20 Architecting the energy system of the future


Professor Graham Ault explains why architecture is an essential and urgent part of the UK’s transition to the future energy system.


The energy system is in a period of rapid, transitional, possibly transformative change towards a customer centric, smarter, low carbon, more diverse system. To make the change, industry must tackle many objectives and challenges, deliver a range of solutions, and take a whole system view, as highlighted in this supplement. Crucially, the path to change follows a system engineering logic of understanding the background/context, identifying requirements and functions and then piecing together the components and systems into an overall system architecture to address the challenges and context. Growing evidence exists to support the system requirements in each energy vector and the solutions that are maturing to play their role.


So, in a formal systems engineering method, the first steps in architecting the future energy system is to identify what functions are needed to address the requirements presented by the emerging and future energy system context and challenges. The recently completed Future Power System Architecture (FPSA) project for the GB Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was tasked with identifying such a set of whole system technical functions required for the GB system by 2030.


While focused on GB, the outcomes have significance for all developed power systems and particularly in the area of the architectural characteristics. The project has identified thirty-five functions that are either new or significant extensions of existing functions. These can be viewed as a decently comprehensive set of functions, as seen from today’s perspective. However, the pace of change in global power sectors - fossil divestment, renewables growth, customer participation - leads to an inevitability of new requirements emerging in relatively short time periods.


Behind the functions identified in FPSA are seven high-level drivers of functionality. These drivers can also be viewed as architectural principles for the emerging/ future grid. The following table, adapted from FPSA material, sets out some of the views. Proposed grid architectures can be assessed against these principles or criteria to establish the relative merits and preferred routes for power system development. There are other criteria that could be considered, such as competitiveness, consumer objectives and social goals. However, these seven embrace a broad set of challenges facing the power sector and alignment with these provides the system architecture to meet a wider set of goals.


Grid architecture as future vision The identification of functions, drivers and architectural principles lays foundations for


Drivers of Functionality


Flexibility for changing and uncertain requirements


Embraces changing mix of electricity generation


Grid Architecture Principle


Flexible, extensible, interoperable and open to integration of new functionality identified and implemented over time.


Supports participation and harnesses the value from diverse spectrum of generation technologies, scales, ownership, operation and additional service provision.


Price signals and other incentives New participants


Active management of networks, generation, storage and demand


Recovery from major outages and events Coordination across energy vectors


Supports the best aspects of efficient market, cost and value reflective networks and transactive energy approaches across all participants and sources of system value.


Supports the full participation of a range of existing and new energy, power and service providers.


Supports visibility and controllability appropriate to the nature of the energy resources (generation, storage and demand) and the transport network assets and their arrangements.


Addresses the mission critical, dynamic nature of the system and the need to manage all network states and transitions between them adequately.


Harnesses the opportunities from cross-feeding energy assets and manages the inter-dependencies of other energy vectors and infrastructures.


the system architecture visions that might act as guide towards the future system. The visions available today deal with such issues as the smart grid, grid modernisation, decentralisation of energy, a social/community grid, an interconnected grid, the low carbon network and the resilient system. These visions capture important elements of the emerging power grid.


A clear need exists to articulate the engineering vision that might deliver those outcomes of a smarter, competitive, customer- centric, energy system. Advanced work on future grid architecture already envisages the integrated approach required to manage the emerging power system.


For example, the management of interacting domains and systems is important, as can be seen in the classical power distribution sphere. However, the same principles of identifying domains, systems, control and management responsibility and interconnection in complex, dynamic systems can and should be extended to the whole power system and the whole energy system if the goals are to be achieved.


Grid architecture as a competence With sets of requirements, functions and possible architecture visions in mind then a subsequent logical engineering question is how to create, select and improve architectures to meet the overall goals through time. This raises the argument for grid architecture as a new competence or


discipline; and one that is essential to make the right system architecture choices. Researchers at US-based Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and collaborators have defined Grid Architecture as: “… the application of system architecture, network theory, and control theory to the electric power grid. A grid architecture is the highest level description of the complete grid, and is a key tool to help understand and define the many complex interactions that exist in present and future grids.” According to Jeffrey Taft, Chief Architect for Electric Grid Transformation at PNNL, the systematic application of three key disciplines - IT/software system architecture, power network theory and control systems - to the future power system challenge can deliver structured solutions to business, functionality, control, data, communication, grid and component level architectures. This application can also break the increasing complexity and uncertainty into manageable chunks that yield to structured method. The emerging challenge is evident for those who would become the grid architects of the future energy system. Tackling the requirements, functions, components, innovative solutions, and structured methods to deliver the architecture of the future energy system is a daunting, exciting but also realistic challenge.


Graham Ault is Development Director at Smarter Grid Solutions.


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