Alicia Terrero Gonzalez: DINAME conference
Research Fellow at the National Decommissioning Centre Dr Alicia Terrero Gonzalez recently shared her work “Dynamics of a nonlinear shallow-draft floating offshore wind turbines and its towing operations” at the prestigious International Symposium on Dynamic Problems of Mechanics (DINAME 2025). The DINAME conference is organized biennially by the Committee of Dynamics of ABCM, the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering. Alicia was invited to present her industry-academia collaborative research at the 2025 conference, which took place in Águas de Lindoia, São Paulo, Brazil, in March.
Since 1986, DINAME has attracted the active participation of scientists, academics, graduate students, and engineers from Brazil and various other countries to share, discuss, and present the recent developments and state-of-the-art techniques related to dynamic problems. Alicia’s attendance at the conference was sponsored by The National Decommissioning Centre (NDC) and SEN Hub, which actively promotes research on energy transition, interdisciplinary collaboration, and industry-academia partnerships to drive the Net Zero transition. The hub is part of the Supergen Programme, which is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The SEN Hub aims to advance the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable energy system by focusing on innovations in Net Zero whole systems, large scale energy networks and regional distribution systems.
“It was great to once again attend this high-profile conference to develop meaningful connections, explore areas for collaborative opportunity and to hear the latest research in this field. I am grateful for the funding I received from the SEN Hub and would encourage others to apply if they get the opportunity”.
The conference paper can be viewed here – https://abcm.org.br/proceedings/view/DIN2025/0161 (available to conference delegates only) and the SEN Hub website can be found here – https://supergenen.org/
More information on the conference can behttps://abcm.org.br/proceedings/view/DIN2025/0161 found here – Welcome – DINAME 2025 – XX INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON DYNAMIC PROBLEMS OF MECHANICS
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Dr Dimitri Costa presentation at ICOVP/WMVC 2025
Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen Dr Dimitri Costa recently shared his work “Non-invasive control of a coupled pair of parametric pendulum for sea-wave energy generation” at the prestigious International Conference on Vibration Problems and International Conference of Wave Mechanics and Vibrations ICOVP/WMVC 2025. The conference is organised biannually, most recently by the Institute of Mechanical Engineering of the Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon and by the Department of Civil Engineering of the Nova School of Science and Technology.
Since 1990, ICOVP has attracted the active participation of scientists, academics, graduate students, and engineers from various countries to share, discuss, and present the recent developments and state-of-the-art techniques related to wave mechanics and vibration problems, and has been held in numerous parts of the globe, including India, Turkey, Greece, Portugal and Qatar
Dimitri was invited to present his research on enhancing the efficiency of green energy devices alongside other panellists focusing on renewable energy systems in September 2025 at Caparica, Lisbon, Portugal.
Dr Costa’s attendance was sponsored by the University of Aberdeen (UoA) and SEN Hub, which actively promotes research on energy transition, interdisciplinary collaboration, and industry-academia partnerships to drive the Net Zero transition. The hub is part of the Supergen Programme, which is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The SEN Hub aims to advance the transition to sustainable energy and low-carbon emissions by focusing on innovations and collaborations in Net Zero systems, bridging the distance between innovation and impactful applications.
“Funding from the SEN Hub is a great opportunity for early-career researchers who want to establish their own network of collaborations and disseminate their work”
Dr Costa stated after the conference:
“The conference was a great avenue to strengthen some connections and create new meaningful ones, especially with researchers interested in offshore technologies. This was only possible due to the funding received from the SEN Hub. This is a great opportunity for early-career researchers who want to establish their own network of collaborations and disseminate their work. I would highly recommend others to apply for this funding opportunity”.
