As Great Britain aims for Net Zero, Inverter-Based Resources (IBRs) are vital for network operations, but their power electronics (PEs) present challenges for grid resilience and capacity utilisation due to unpredictable degradation. This causes operators to under-utilise thermal capacity, leading to inefficiencies and premature replacements. Traditional sensors fail to provide reliable condition information in the electro-magnetic interference (EMI) environment of PE switches. By combining advanced sensing technologies with AI/ML-driven digital twin analytics, operators can enhance asset management strategies and provide better insights on the condition of these assets, ultimately saving costs for the network and consumers.

Alpha phase will expand on learnings from Discovery which reviewed the need of outages to maintain the reliable and resilient networks. Outages cause operational issues and constraints costs which can be lessened by usage of Live Line Working (LLW) enabling better asset health/management​. Reliability and economic impacts of LLW including different down-selected technology/design/tool/procedures will be explored for both new and existing assets. Framework for LLW will be explored with stakeholder engagement and dead-circuit demonstration. Outcomes of DELLTA will investigate LLW-included design for new assets, reduce risks associated with live-circuit demonstration in Beta phase and adaption in T3/T4 for existing assets.

Rural communities face challenges in decarbonising heating systems are more vulnerable to climate change impacts and more likely to be Worst Served Customers (WSCs). Decarbonising these areas could increase electricity demand, exacerbating resilience issues, especially for WSC. Strengthening the electricity network in these areas would be expensive and take time, so alternative solutions are needed. SHARED will explore the potential of low-cost hydrogen production and storage as a solution to improve the resilience of these communities. The project will assess how effective this approach could be and identify the specific needs of rural communities.

Electrical grid owners regularly perform complex repairs and maintenance tasks to make sure the network is reliable. However, many of the complex operations require outages, and this can put a pressure on the rest of the electrical network and its future development. Live Line working can relieve this pressure, however electrical infrastructure is currently not built with Live Line working in mind, thus making it hard to deploy this service in most locations. Project DELLTA will look to understand if HV assets and infrastructure can be designed with Live Line working as a key parameter from the outset.

Increasing flexibility is required on energy networks to manage changing demand and generation patterns. This includes reducing power consumption at system peaks (e.g. winter teatimes); and increasing power consumption at certain times to take advantage of renewable energy availability. Consumers can benefit from providing flexibility, through reductions in their bills and/or receiving payments for providing services to the network. However, the current offerings and their benefits are most easily accessed by more affluent and engaged consumers. Equiflex aims to remove barriers to accessing these benefits, ensuring no customers are left behind, enabling a just transition to Net Zero.

Superconducting systems have five to ten times higher power density than the equivalent voltage conductor, meaning they deliver higher capacity at lower voltage levels and via a lower number of routes. This will allow faster network capacity increase, delivering time, cost, and carbon savings. Superconducting systems can also deliver a reduction in energy losses to virtually zero and ultimately realise greater environmental and health benefits. This project aims to investigate these systems in more detail, outlining their operational requirements, technical risks, and next steps in overcoming these barriers for use on the GB grid.

Fractal Flow (FF) addresses challenges for both the National Grid Electricity System Operator (NGESO) and Distribution Network Operators (DNOs). NGESO currently has limited visibility of aggregated demand forecasts, services availability, and headroom at and below Grid Supply Points (GSPs). As DNOs shift to flexible demand and supply services, FF provides crucial insights to manage network dynamics and avoid conflicts caused by Active Network Management (ANM) systems. By enhancing real-time data access and network visibility with accompanying data analytics, FF aims to better utilise Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), promote low-carbon technologies to reduce CO2 emissions and optimise operations reducing curtailment costs.

This project aims to revolutionise wind propulsion technology by developing a novel 24.5-meter tall, 3.5-meter diameter Rotor Sail design tailored for vessels predominantly operating in UK, European, and North Atlantic waters. Our innovative design incorporates advanced features aimed at optimising Rotor Sail performance and cost effectiveness. To bolster confidence in the seamless integration of these innovative Rotor Sails onto vessels, we will develop and build a full-scale demonstrator in the UK. This platform will serve as a rigorous test bed to comprehensively assess and mitigate risks associated with innovative design elements, particularly the internal mechanical components. Rigorous testing will subject the new designs to high loads and rotational speeds, with comprehensive thermal and dynamic instrumentation providing critical data for thorough performance analysis. Experts at Frazer Nash Consultancy will conduct dynamic analyses throughout the design phase, allowing us to compare the demonstrator's measured performance with that of the final Rotor Sail design. Over the course of this 12-month project, we will design, manufacture and test the demonstrator, and produce a complete design for a 3.5-meter Rotor Sail ready for production in the UK to exploit the market for wind propulsion on vessels sailing on the European and North Atlantic routes. Our project also encompasses a desk-based certification process involving two representative vessels within our target local market, both incorporating the new 3.5-meter Rotor Sail. This initiative, led by Stehr Consulting Ltd and Lloyds Register, leverages their extensive combined regulatory expertise, considering both Flag State and Class perspectives. Additionally, UK-based vessel operator Victoria Steamship will offer invaluable insights and vessel specifications, serving as both a product end-user and a potential facilitator for trials on one of their bulk carriers. To gain a deeper understanding of the market landscape, Connected Places Catapult will undertake comprehensive market research to quantify the UK, European and transatlantic market potential for the new Rotor Sail. Furthermore, with technical support from Frazer-Nash, they will conduct supply chain research to identify specific UK companies with the requisite capabilities and infrastructure for manufacturing, assembly, and commissioning of Rotor Sails and installation onto vessels. Their study will also explore the combination of Rotor Sails and future fuels, providing critical evidence of Rotor Sail technology's pivotal role in enabling net-zero shipping without compromising productivity.

