Developing Scalable Smart Grid Infrastructure to Enable Secure Transmission System Control
Lead Research Organisation:
Brunel University London
Department Name: Electronic and Computer Engineering
Abstract
In the UK, as the GB transmission operator, National Grid has established the 'Gone Green' scenario, which results in 35% of UK electricity being sourced from renewable energy sources by 2020, such as intermittent and highly variable wind power for example, compared with about 6-7% today. Therefore, in the UK National Grid will face significant operational challenges over the next decade and beyond. Similarly in the Guangzhou province of China there now already exists one of the most technologically advanced and operationally complex transmission systems in the world. From 2005 onwards China Southern Power Grid has already experienced operationally complex challenges due to the impact of large-scale renewable energy source deployment on the transmission system.
It is clear that similar operational challenges, as faced in the UK by the GB transmission system operator, are also being faced by transmission network operators in China and also in other parts of the world. Decision making in transmission system control centres is becoming more complex and control room actions are required in reducing timescales and with greater reliance on more accurate risk assessment in the future in order to enable optimal operation of transmission systems.
The proposed collaborative interdisciplinary smart grids research will investigate and develop scalable tools on secure high performance computing platforms that support large-scale, interoperable near to real-time data processing and data mining methods.
Novel near to real-time simulation techniques and computational analysis will be investigated with regard to deployment and performance at high computational speeds, using novel scalable tools and infrastructure such as trusted cloud computing platforms or dedicated cluster computing platforms. Recent developments in secure cloud computing that exploit improved processor, chipset and platform-level security will be investigated and developed to provide protected computational environments such that critical applications cannot be compromised.
The novel smart grid tools and techniques that will be developed in this project can provide and support much faster actions to securely control more complex transmission systems in shorter time scales and therefore accommodate greater renewable energy sources on an operational basis in such future transmission systems.
Transmission system operators in the UK, China and other parts of the world will benefit considerably from the future availability of such scalable, high performance and secure tools when operating more complex future transmission systems that accommodate greater amounts of renewable energy resources in 2020 and beyond, as they will be able to securely accommodate larger amounts of intermittent renewable energy sources and thereby enable the decarbonisation of the electricity supply industry in line with 2020 targets.
It is clear that similar operational challenges, as faced in the UK by the GB transmission system operator, are also being faced by transmission network operators in China and also in other parts of the world. Decision making in transmission system control centres is becoming more complex and control room actions are required in reducing timescales and with greater reliance on more accurate risk assessment in the future in order to enable optimal operation of transmission systems.
The proposed collaborative interdisciplinary smart grids research will investigate and develop scalable tools on secure high performance computing platforms that support large-scale, interoperable near to real-time data processing and data mining methods.
Novel near to real-time simulation techniques and computational analysis will be investigated with regard to deployment and performance at high computational speeds, using novel scalable tools and infrastructure such as trusted cloud computing platforms or dedicated cluster computing platforms. Recent developments in secure cloud computing that exploit improved processor, chipset and platform-level security will be investigated and developed to provide protected computational environments such that critical applications cannot be compromised.
The novel smart grid tools and techniques that will be developed in this project can provide and support much faster actions to securely control more complex transmission systems in shorter time scales and therefore accommodate greater renewable energy sources on an operational basis in such future transmission systems.
Transmission system operators in the UK, China and other parts of the world will benefit considerably from the future availability of such scalable, high performance and secure tools when operating more complex future transmission systems that accommodate greater amounts of renewable energy resources in 2020 and beyond, as they will be able to securely accommodate larger amounts of intermittent renewable energy sources and thereby enable the decarbonisation of the electricity supply industry in line with 2020 targets.
Planned Impact
The major global challenge that is being directly addressed by this project is the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions to levels that have been set internationally in order to effectively minimise global warming up to 2050. A significant contribution to this challenge will be from the decarbonisation of the electricity supply industry at both national and international levels. Therefore, there is significant benefit to the wider public in general from this project.
From an electricity industry perspective National Grid has established the 'Gone Green' scenario, which results in 35% of UK electricity being sourced from renewable energy sources by 2020, such as wind power for example, compared with about 6-7% today. National Grid has proposed that reaching such targets in 2020, if combined with significant CO2 reduction contributions from the domestic heat sector and from the transport sector, could meet the UK agreed 15% European contribution target and also place the UK on the path towards the 80% carbon reduction target in 2050.