More information on the conference can be found here – https://www.icovp-wmvc.com/
The abstract of the presentation can be found here: https://docentes.fct.unl.pt/zdim/files/284.pdf
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Energy Networks, Justice & Vulnerability
Energy networks need to evolve quickly to meet UK government energy and climate targets. The UK Government have launched a “Clean Power Mission” to deliver at least 95% low carbon electricity generation by 2030. At the same time, more electricity will be required for newly deployed heat pumps and electric vehicles to meet the UK’s climate commitments. Achieving these goals will require expanding some energy networks (electricity and heat in particular), while scaling down or changing the use of others (gas).
“An estimated 13% of UK households live in fuel poverty”
At the same time, energy poverty and vulnerability in the UK require urgent attention. Some of those households are especially vulnerable (older persons, people with poor health, people on very low incomes and those in poor quality housing).
These groups struggle to cope with sudden increases in energy prices or supply disruptions and face challenges accessing essential energy services, such as heating or cooling, impacting health and well-being. Upgrading networks as part of the clean power mission could play a role in reducing costs and alleviating pressures on vulnerable households, but they may also be disproportionately exposed to disruption associated with the transition.
How do energy networks currently exacerbate poverty and vulnerability?
Network investment and maintenance is paid for through standing charges on bills, a fixed daily amount which is paid irrespective of the amount of energy used. As highlighted by National Energy Action, low-income households often spend less than average on energy and so a higher proportion of what they pay goes towards these standing charges. These charges are particularly problematic for those on prepayment meters, who may have to pay a backlog of such charges before being able to access gas and electricity.
Those living in more remote areas, for example, those living off the gas network are more likely to be fuel poor. These groups often have access to less reliable network services. Growing digitalisation of how people engage with energy could exacerbate vulnerability, for those who lack technical literacy.
How could Net-Zero Energy Networks help to Reduce Energy Vulnerability?
Developing networks that can support the UK’s climate commitments could help to address energy poverty and vulnerability in multiple ways. However, if changes to energy networks are not carefully managed, they could risk exacerbating energy poverty and vulnerability, both through financing evolution and maintenance of networks, and through limiting options that the energy poor and vulnerable have in the transition.
Improved electricity networks can enable widespread heat pump and electric vehicle deployment. This would make household heat and transport costs dependent on the cost of electricity rather than the cost of gas and petrol. As we move to a more renewable electricity system, this will enable households to benefit from lower cost renewable energy de-coupled from the price of fossil fuels.
Heat networks in urban areas can provide lower cost heat to households and businesses where waste heat is available. Government-owned social housing, home to some less affluent households, may be particularly suitable for heat networks, owing to density of households and greater simplicity of contractual arrangements.
There could also be opportunities for energy poor and vulnerable households to be financially rewarded for reducing energy use in ways that support decarbonisation and reduce strains on networks. For example, uptake of energy efficiency measures (eg. home insulation) could reduce overall heat demand.
This could allow smaller heat pumps to be installed, and reduce the need to upgrade some electricity networks. This would mean lower upgrade costs for network operators. With appropriate financial mechanisms, some of those reduced costs could be passed on to customers in the form of electricity bill reductions. Some electricity network operators already offer bill reductions for customers who change times of electricity use to those when networks are not constrained, but these schemes could be broadened to encompass a wider range of measures to reduce energy demand, or become more targeted towards vulnerable households.
How could net-zero energy networks exacerbate energy vulnerability?
However, the benefits of net-zero energy networks may not be available to all, and the costs may not be shared fairly. Those living in rented properties may not have the ability to install heat pumps or electric vehicle chargers to make use of upgraded networks, and those living in flats or houses without off street parking may be unable to benefit from network upgrades to facilitate electric vehicle charging.
Whilst heat networks offer the potential for lower heating costs in social housing, careful regulation is required to avoid overcharging where households rely on this network as their sole source of heat.
If households are unable to use electricity flexibly, flexible tariffs could result in higher costs (eg. those on ventilators, or at home all day). Lack of choice could be particularly problematic for those with limited flexibility, whose options may already be disproportionately constrained.
