Many countries around the world face an uncertain future over the next few decades as they move to greater electricity use and at the same time look to more intermittent low-carbon generation. India, which suffered numerous serious blackouts recently is already operating near the limits of its generation and network capacity and so provides an ideal case study for testing innovative solutions that can make power networks more resilient. The research outputs from this project will provide foresights into the development of low-carbon smart grids in India and the UK. Local Direct Current (DC) grids, supported by local storage and local renewables in residential and commercial buildings, are identified by RCUK and DST as the key enablers for demand reduction and demand flexibility (demand response). Compared with local AC grids, they have highly desirable features to provide a game-changing solution to meeting the UK and India's rising demand in a sustainable way. This is because at least 30% of our demand (mobile phones, computers, consumer electronics) is fundamentally DC consumptions [1], local DC grids can achieve 40% demand reduction by removing lossy DC to AC conversion and directly feed these demand with local renewables and local storage [2]. This electrical conversion saving is set to rise substantially when the use of electrical vehicles (EVs) -vehicle charging and discharging are inherently DC- and efficient DC lighting becomes widespread. Lighting is currently responsible for 19% of our domestic consumption [1], the EV use will increase our traditional consumption by more than 40% by year 2050 [3]. Secondly, when backed up by local energy storage and renewables, local DC grids can substantially increase demand flexibility, thus enabling users and grid operators to take greater advantage of intermittent renewables. Finally, when main grid supply experiences supply interruptions, local DC grids have less technical issues to be disconnected from the main grid and re-connected back to the grid, thus ideal for provide support to security of supply. There are a number of smart grid demonstration projects around the world to test the viability, efficiency and economics of a local DC grid. This includes the UK's first DC network at the University of Bath, which has led to a subsequent larger DC grids demonstration project across 10 schools, 1 office and 30 homes. These demonstration projects are primarily focused on balancing energy supply and demand and energy security at the local community level. Such demonstrators are supported by expensive energy storage solutions such as batteries, which make for a weak business case that limits the scale and speed of their uptake. In response to the RCUK-DST June 2012 workshop this proposal will address the research challenge of DC Networks in smart energy grids in the UK and India. We will look at how they can be used in residential and commercial buildings in practical and economically viable ways to make better use of local community renewable energy supplies especially when central generation is over-stretched or broken. This consortium of Indian and UK experts in Energy Networks will take the timely step of investigating how DC networks, can increase the efficiency of renewable energy-storage systems deployed at a community level to benefit the resilience of the National Grid. The research outcomes will deliver cheaper and securer solutions to complement the traditional risk-prevention techniques used by grid operators, which will have difficulties coping with the added risks of introducing low-carbon, low-inertia, low-availability generation technologies. References: 1. DECC, "Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics (DUKES)". 2. "Direct-Current Voltage (DC) in Households", Peter Vaessen, KEMA, 2005. 3. DECC, "Demand Side Response: Conflict Between Supply and Network Driven Optimisation", Poyry/Bath, August 2011 .

Dealing with the consequences of weather related phenomena is an age-old problem. We have made great advances in predicting the weather, but we have made little progress in turning the outputs of these forecasts into actionable information that can help us manage their consequences. The winter storms of 2013/14 and 2014/15 demonstrated that our electrical distribution networks are not only vulnerable to strong winds, but their failure severely impacts on communities. This project will develop and test a new form of weather forecasting, which we term "consequence forecasts". These forecasts are essentially the same as traditional weather forecasts, however, they give a probabilistic assessment of the likely impacts and consequences of weather rather than just predicting the intensity of a weather variable. In this research will make forecasts of the number and location of electricity faults, provided via heat maps, and the number of customers without power. Keywords: wind storm, resilience, electricity infrastructure, natural hazard, consequence forecasts, weather forecasts Stakeholders: Western Power Distribution, National Grid, Energy Networks Association, Met Office, Electricity Consumers

The UK has a commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050 relative to 1990 levels. DECC's 2050 Pathway Analysis shows the various ways through which we can achieve this target. All feature a high penetration level of renewable generation and a very substantial uptake of electrification of heat and transport, particularly from 2030 onwards. This will place unprecedented demand and distributed generation on electricity supply infrastructure, particularly the distribution systems due to their size. If a business as usual model is to apply, then the costs of de-carbonisation will be very high. Being equally confronted by the pressure of global climate change and sustainable development, the Chinese government has declared that by 2020 the carbon emission per-unit GDP will reduce to 40-45% of that in 2008. However China also needs to meet a 10% annual demand increase which has been on-going for the past 20 years, and this rate of growth is expected to continue for at least another 10 years. Therefore reinforcement of current distribution networks in an economic and sustainable way while meeting customers' rising expectation of supply quality and reliability is one of the basic requirements of Smart Grid development in China. It is a matter of urgency to investigate how to develop and adapt the current distribution network using Smart Grid interventions in order to facilitate timely connection of low carbon and sustainable technologies in a cost-effective manner. This is a global challenge faced by UK, China and many other countries. Our consortium brings together leading researchers from the UK and China to jointly investigate the integrated operation and planning for smart distribution networks to address two key research challenges: (1) Conventional network operational and planning approaches do not address the emerging opportunities offered by increased measurement and control and do not deal with the inevitable uncertainties of smart distribution networks. (2) A general understanding of how national or regional electricity distribution infrastructure should be developed and operated using Smart Grid interventions is required urgently by those making policy within Distribution companies and in Government/Regulators. Such an understanding cannot be gained from running conventional power system analysis tools and then manually assessing the results. New techniques and approaches will be investigated to address these important questions (1) Distribution state estimation and probabilistic predictive control approaches will be used to determine the location and control policies of smart grid interventions including Soft Open Points and electronic embedded hybrid on-load tap changers. (2) Novel dynamic pricing techniques will be proposed to resolve conflicts between energy markets and network operation and find synergies where these exist. (3) A very fast network assessment tool and a rolling planning tool that will bridge the gap between planning and operation will be developed. (4) New visualisation and reporting techniques will be developed to give network planners, operators as well policy makers clear insights as to how Smart Grid interventions can be used most effectively. Complementary, cross-country expertise will allow us to undertake the challenging research with substantially reduced cost, time and effort. The research will build upon the long-time well established collaborations between partner institutions of the two countries. Our ambition is to provide a strategic direction for the future of smart electricity distribution networks in the 2030-2050 time frame and deliver methodologies and technologies of alternative network operation and planning strategies in order to facilitate a cost effective evolution to a low carbon future.