Therefore, in the UK National Grid as the GB electrical power transmission system operator will face significant operational challenges. Such a scenario will create more uncertainty for the system operator as bulk power flows across the GB transmission system become harder to predict and exhibit much greater variation over operational planning horizons as well as near to real-time operational time frames.
Similarly in the Guangzhou province of China there now already exists one of the most technologically advanced and operationally complex transmission systems in the world. From 2005 onwards China Southern Power Grid has already experienced operationally complex challenges such as increasing inter-area oscillations due to the impact of large-scale renewable energy source deployment on the stability of the transmission system.
Transmission system operators in the UK, China and globally will benefit considerably from the future availability of the scalable, high performance and secure tools when operating more complex future transmission networks that accommodate greater amounts of renewable energy resources in 2020 and beyond. Therefore, they will be able to avoid the costly 'constraining off' of large amounts of intermittent renewable energy sources and thereby enabling the most economic decarbonisation of the electricity supply industry in line with 2020 targets. This will also be of benefit to national (and international) regulators and policy makers when justifying, negotiating and agreeing operational and capital expenditure on future transmission systems.
In addition the research outputs of this project will be taken forward by the electricity industry in both the UK and China specifically by the members of the international Industry Advisory Panel (IAP). The IAP will participate in the three planned smart grid workshops and will also provide essential knowledge transfer, advice and guidance as transmission system operators in the UK and PRC as well as power systems and ICT manufacturers. The IAP includes National Grid, Intel and Alstom from the UK and China Southern Power Grid from China. The members represent a wide range of industry interest in smart grid technology; national transmission system operators (UK and PRC), international transmission system equipment and tools supplier (Alstom, UK) and international HPC hardware supplier (Intel, UK).
From an electricity industry perspective National Grid has established the 'Gone Green' scenario, which results in 35% of UK electricity being sourced from renewable energy sources by 2020, such as wind power for example, compared with about 6-7% today. National Grid has proposed that reaching such targets in 2020, if combined with significant CO2 reduction contributions from the domestic heat sector and from the transport sector, could meet the UK agreed 15% European contribution target and also place the UK on the path towards the 80% carbon reduction target in 2050.
Therefore, in the UK National Grid as the GB electrical power transmission system operator will face significant operational challenges. Such a scenario will create more uncertainty for the system operator as bulk power flows across the GB transmission system become harder to predict and exhibit much greater variation over operational planning horizons as well as near to real-time operational time frames.
Similarly in the Guangzhou province of China there now already exists one of the most technologically advanced and operationally complex transmission systems in the world. From 2005 onwards China Southern Power Grid has already experienced operationally complex challenges such as increasing inter-area oscillations due to the impact of large-scale renewable energy source deployment on the stability of the transmission system.
Transmission system operators in the UK, China and globally will benefit considerably from the future availability of the scalable, high performance and secure tools when operating more complex future transmission networks that accommodate greater amounts of renewable energy resources in 2020 and beyond. Therefore, they will be able to avoid the costly 'constraining off' of large amounts of intermittent renewable energy sources and thereby enabling the most economic decarbonisation of the electricity supply industry in line with 2020 targets. This will also be of benefit to national (and international) regulators and policy makers when justifying, negotiating and agreeing operational and capital expenditure on future transmission systems.
In addition the research outputs of this project will be taken forward by the electricity industry in both the UK and China specifically by the members of the international Industry Advisory Panel (IAP). The IAP will participate in the three planned smart grid workshops and will also provide essential knowledge transfer, advice and guidance as transmission system operators in the UK and PRC as well as power systems and ICT manufacturers. The IAP includes National Grid, Intel and Alstom from the UK and China Southern Power Grid from China. The members represent a wide range of industry interest in smart grid technology; national transmission system operators (UK and PRC), international transmission system equipment and tools supplier (Alstom, UK) and international HPC hardware supplier (Intel, UK).
Publications
Ashton P
(2015)
Inertia Estimation of the GB Power System Using Synchrophasor Measurements
in IEEE Transactions on Power Systems
Ashton P
(2013)
Novel application of detrended fluctuation analysis for state estimation using synchrophasor measurements
in IEEE Transactions on Power Systems
Chen C.