Without adequate regulation, less affluent households could overcontribute to upgrade and maintenance costs of energy networks to accommodate switching from gas to electricity. More affluent households are transitioning to electric heat pumps and disconnecting from the gas grid. Fewer households attached to the gas grid means that maintenance costs are spread across fewer (less affluent) households, leading to increased standing charges. At the same time, costs of upgrading networks to accommodate more heat pumps are spread across standing charges of all households, including those with gas boilers. Whilst not permitted by current regulation, the gas grid may also be deprioritised for investment and maintenance in the longer term, which could mean less reliable heat for the energy poor who remain connected.
What are the opportunities and challenges around justice in energy network transitions?
Developing procedures that provide opportunities for meaningful input from diverse parties affected by changes to energy networks can help to avoid exacerbating inequalities in the energy transition. Such procedures are particularly important in energy network development, because of the role that networks play in enabling and constraining future options for energy infrastructure.
Local authorities typically consider supporting these members of the community as a key part of their remit. However, some local authorities have highlighted a lack of meaningful engagement of communities as a limitation in current local area energy planning processes. This could lead to a lack of trust in future low carbon energy transitions. The Oldham Net Zero Accelerator, a partnership between the local authority and community energy organization to deliver a local energy transitions whilst fostering community participation to ensure local social, economic environmental benefits, represents an innovative approach to overcoming this challenge.
For energy networks, distribution of future patterns of supply and demand may look different if they are based upon community priorities (e.g. maximising community wealth by installing generation and EV charging facilities on community buildings). If these issues are not considered in network plans, it may not be possible to connect these projects.
Beyond unjust outcomes of a transition, failing to properly take account of procedural and representational justice in the energy transition could jeopardise efforts to deliver the government’s Clean Power mission. Early intimations of this are visible in local resistance to deployment of electricity transmission infrastructure on the East coast. Whilst central government intervention could help to overcome legal challenges in the short term, broader engagement is necessary to deliver the broader net zero transition.
Blog Post: Sheridan Few, Peter Taylor, Richard Oduro, Caitlin Robinson and Lucie Middlemiss
What next?
Through the Supergen Energy Networks project, and in collaboration with the Fair Energy Futures research community, we are planning to further explore issues around energy networks, vulnerability, poverty, and energy justice. In doing so, to highlight challenges and examples of good practice, and to chart a route forward for energy networks capable of delivering net zero, whilst maximising opportunities to address existing inequalities and adhering to principles of energy justice.
If these themes are of interest we would love to hear from you, and would encourage you to sign up for our workshop, location and date TBC.
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How could net-zero energy networks exacerbate energy vulnerability?
However, the benefits of net-zero energy networks may not be available to all, and the costs may not be shared fairly. Those living in rented properties may not have the ability to install heat pumps or electric vehicle chargers to make use of upgraded networks, and those living in flats or houses without off street parking may be unable to benefit from network upgrades to facilitate electric vehicle charging.
Whilst heat networks offer the potential for lower heating costs in social housing, careful regulation is required to avoid overcharging where households rely on this network as their sole source of heat.
If households are unable to use electricity flexibly, flexible tariffs could result in higher costs (eg. those on ventilators, or at home all day). Lack of choice could be particularly problematic for those with limited flexibility, whose options may already be disproportionately constrained.
Without adequate regulation, less affluent households could overcontribute to upgrade and maintenance costs of energy networks to accommodate switching from gas to electricity. More affluent households are transitioning to electric heat pumps and disconnecting from the gas grid. Fewer households attached to the gas grid means that maintenance costs are spread across fewer (less affluent) households, leading to increased standing charges. At the same time, costs of upgrading networks to accommodate more heat pumps are spread across standing charges of all households, including those with gas boilers. Whilst not permitted by current regulation, the gas grid may also be deprioritised for investment and maintenance in the longer term, which could mean less reliable heat for the energy poor who remain connected.
What are the opportunities and challenges around justice in energy network transitions?
