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Projects: Projects for Investigator
Reference Number	NIA_SSEN_0053
Title	Future Control Room
Status	Completed
Energy Categories	Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research 80%; Other Power and Storage Technologies(Electricity transmission and distribution) 20%;
Research Types	Applied Research and Development 100%
Science and Technology Fields	PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Computer Science and Informatics) 80%; ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) 20%;
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation	Not Cross-cutting 100%
Principal Investigator	Project Contact No email address given Scottish and Southern Energy plc
Award Type	Network Innovation Allowance
Funding Source	Ofgem
Start Date	01 January 2021
End Date	01 April 2022
Duration	ENA months
Total Grant Value	£445,000
Industrial Sectors	Power
Region	Scotland
Programme	Network Innovation Allowance
Investigators	Principal Investigator	Project Contact , Scottish and Southern Energy plc (100.000%)
	Industrial Collaborator	Project Contact , Scottish and Southern Energy plc (0.000%)
Web Site	https://smarter.energynetworks.org/projects/NIA_SSEN_0053
Objectives	The overall aim of the project is to explore how a simulated control environment could be used to develop an optimal design and provide a supporting roadmap for a future control room. This will include development and identification of the preferred platform architecture and associated technologies. This will enable an environment which can safely explore a wide range of network scenarios, simulate extreme operating conditions and safely research the utilisation and integration of new data sources and analytical techniques. The project will be structured around three work streams: WS1 – Requirements Capture and Stakeholder Engagement WS2 – Development of Requirement Specification WS3 – Business Impacts and Future Recommendations In WS1 a series of workshops will be arranged to engage with key stakeholders (ESO, GB DNOs, OEMs, SMEs, and academia) and identify existing and new use cases for the simulated control room. These will capture current and future whole system operational needs and enable a prioritisation to be made for the subsequent project tasks. These use cases will enable a series of anticipated future control room operational scenarios to be populated, providing a high-level outlook of potential scope and service requirements. A first assessment on how todays control room would perform in future scenarios will be completed with support from operational control engineers from GB DNOs. This will enable the project team to identify key constraints and dependencies. WS1 will include a market engagement exercise to develop an understanding of currently available technologies, systems and facilities and gain a deeper understanding of suppliers product development strategies. This WS will also include work to ensure alignment with wider industry initiatives such as the BEIS funded Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Prospering from the Energy Revolution Programme, Open Networks and the National Cyber Security Centre. Furthermore, this WS will define and understand the complex/challenging operational scenarios that will occur in the future that the current control room may be unable to manage. WS2 will define the functionalities of the future control room including an assessment of the value of advanced functionalities (such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)), which are driven by increased volumes of data streams, and how their value can be maximised. This WS will also identify the architecture of the platform that will host the future control room and the technologies that will support it. Furthermore, the team will define how the functionalities work together (interoperability) including their interfaces. Utilising knowledge from WS1 (use cases & future operational scenarios) and WS2 (technical requirements/functionalities and an analysis of the capabilities of existing innovation facilities that could simulate the UK electricity network), a preferred technical design option for the Future Control Room simulator will be proposed for future development.WS3 will look at the development of the operational and research work programme for the Future Control Room simulator to ensure that the outputs are robust and reliable and can provide enough evidence to inform future DNO Control Room design and operation. The outcome of this WS will be an assessment of how effectively the proposed Future Control Room simulator design will assess, de-risk and implement new control room solutions to manage the scenarios defined in WS1. Furthermore, this workstream will also look at the development of an initial roadmap for the proposed control room simulator with an associated short, medium and long-term innovation programme. As described above, the project will be delivered in three workstreams. The project will consider the requirements, the high-level architecture, operational need, and business impact of developing a future control room simulated environment. The outputs will include an initial roadmap and architectural design for the future control room simulator, as well as outline a proposed programme of works for the simulators initial operational period. This NIA project will also make recommendations for future development, further work required, use cases and user requirements for the proposed simulator to assess its viability and ongoing benefits to the electricity industry. The project has the following key objectives: Capture the requirements from a range of internal and external stakeholders for a future control room. Identify a range of existing and new use cases, create a set of future scenarios and perform a first assessment on how todays control room will need to adapt to be able to perform in these future scenarios.Establish a preferred option, design, and requirements specification for a potential future control room simulator that will be used to simulate the requirements and future scenarios identified in objectives 1 & 2.Capture the current and future functionalities and requirements of technology vendors and suppliers.Demonstrate affordability and fundability of the preferred solution through the development of a robust financial business case. Develop a roadmap for the facility with an associated short, medium and long-term innovation programme. This roadmap will extend beyond the build of a digital twin of the GB electricity network and will clearly highlight the critical path to enabling the DSO transition.
Abstract	The project will consider the requirements, the high-level architecture, operational need, and business impact of developing a future control room simulated environment. The outputs will include an initial roadmap and architectural design for the future control room simulator, as well as outline a proposed programme of works for the simulators initial operational period. This NIA project will also make recommendations for future development, further work required, use cases and user requirements for the proposed simulator to assess its viability and ongoing benefits to the electricity industry.
Publications	(none)
Final Report	(none)
Added to Database	02/11/22