Our SIF Projects

Funding Phase: SIF Beta Round 1
Project Timeline: July 2023 – December 2026
Strategy Themes: Whole energy systems
Project Partners: The National HVDC Centre, The Carbon Trust, National Grid ESO, The University of Edinburgh, SuperGrid Institute, Mott MacDonald

Offshore wind will play a leading role in the transition to net zero, with as much as 100GW required to deliver 2050 net zero targets.  This will require the development of HVDC grids to connect and transport offshore wind from source, increasingly further offshore, to areas of demand.

To support the development of HVDC grids there is a need to demonstrate the capability of DC Circuit Breakers (DCCBs). Circuit breakers, which already exist on the onshore AC network, minimise the impact of faults, allowing power to keep flowing elsewhere on the network.

The Network DC project aims to advance the readiness of the technology for implementation on the GB system, to enable the development of offshore DC networks which cannot exist without DCCBs.

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Funding Phase: SIF Beta Round 1
Project Timeline: July 2023 – October 2024
Strategy Themes: Whole energy systems
Project Partners: National Grid ESO, University of Strathclyde, The Carbon Trust

With the increasing capacity of offshore wind, innovation is required to facilitate the rapid roll-out of this intermittent generation to support grid balancing and address stability challenges. Without this, the GB grid will become weaker which will lead to issues in system operation including, increasing the likelihood of blackouts and maintaining reliance on fossil fuel generators.

Project Incentive will investigate new solutions to address this through demonstrating the use of innovative voltage, current and frequency control technologies coupled with energy storage at the point of onshore connection of offshore wind farms, to allow offshore wind farms to stabilise the onshore grid.

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Funding Phase: SIF Alpha Round 2
Project Timeline: October 2023 – April 2024
Strategy Themes: Net zero and the energy system transition
Project Partners: The National HVDC Centre, University of Strathclyde, National Grid ESO

INSIGHT addresses SIF Innovation Challenge 2 Theme 2 "Novel ways to reliably support low stability systems" by developing innovations in technology and standards that help the power system be ready for Net Zero by 2035. INSIGHT seeks to understand, classify, predict, and define actions to manage potential new forms of instability (e.g oscillations in voltage, power and/or frequency) on a system dominated by power electronic sources (such as wind generation, HVDC converters, STATCOMs etc). The overall aim is to create a virtual, real-time alert and control system that can highlight oscillatory instabilities on the network and then automatically inform control actions required to dampen/remove them.

INSIGHT will also recommend to industry new standards and codes to manage these emerging stability risks.

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Funding Phase: SIF Alpha Round 2
Project Timeline: October 2023 – April 2024
Strategy Themes: Net zero and the energy system transition
Project Partners: Icebreaker One, Olsights, MapStand, SGN, National Grid Electricity Transmission

REACT is fully aligned with SIF Challenge 3 Scope 2, which aims to strengthen the UK's energy system robustness to support the efficient roll out of new infrastructure.

REACT is an innovative tool that will provide the ability to visualise connection requests in real-time, outline the impact they have on the grid and provide the optimal location to site connections on the network.

This will help manage the large increase in connection requests expected on the network by allowing developers to review the impact of their request and identify alternative solutions, saving time and resources. This will prevent the network from becoming overloaded, as each connection will be placed strategically, in turn helping improve the system's ability to withstand shocks.

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Funding Phase: SIF Alpha Round 2
Project Timeline: October 2023 - April 2024
Strategy Themes: Optimised assets and practices
Project Partners: Palantir, Icebreaker One, IBM, SSEN Distribution

The limitations of current weather and climate (meteorological) data mean that it is impossible to predict, with any great degree of accuracy, the impact that weather events and climate change will have on the individual assets that make up our electricity networks across their lifetime.

NIMBUS will revolutionise the way detailed meteorological data and models are used in the design and decision-making of electricity assets, through innovative uses of the data and predictive modelling techniques.

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Funding Phase: SIF Discovery Round 2 - Completed
Project Timeline: Apr 2023 – Jul 2023
Strategy Themes: Whole energy systems

SECURE aims to strengthen the UK’s energy system and support efficient and timely installation of new high voltage direct current (HVDC) infrastructure to realise a Net Zero energy system.

Demand for HVDC connections is growing rapidly across Europe for grid reinforcements such as the Eastern HVDC links, interconnectors and offshore wind connections. Globally, the HVDC Cables Market size exceeded $10billion in 2021 and is anticipated to reach annual deployment of 18,000 km by 2030, with c1,300km for GB grid reinforcements.

The robustness, capability and capacity of the supply chain to support this HVDC infrastructure will be a critical factor in this growth. HVDC supply chains are a complex flow of materials and goods through a global network of suppliers and sub-suppliers. De-risking the HVDC cables supply chain will enable Transmission Owners (TOs) to successfully deliver new HVDC infrastructure whilst reducing delay and costs risks.  

SECURE will utilise digital solutions that can provide TOs with greater visibility over the HVDC cable supply chain.  This is expected to take the form of a Digital Supply Chain Hub (DSCH), giving real time visibility over the supply chain along with competing levels of demand. The DSCH will be developed using XLPE as a use case to bring rapid results in Alpha, extended to the full HVDC cable system in Beta and beyond that, applied to wider HVDC component parts & systems.

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Funding Phase: SIF Discovery Round 3
Project Timeline: March 2024 – May 2024
Strategy Themes: Whole system planning
Project Partners: University of Strathclyde, National Grid Electricity Transmission, National Grid ESO, Met Office, Gilytics, EnergyLine

To ensure transmission networks are maximising their current infrastructure for the transition to net zero, the REVISE project will be revisiting the calculation process for assigning overhead line ratings. This process currently uses historical environmental data captured in the 1980’s and does not take into consideration local/regional climate variations.

Improving industry understanding of line ratings, using up-to-date high-resolution weather data combined with the latest techniques for system modelling, will allow for improved targeted investment to ensure networks meet the demand for the connection of new renewables, securing a safer and greener future.

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Funding Phase: SIF Discovery Round 3
Project Timeline: March 2024 - May 2024
Strategy Themes: Whole system planning
Project Partners: National Grid Electricity Transmission, National Grid ESO, The Carbon Trust

The BluePrint project is looking to develop innovative and collaborative solutions to overcome the uncertainties of connecting offshore wind farms to areas of the UK network that are constrained.

The project will build on National Grid ESO’s Network Holistic Design, aiming to better understand how the future network will be delivered and to accelerate connection times for bringing renewable energy onto the transmission network across the UK to reach net zero targets.

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Funding Phase: SIF Discovery Round 3
Project Timeline: March 2024 - May 2024
Strategy Themes: Net zero and the energy system transition
Project Partners: National Grid Electricity Transmission, UK Power Networks, National Physical Laboratory (NPL)

The shift from fossil fuels to new sources of renewable power such as wind, solar, and battery storage presents challenges in ensuring network stability due to fluctuations in levels of generation. To secure a net-zero grid, network operators need to monitor system strength conditions to implement mitigation measures. At present, neither the requirements for system strength monitoring nor the possible hardware and digital solutions are well defined.

SYSMET is bringing together leading experts to create a pathway for implementing innovative tools that provide a comprehensive insight into system strength.

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