Developing procedures that provide opportunities for meaningful input from diverse parties affected by changes to energy networks can help to avoid exacerbating inequalities in the energy transition. Such procedures are particularly important in energy network development, because of the role that networks play in enabling and constraining future options for energy infrastructure.
Local authorities typically consider supporting these members of the community as a key part of their remit. However, some local authorities have highlighted a lack of meaningful engagement of communities as a limitation in current local area energy planning processes. This could lead to a lack of trust in future low carbon energy transitions. The Oldham Net Zero Accelerator, a partnership between the local authority and community energy organization to deliver a local energy transitions whilst fostering community participation to ensure local social, economic environmental benefits, represents an innovative approach to overcoming this challenge.
For energy networks, distribution of future patterns of supply and demand may look different if they are based upon community priorities (e.g. maximising community wealth by installing generation and EV charging facilities on community buildings). If these issues are not considered in network plans, it may not be possible to connect these projects.
Beyond unjust outcomes of a transition, failing to properly take account of procedural and representational justice in the energy transition could jeopardise efforts to deliver the government’s Clean Power mission. Early intimations of this are visible in local resistance to deployment of electricity transmission infrastructure on the East coast. Whilst central government intervention could help to overcome legal challenges in the short term, broader engagement is necessary to deliver the broader net zero transition.
Blog Post: Sheridan Few, Peter Taylor, Richard Oduro, Caitlin Robinson and Lucie Middlemiss
Communities a key part of research work
These communities previously relied on generator sets, that would provide electricity for 2 – 4 hours a day. Now with the microgrid, they can get nearly 24 hours a day electricity for their current loads from their local resources. It’s not a formal grid structure. But it’s safe, it meets local regulations and standards, and there is pragmatism in the design. The team know that to get the same service we would expect from the distribution network would just cost too much, for very little benefit. So, they have worked closely with the communities to help them work with the limitations of the system. The communities are a key part of this research work, supporting with the system monitoring, able to make small fixes when failures happen, and have really invested into the system.
For communities, their new energy network has enabled them to do so much more. They can process their own produce, fruit such as açai berries, at a much lower cost, increasing their income. I met a woman who used the internet and mobile communication that the DC microgrid offered to take orders and sell her artisan crafts directly to customers locally and nationally. Households were able to make, consume, and sell fruit lollipops made from locally grown fruits (which, by the way are absolutely delicious!).
Using refrigerators and freezers, they could keep food for longer, save rather than throw away excess cooked food, and some even had developed small food-based businesses. The electric boat enabled households to reduce their dependency on gasoline, using local energy instead, and provided a clean and quieter way to travel. And community spaces could provide music, video and ventilation to support community events and building cohesion amongst households.
Picture: Getting ready to sleep in a hammock in Ilha do Pacoca.
So, maybe the question shouldn’t be what is an energy network? Instead, it should be, what can an energy network do?
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System of Systems Architecture
Supergen Energy Network Impact Hub is taking a mission approach to solving energy network challenges. This mission on ‘Energy Network Solutions for Net Zero Whole System Futures’. investigates System-of-System (SoS) architectures to support solving those problems. Dr Daniel Carr arranged an internal workshop to further develop research questions and work that can be completed in this area. Daniel is working in conjunction with Prof. Jianzhong Wu, Dr Muditha Abeysekera, Dr Shuai Yao, Dr Xun Jiang and Elliot O’Malley on the mission.
The objective of the workshop was to identify key players, stakeholders and challenges within energy networks and how taking a systems of systems architecture approach can solve the challenges posed by Net Zero energy networks.
SoS architecture is used to help manage, plan and operate complex systems made up of constituent interconnected systems. Currently the operation of gas, heat and electricity networks operate separately or with little coordination. Moving to multi-vector energy networks and managing the different vectors will require a SoS approach. The aim of Daniel’s project is to deliver systems engineering approaches to developing multi-vector energy networks to deliver efficient, secure, resilient and sustainable energy systems of the future.