One of the biggest challenges facing the railway industry is the complex process of planning and possession management. The logistics of diverting, blocking, or closing sections of track can have implications across the network. As the rail timetable becomes more congested, with increased services, there is more potential for disruption and less obvious times for possession. Delays on main-lines could result in huge fines, consequently delivering works and handing back possession on-time is vital. In 2020/21, NR spent £1.6bn on enhancements, £1.9bn on maintenance, and £3.2bn on renewals (Office of Rail and Road, 2021). This translates into thousands of engineering works, most of these require possessions to allow safe, traffic-free worksites for maintenance activities (e.g. remedial works, inspections, maintenance and planned renewals). Possessions result in both planned and unplanned disruption. Unplanned disruption can occur for many reasons; machine faults, access issues, staff planning, or wrong engineering train arrangement - all demonstrating the complexity of planning possessions. Getting staff and equipment to worksites on time and minimising travelling distances are critical efficiency requirements. The barriers to this are mutual road and rail points, staff numbers and equipment types. Furthermore, engineering trains typically start in sidings which may be in remote locations due to available sidings being occupied during large possession works. Consequently, this cause issues in both timetabling and plans that ensure that engineering trains reach worksites at the correct time and in the correct formation. With increasing traffic and reducing availability of possessions this problem is likely to be further exacerbated. Network Rail have identified a requirement to develop solutions for planning procedures such that possession efficiency is increased, resulting in the delivery of infrastructure maintenance work with minimal disruption and cost. Combining Frazer-Nash's deep experience in optimisation of railway challenges and eviFile's possession management solution, we will innovate to develop a product that will support rapid planning and replanning of possessions through the application of optimisation and ML algorithms to identify potential optimal plans. Using wide-ranging railway possessions data we will research and adapt algorithms that will consider (for example) multiple scenarios, locations and types of work, and optimise and efficiently manage resources to ensure minimal impact to infrastructure traffic and capacity. This will deliver possessions more efficiently, help plan work-activities during possessions more precisely, manage infrastructure access more efficiently, allow tasks to be planned more efficiently, and predict the impact of possessions on overall network performance more accurately.

Wind farm control is now an established concept, and the industry is beginning to see full-scale demonstration projects and commercialisation of the R&D findings. These so far centre on yaw misalignment and induction control. An important given is that the communication and control technology exists to control wind turbines as a collective; what is lacking in going further with wind farm control is sufficient quantified understanding of the atmospheric physics drivers on wind farm performance. Recent work on Blockage Effects has advanced that understanding, and provided a suite of modelling tools for yield prediction. In particular, the role of temperature gradient in the atmosphere is much better understood. This project will explore the potential for increasing energy yield by controlling a wind farm differently, by responding to the natural variation of the thermal boundary layer. The project will make use of the very latest expertise and tools emerging from the international community's research and development investment in offshore wind. Should the performance improvement anticipated be realised in modelling, it is expected that the offshore wind owner-operator community will eagerly proceed to full scale trial on real wind farms.

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The CAST 2 project will research, develop and test new mesh generation, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), computational aero-acoustics (CAA) and optimisation technology, in order to deliver a competitive advantage to the aerodynamic design and analysis capability of UK industry, and to maintain UK world class expertise in development and application of aerodynamics technology. This objective is achieved through close partnership between multiple partners in industry, research organisations and universities in the UK. CAST 2 builds on the successful partnership and collaboration created in CAST 1, taking the CFD/optimisation technology to a new level of capability and maturity, bringing in CAA development, facilitating greater technology transfer through inclusion of university partners and widening the industrial exploitation to six partners including two partners exploiting the technology in non-aerospace sectors. Exploitation of this technology significantly enhances; transport design for low environmental impact, financial exploitation to improve partner competitiveness, UK position in aerodynamic design capability.