(2015)
Power system reliability analysis considering substation interior
in Dianli Zidonghua Shebei/Electric Power Automation Equipment
| Description | As the project is now finished we have now completed all the planned developments that were funded on this grant. Through this project we have made significant progress in terms of establishing strong research collaboration with high profile research partners in China with regard to the development of scalable and secure ICT infrastructure to enable smart power networks. The following outcomes have been achieved with regard to developing scalable smart grid infrastructure to enable secure transmission system control: Different types of HPC platforms adequate for power system applications have been reported and existing HPC technologies are described. A detailed review of existing and further potential areas of HPC application in power systems as reported over the last of 5 years. The application of the trusted cloud computing platform, Hadoop MapReduce, for the big data analytics in power system has been investigated, developed and implemented in order to evaluate its suitability in smart grid data processing and mining. Cluster-based stream computing technology with Hadoop has been critically evaluated and the stream computing platforms for real-time analysis of massive power system data have been investigated. Deployment of open standards such as IEC 61850 and Common Information Model (CIM) in order to integrate various applications in the power system and sharing the models and operating data have been investigated and presented. The key role of ICT infrastructures in the advancement of connectivity and interoperability within large scale power systems has been investigated in detail. Subsequent evaluation begins from inside substations and continues over wide areas from substations to control centre. Novel analysis methods for transient stability, small-signal stability and cascading outages have been investigated and presented. The advantages and disadvantages of the presented methods have been described in detail. The recent techniques and advancements of dynamic state estimation for power networks have been investigated. Dynamic state estimation or in other words real-time tracking of system dynamics. It has been clearly demonstrated through this research that such techniques represent significant promise with regards to the on-going large scale deployment of PMUs. The key references on the application of modern power system components to increase the dynamic security as well as new assessment and control schemes to improve the stability and security of the system have been reported. Full details are included in the final reports and deliverables that are available via the project web pages. |
| Exploitation Route | The findings are highly relevant to the development of scalable ICT infrastructure to enable smart grids at a global level beyond the UK and China. As a consequence of the research links that were established in this project further funding was obtained via the British Council Global Innovation Initiative to established UK, US and China research links also in the same area of research: Design and Development of International Electricity Highway Systems |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Energy |
| URL | http://www.brunel.ac.uk/cedps/electronic-computer-engineering/research-activities/bips/epsrc-smart-grids |
| Description | The major global challenge that has been addressed by this project is a significant contribution to the advancement scalable smart grid infrastructure that is required to enable secure transmission control in order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to levels that have been set internationally, both in the UK and China, in order to effectively minimise global warming up to 2050. In order to achieve the greenhouse reduction target, National Grid has established the 'Gone Green' scenario, which results in 35% of UK electricity being sourced from renewable energy sources by 2020. Accordingly, in the UK National Grid as the GB electrical power transmission system operator will face significant operational challenges. In this regard, scalable smart grid infrastructure will play an important role in order to enable secure transmission system control. With regard to achieving the proposed research objectives, Brunel, Tsinghua and Sichuan Universities have established collaborative research links with the High Performance Computing (HPC) hardware partner Intel. These collaborations have enabled the investigation, development and demonstration of novel smart grid tools and technologies on secure and scalable HPC platforms, which can significantly improve the situational awareness and risk mitigation. The research outputs of the project were taken forward by electricity industry partners in both the UK and China, specifically by the Industry Advisory Panel (IAP). In order to provide advice and guidance, the IAP participated in three workshops as follows: First EPSRC-NSFC Smart Grids Project Workshop, 15-18 July 2013, Brunel University London, UK Second EPSRC-NSFC Smart Grids Project Workshop, 11-17 July 2014, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China Third EPSRC-NSFC Smart Grids Project Workshop - October 2015, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China By participation in these workshops, the IAP could also benefit from a greater understanding of future opportunities for research collaboration and exploitation. In order to ensure that not only the key players involved in the project, but others in the relevant industrial and academic communities are informed of our work, a number of major international journals conferences were targeted in order to disseminate the research findings to the wider community. Detailed findings of the research project have been reported in a number of papers that have been presented at high profile international conferences, including 6 IEEE General Meeting papers. In addition, the initial findings have also contributed to papers that have been published in 6 IEEE transactions and all such publications are now publicly available. There are also 3 papers under preparation that will be submitted for publication in the relevant IEEE transactions. Full details of the published papers are included in the publication section of the research outcomes for this award. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
| Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Energy |
| Impact Types | Economic |
| Description | FP7 e-Highway2050 - Modular Development Plan of the Pan-European Transmission System 2050 |
| Amount | € 13,055,000 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | 282794 |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 09/2012 |
| End | 12/2015 |
| Description | Industry Sponsored (National Grid) EPSRC EngD Studentship - Exploiting Phasor Measurement Units for the Secure Operation and Control of Future GB Transmission Networks with High Levels of Wind Power |
| Amount | £56,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | National Grid UK |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2010 |
| End | 05/2014 |
| Description | Industry Sponsored (National Grid) EPSRC HubNet Project PhD Studentship - Investigating Scalable Computational Tools and Infrastructure to Enable Interoperable and Secure control of Large-scale Power Systems |
| Amount | £114,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | National Grid UK |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2013 |
| End | 09/2016 |
| Description | Industry Sponsored (National Grid) EPSRC PhD Studentship - Developing and deploying novel operational stability control systems for high voltage DC links, quadrature boosters and thyristor controlled series compensation |
| Amount | £56,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | National Grid UK |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2011 |
| End | 04/2015 |
| Description | Industry Sponsored (Open Grid Systems Ltd) Brunel Industrial Doctorate Scheme - Investigating data standardisation and modelling challenges to enable advanced analysis and visualisation applications for power systems |
| Amount | £129,500 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Open Grid Systems |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2014 |
| End | 07/2017 |
| Description | EPSRC-NSFC Smart Grids Project Workshop - October 2015, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Collaborators from the UK, China and the US were able to share and present research outcomes. Collaborators from the UK, China and the US were able to network with researchers at an international level. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | EPSRC-NSFC Smart Grids Project Workshop, 11-17 July 2014, Tsinghua University, Beijing |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Collaborators from the UK, China and the US were able to share and present research outcomes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | EPSRC-NSFC Smart Grids Project Workshop- Final Meeting, 14-16 December 2015, Brunel University London, UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Collaborators from the UK, China and the US were able to share and present research outcomes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | HubNet Energy Networks Research Forum 2014, Manchester, UK, 9-10 April 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presenting about the research and finding out about other projects |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | HubNet Smart Grids Symposium 2013, Cardiff, Uk, 18-19 September 2013 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presenting the research and finding out more about other projects |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | HubNet Smart Grids Symposium 2014, Glasgow , UK, 9-10 September 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presenting about the research and finding out more about other relevant projects |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | HubNet Smart Grids Symposium 2015, IET Austin Court Birmingham, 8-9 September 2015 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presenting about the research and finding out more about other relevant projects |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Institute of Energy Futures Industry Day, Brunel University London, 25 February 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Institute of Energy Futures Industry Day, Brunel University London, 25 February 2016 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | International Conference - 50th International Universities Power Engineering Conference, UPEC 2015, Setember 2015, Stafford, UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Over 15 papers were presented by Brunel University London, Sichuan University, Tsinghua University and National Grid. The researchers that are engaged in the EPSRC and BC GII projects were able to present their research to their peers and receive constructive advice and input to their on going research. The researchers attending and presenting at the conference were all able to benefit from networking with other researchers that were attending the conference from across Europe and outside. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.upec2015.com |
| Description | Research Meeting - UK CIM Workshop, October 2014, Brunel University London, UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Research collaborators from the UK, China, US, Belgium, Norway and Slovenia were able to present and share ongoing research concerning the adoption of CIM (Common Information Model) to enable greater interoperability between national and international electrical power networks. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Research Meeting - UK CIM Workshop, October 2015, Brunel University London, UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Research collaborators from the UK, China, US, Belgium, Norway and Slovenia were able to present and share on going research concerning the adoption of CIM (Common Information Model) to enable greater interoperability between national and international electrical power networks. All academic and industry researchers attending the workshop were able to establish greater research links and connections at both a national and international level. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.brunel.ac.uk/cedps/electronic-computer-engineering/research-activities/bips/uk-cim-worksh... |