Workshop
During the workshop multiple key challenges were identified facing energy networks including:
– Decarbonisation of heat
– Connection Queue Problem
– EV Charging infrastructure
– Energy Data
– Future Energy Markets
Many of these challenges are difficult to solve, but further work was done to identify some of the most pressing issues faced by the energy network on its trajectory to decarbonisation of the energy network. Two challenges were identified including ‘Decarbonisation of Heat’ and ‘Connection Queue Problem’.
The team took these problems and expanded the problem space further to identify the key stakeholders involved and the interactions between those stakeholders.
The decarbonisation of heat is of particular concern for GB as it is highly reliant on gas heating in the domestic and industrial sector. With the push for electrification of heat in the form of either district heating or home installed air source heat pumps. The electrification of heat will put further stress on the electricity system and require large amounts of investment in the reinforcement of the networks. Another challenge presented is the insulation of home, with heat pumps heating profile different to that of gas boilers, and lower operation temperatures, the insulation of the property will have a direct impact on the efficiency and performance of the heat pump.
Connection Queue Problem
The Energy connection queue problem is particularly difficult to solve. With a large amount of renewable energy generators waiting to connect to the grid slowing down the transition to Net Zero. The planning process is slow, and there are large backlogs waiting for connection due to network reinforcement being needed to allow these projects to connect to the grid. Identification of the key processes and stakeholders involved from planning, local and national government, energy supplies and consumers were carried out. A SoS approach to tackling this problem should be developed further. One of the key outcomes from the work was stakeholder mapping to show how different stakeholders interact and rely on each other to improve the overall efficiency and speed up of grid connections.
The workshop was able to identify many challenges posed by moving towards a Net Zero future and how using a SoS approach can help both solve and speed up these transitions.
The connection queue problem was selected to move forward within the mission with work starting on in-depth stakeholder and process mapping, as the subject lends itself to being considered through a SoS architecture approach.
The next stages of the work will be to engage with the members of the SEN Impact Advisory Committee to engage our industrial partners for developing the SoS architecture further and how it can be used for solving the complex problems of the connection queue and decarbonisation of heat.
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Last month, I had the pleasure of participating in the International Youth Conference on Energy (IYCE’24) held from 2 to 6 July 2024 in Colmar, France. I presented our paper, “Energy Efficiency and Optimal Operation of a Residential Microgrid Based on Demand Side Management Strategy”. This work presents a demand-side management approach based on load scheduling and peer-to-peer energy exchange. The strategy is applied to monthly energy data gathered from living labs installed in the Green & Smart Building Park (GSBP) in Benguerir, Morocco. Simulations conducted in the Matlab environment reveal a monthly energy savings of 59% and a 23% increase in the use of renewable energy resources.
The paper is co-authored with Oumaima MAHIR, Mohamed LAAMIM, Abdelilah ROCHD, Mohammed OUASSAID, and Hicham OUFETTOUL. It is performed under the INNO ESPAMAROC’s Green Grid project, funded by IRESEN (Research Institute for Solar Energy and New Energies). The paper is published in IEEE Xplore and is available at the following link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10634959.
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System of Systems Architecture
Supergen Energy Network Impact Hub is taking a mission approach to solving energy network challenges. This mission on ‘Energy Network Solutions for Net Zero Whole System Futures’. investigates System-of-System (SoS) architectures to support solving those problems. Dr Daniel Carr arranged an internal workshop to further develop research questions and work that can be completed in this area. Daniel is working in conjunction with Prof. Jianzhong Wu, Dr Muditha Abeysekera, Dr Shuai Yao, Dr Xun Jiang and Elliot O’Malley on the mission.
The objective of the workshop was to identify key players, stakeholders and challenges within energy networks and how taking a systems of systems architecture approach can solve the challenges posed by Net Zero energy networks.
