Resilient Future Urban Energy Systems Capable of Surviving in Extreme Events (RESCUE)

Completed

Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research(Energy system analysis)
Other Power and Storage Technologies(Electricity transmission and distribution)
Other Power and Storage Technologies(Energy storage)

Basic and strategic applied research

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Computer Science and Informatics)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting
Systems Analysis related to energy R&D (Energy modelling)
Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Other sociological economical and environmental impact of energy)

Dr C Booth
Electronic and Electrical Engineering
University of Strathclyde

Standard

EPSRC

01 January 2020

30 September 2024

57 months

£742,388

Energy

Scotland

Energy : Energy

Dr C Booth, Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde

Dr S Blair, Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde
Professor V Terzija, Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of Manchester

Project Contact, Belectric
Project Contact, Scottish and Southern Energy plc
Project Contact, Scottish Power Renewables Ltd
Project Contact, ENA - Energy Networks Association
Project Contact, Synaptech Consultants Ltd
Project Contact, SP Energy Networks

The target of operating the GB system with net-zero carbon by 2025, alongside China's ambitious renewable of 35% of energy from renewable sources by 2030, are extremely challenging. From the recent UK power cut event (2019) , several other non-high profile (but still concerning) events that are known to the UK investigators, and the wide-scale blackouts caused by Typhoon Lekima in China, it is clear that new capabilities to manage extreme events and to maximise system resilience are needed urgently. Existing protection and control methods and practices have limitations, and presently islanded or city-centric operational modes are not permitted. The ambition of the project is to enable future urban energy systems, in island or multiple-island mode, with the capability of surviving in extreme conditions purely using local energy and storage resources without compromising system resilience or security of supply. The novelty of the project is in measurement and enhancement of resilience at an urban scale, and in fundamentally inverting operation, protection and control philosophies to enable migration from systems relying on centralised power stations and a national transmission system, to being capable of surviving purely with local sustainable sources, functioning in a proactive and co-ordinated approach. Key outputs of the project will be methods to audit, model and measure resilience of cities, and methods to determine and evaluate "threat levels" for future urban energy systems and their operation. Additionally, the project will develop control and protection strategies for operation in extreme conditions in islanded/sub-islanded modes, as well as develop enhanced restoration methods

15/11/21