Electricity transmission and distribution companies in the UK face serious challenges in continuing to provide high reliability from ageing networks. This is made more difficult by increasing economic and environmental pressures. The problems will become worse as the operating conditions of the networks are changed, to allow for the production of more electricity from renewable sources.To meet this challenge, network owners and operators need better knowledge of plant ageing and improved techniques to monitor its condition.As power is generated in different locations, so the pattern of current flow through the network changes. This alters the temperature of plant items (like transformers, overhead lines and underground cables), which make up the network. Other changes in operating conditions, such as when switches are operated, will affect the stresses seen by plant. We will investigate the effect of the new operating demands on individual items of plant in order to predict their effect on the reliability of the network.We will also investigate some innovative techniques for monitoring plant condition. These will range from techniques which give a general indication of the health of an entire substation, down to those which give detailed information on a specific item of plant. The work will look at new sensors, data capture, data management and data interpretation. Network owners and operators also need improved methods of protecting and controlling the network. New software tools will help them plan replacements as parts of the network wear out. Our work will help get the most power through the ageing network and allow owners to invest in new or replacement plant in a cost-effective way. All this has to be done while maintaining or improving the security of supply and taking into account interactions between gas and electricity networks. Software tools will be developed to calculate the optimum size and location of new generating plant and to calculate the cost that should be charged to transport electricity from a particular location.Finally, research into electrical plant with reduced environmental impact will allow the use of environmentally friendly replacements. There are three main aspects to this work: exploring methods of reducing the use of SF6 (a greenhouse gas), examining techniques for transmitting more power down existing lines and investigating methods of reducing environmental impacts (for example, oil leaks) from underground cable.EPSRC has assembled a team of six universities, which have the skills needed to tackle these challenges. These universities have worked closely with major electric utilities and equipment manufacturers to prepare this proposal. The industrial partners will provide a valuable contribution, both through funding and also by supplying their technical expertise and guidance.Our work will benefit electricity utilities, which will spend less on maintenance and get more for their money when buying new plant. Consumers will gain through improved reliability of their electricity supply. UK manufacturers will be able to exploit the new condition monitoring and diagnostic techniques. Society in general will benefit through reductions in environmental impact.

Rapid transformation of Power Networks is only possible if industry can recruit highly trained individuals with the skills to engage in R&D that will drive innovation. The EPSRC CDT in Power Networks at the University of Manchester will educate and train high quality PhD students with the technical, scientific, managerial and personal skills needed by the Power Networks sector. Prof. Peter Crossley, whose experience includes leadership of the Joule Centre, will lead the CDT. This CDT is multidisciplinary with PhD students located in the Faculties of Engineering & Physical Science and Humanities. All students will first register on a "Power Networks" Postgraduate Diploma; when successfully completed, students will transfer to a PhD degree and their research will be undertaken in one or more Schools within these Faculties. During their PhD studies, students will also be required to expand their knowledge in topics related to the management, design and operation of power networks. Using the support of our industrial partners, students will engage in policy debates, deliver research presentations, undertake outreach activities and further their career development via internships. The CDT will deliver world class research and training, focused on the UK's need to transform conventional power networks into flexible smart grids that reliably, efficiently and economically transport low-carbon electrical energy from generators to consumers. Specific areas of research are: - Electrical power network design, operation and management The rapidly increasing need to integrate renewable energy into power networks poses numerous challenges, particularly cyclical and stochastic intermittency. This is further complicated by future proof buildings, decarbonisation of heat and transport, and other innovations that will change electrical demand. Existing Power Networks include a mixture of old and new plant, some of which is beyond design life. This may not be a problem at historical loading levels, but future visions involve increased power densities and changes in primary and secondary substation topology. Research on asset management and life-time extension is required to provide economical and reliable solutions to these issues. Integration of DC interties and Power Electronics within networks has been identified as key enabling technologies. Therefore projects on HVDC, power electronics, intermittent generation, energy storage, dynamic demand, intelligent protection and control and the use of data provided by smart meters and local/wide-area monitoring systems are required. - Power Network Operation, Planning and Governance Transmission and Distribution Operating Companies need projects on planning processes that co-ordinates land-use with other infrastructures. Projects include planning uncertainty and complexity, integration of modelling with geographical information systems, stakeholder behaviour, decision modelling and the impact of resource allocation and operating lifecycles. Projects on smart operational control strategies can simplify network planning and reduce the cost of implementing: demand response; combined heat and power; and district heating. - Changes to the pattern of energy demands and their effect on the power network Climate change will have an adverse effect on network reliability and projects are required to help network companies economically manage the electrification of heating, cooling and transport. Projects are also required on the interaction between energy vectors and network infrastructure with multiple uncertainties. - Cross cutting technologies Research in Mathematics and Management on stochastic dynamic optimisation techniques can be used to underpin projects on heat and electrical energy storage under uncertain price and supply conditions. Projects using a cognitive lens to uncover how large infrastructure projects can be delivered through meta-organisations are also required.