The University of Glasgow will lend its data and digitisation expertise to SP Energy Networks to help tackle the UK’s energy network challenges.

Researchers from the institution will support three of energy provider’s projects. The company recently had nine of its initiatives funded for a combined £1.2 million as part of the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF).

The projects aim to support the SIF’s goal to transition to the UK to net zero, with the early trial stage assessing the effectiveness of the solutions.

The University of Glasgow will support three solutions.

The first is Flexible Heat, which is led by Professor Zhibin Yu of the university’s James Watt School of Engineering. This project will maximise the amount of flexibility available through domestic heat to reduce and smooth peak demand. It will demonstrate the technologies which may be deployed to achieve this including thermal storage technologies and smart control solutions.

Heat Balance will be led by Professor Gioia Falcone, also from the James Watt School of Engineering. The project aims to examine the international best practice and develop large-scale thermal storage as part of the overall energy systems landscape.

And in Predict4Resilience, led by Dr Jethro Browell of the School of Mathematics and Statistics, researchers will combine state-of-the-art ensemble weather forecasting products with novel statistical post-processing. This will see the project produce actionable forecasts of weather-related network faults and outages up to two weeks ahead.

Vice Principal for Research at the University of Glasgow Professor Chris Pearce said: “We’re pleased to be partnering with SP Energy Networks to apply our expertise in energy engineering and data analysis to these projects, which aim to tackle some of the most important challenges we will face in the years to come.

“We have our own ambitious agenda to tackle climate change, including setting a target to achieve net-zero by 2030, and we have a broad range of research currently underway which will help find new ways to mitigate and adapt to our changing planet.

“These projects are a great example of how we are working to turn fundamental research into partnerships which have a real impact.”

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The Strategic Innovation Fund is currently in its ‘Discovery’ phase for each project, where proposed solutions to industry challenges are assessed.

Until the end of April 2022, project teams will frame the challenge, quantify the benefits of their proposed solution, engage with key users and then identify the most cost-effective way to deliver it.

Director of Processes and Technology at SP Energy Networks Graham Campbell said: “This significant investment from the Strategic Innovation Fund shows the critical role innovation plays in us achieving net zero.

“These nine projects are a culmination of several months of collaboration across the industry to drive change. In 2021 we engaged with over 100 stakeholders, which has led to us now working with 27 partners including academics, industry experts, solutions providers and product delivery partners.

“These projects are being delivered by our industry, and we’re committed to working with parties of all sizes in the wider SIF portfolio, continuing to give opportunity to SMEs.”

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