energy Storage Systems
• Demand Side Management
• Smart Metering & Data Mining
• Demand Response: We study the role of aggregators in the energy market, and develop multi-objective optimisation algorithms capable of empowering various market actors including consumers

ICT System:

• ICT-Power System Integration (developing scalable ICT networks to handle massive quantities of smart grid data)
• Wireless Communications
• Power Line Communications
• Big Data Analysis
• Internet of Things
• Intelligent decision making and control.

Smart Home/Building:

• Home Energy Management
• Energy Efficiency Improvement
• Energy hub/ virtual power plant

Smart Cities:

• Charging & Management Algorithms
• Vehicle to Power Grid Integration (Including Vehicle charging)

Green Vehicles:

Facilities

Durham Smart Grid Laboratory hosts a low-voltage network and a wide range of low carbon technologies. It has been designed to enable research on the solutions to resolve network constraints driven by the transition to a low carbon economy.

The Laboratory consists of an experimental low voltage distribution network, 2 Real Time Digital Simulators (RTDS Novacor and RTDS PB5), a Photovoltaic  emulation system, a wind turbine emulation system, an Electrical Energy Storage, an Electric Vehicle and charging station, an Air Source Heat Pump, smart meters, wireless sensor networks testing kits, and a software-defined radio platform (inc. 5 USRPs). 

Key people

Featured Projects

• Testbed2 a European Union funded, Horizon2020 staff exchange project involving 17 partners from Europe, China and the US. The project aims to encourage the knowledge exchange of best practices in the design and implementation of smart grid and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies between academic and industrial sectors (Dr Hongjian Sun).
• Ubiquitous Storage Empowering Response (USER) project, seeks to unlock the ‘prosumer’ role in the domestic sector and enable Innovative Domestic Demand Side Response by means of Artificial Intelligence-led hot water tanks (Dr Hongjian Sun).
• National Centre for Energy Systems Integration Looking for the first time at the energy system as a whole; gas, power, renewables, heating and cooling, the centre will pave the way to a flexible smart infrastructure, to help empower customers, understand future supply and demand, directly address energy security risk and reduce carbon emissions (Prof Simon Hogg, Prof Jon Gluyas, Prof Tony Roskilly, Prof Simone Abram, Prof Michael Goldstein).
• SmarterEMC2 Smarter Grid: Empowering SG Market Actors through information and communication technologies (Value of €3.7m, and in part from EPSRC and our industrial partners). Scalable communication solutions to support ICT tools for smartgrid services (Dr. Sun is Work Package Leader in the H2020 Project consortium).
• Towards Joint Power-Communication System Modelling and Optimisation for Smart Grid Application: Virtual Power Plant (TOPMOST) project: This EPSRC funded project led by Dr Sun focuses on developing the key smart grid application Virtual Power Plant (VPP).
• DecarboN8 project; an EPSRC funded network seeking to bring together business, government and academia across the North of England to create an innovation ecosystem and test bed environment which allows us to trial and accelerate the adoption of low carbon transport solutions.
• EU ERDF "SWIi" project;
• GCRF Networking "Seednet" project.

Completed Projects:

• Testing and Evaluating Sophisticated information and communication Technologies for enabling a smartEr grid (Testbed) project: TESTBED is a major interdisciplinary consortium project coordinated by Dr Sun at Durham and funded by the EU H2020 MSCA-RISE. It focuses on building and testing sophisticated ICT to facilitate the successful implementation of smart grid applications.
• Customer-led Network Revolution, (CLNR) A major £53M project awarded by Ofgem in the Low Carbon Network Fund initiative (Ofgem, Northern Powergrid, British Gas, EA Technology)
• High Energy And Power Density Solutions to Large Energy Deficits Studying the interface between local DC networks and the main AC power system (Behzad Kazemtabrizi & Mahmoud Shahbazi)
• Investigating the Role of Energy Storage Systems in Smart Grids project (Electricity North West)
• Modelling of battery storage systems for short-term operational planning studies - Energy Storage for Low Carbon Grids
• Autonomic Power System Project with the value of £3.4m. Developing methods for analysis and control of highly decentralised power systems (Manolis Loukarakis, Jiangjiao Xu, Antony Lawson, Michael Goldstein)
• Mathematical Foundations for Energy Networks Developing new mathematical approaches to managing complexity and uncertainty in future energy networks (Rui Carvalho)
• SmarterEMC2 Scalable communication solutions to support ICT tools for smartgrid services (Hongjian Sun)
• Energy Storage Operating Strategies and Deployment, Low Carbon Networks Tier 1 (UK Power Networks, ABB)
• Mathematical Foundations for Energy Networks: buffering, storage and transmission (EPSRC, Heriot Wat University, Cambridge University)
• Interdisciplinary Cluster on Energy Systems, Equity and Vulnerability (ESRC/EPSRC, Kings College London, Lancaster University)
• Real Time Ratings and Thermal State Estimation for Electrical Distribution Networks (ScottishPower, Infoterra)
• Multi Agent Systems for Decentralised Control of Future Low Voltage Networks (EON)
• Investigation into Electrical Distribution Network Risk (Northen Powergrid)
• Demand Side Participation, a Socio-Technical Approach (CE Electric UK)
• Energy Storage for Low Carbon Grids Valuation of storage at whole system level, including in day-to-day operation, security of supply, and markets (Gruff Edwards, Sarah Sheehy & Matthias Troffaes)
• Pumped Thermal Energy Storage Technology specific modelling of thermal energy storage for power system optimisation applications (Chiara Bordin, Ahmad Ibrahim and Behzad Kazemtabrizi)
• Uncertainty in large scale energy systems models Statistical analysis to give better links between large scale techno-economic models and real energy systems, with the aim of better policy decision making (Michael Goldstein)
• The Autonomic Power System Developing methods for analysis and control of highly decentralised power systems (Manolis Loukarakis, Jiangjiao Xu, Antony Lawson, Michael Goldstein)
• Mathematical Foundations for Energy Networks Developing new mathematical approaches to managing complexity and uncertainty in future energy networks (Rui Carvalho)