SoS architecture is used to help manage, plan and operate complex systems made up of constituent interconnected systems. Currently the operation of gas, heat and electricity networks operate separately or with little coordination. Moving to multi-vector energy networks and managing the different vectors will require a SoS approach. The aim of Daniel’s project is to deliver systems engineering approaches to developing multi-vector energy networks to deliver efficient, secure, resilient and sustainable energy systems of the future.
Workshop
During the workshop multiple key challenges were identified facing energy networks including:
– Decarbonisation of heat
– Connection Queue Problem
– EV Charging infrastructure
– Energy Data
– Future Energy Markets
Many of these challenges are difficult to solve, but further work was done to identify some of the most pressing issues faced by the energy network on its trajectory to decarbonisation of the energy network. Two challenges were identified including ‘Decarbonisation of Heat’ and ‘Connection Queue Problem’.
The team took these problems and expanded the problem space further to identify the key stakeholders involved and the interactions between those stakeholders.
The decarbonisation of heat is of particular concern for GB as it is highly reliant on gas heating in the domestic and industrial sector. With the push for electrification of heat in the form of either district heating or home installed air source heat pumps. The electrification of heat will put further stress on the electricity system and require large amounts of investment in the reinforcement of the networks. Another challenge presented is the insulation of home, with heat pumps heating profile different to that of gas boilers, and lower operation temperatures, the insulation of the property will have a direct impact on the efficiency and performance of the heat pump.
Connection Queue Problem
The Energy connection queue problem is particularly difficult to solve. With a large amount of renewable energy generators waiting to connect to the grid slowing down the transition to Net Zero. The planning process is slow, and there are large backlogs waiting for connection due to network reinforcement being needed to allow these projects to connect to the grid. Identification of the key processes and stakeholders involved from planning, local and national government, energy supplies and consumers were carried out. A SoS approach to tackling this problem should be developed further. One of the key outcomes from the work was stakeholder mapping to show how different stakeholders interact and rely on each other to improve the overall efficiency and speed up of grid connections.
The workshop was able to identify many challenges posed by moving towards a Net Zero future and how using a SoS approach can help both solve and speed up these transitions.
The connection queue problem was selected to move forward within the mission with work starting on in-depth stakeholder and process mapping, as the subject lends itself to being considered through a SoS architecture approach.
The next stages of the work will be to engage with the members of the SEN Impact Advisory Committee to engage our industrial partners for developing the SoS architecture further and how it can be used for solving the complex problems of the connection queue and decarbonisation of heat.
For my specific research, I am currently focused on coordinating flexible resources, primarily EVs, using methods such as peer-to-peer energy sharing and multi-vector networks to mitigate gridlock and enhance resilience within Supergen projects. My work closely aligns with the Supergen Energy Network Impact Hub’s work packages, including WP2 ‘Policy, Society and Place,’ WP3 ‘Markets and Regulation,’ and WP4 ‘Risk and Resilience,’ as well as Mission 1 ‘Energy Network Solutions for Net Zero Whole Systems Futures.’ I collaborate closely with many Supergen colleagues, including Prof. Wu, Muditha, Dan, and Sian at Cardiff University, as well as work package leads like Robin and Peter. Supergen is a tightly-knit team, and I have strong connections with almost everyone, including our Director, Prof. Phil, and our project manager, Lindsey. The vision for my work is to achieve a just transition to net zero within distribution networks by leveraging flexible resources and network coupling with minimal network upgrades. Although there are significant challenges, such as quantifying EV flexibility, incentivizing user participation in providing flexibility, and ensuring compatibility with existing distribution network operations, I am highly interested and confident in the potential of our work to contribute to the realization of net zero in energy networks.
In addition to my research work with the Supergen Energy Networks (Impact) Hub, I am also a member of its Early Career Research (ECR) committee, which aims to support ECRs both in the UK and globally. This support includes providing various levels of flexible funding, such as travel funds for research activities or grants for research topics that align with the needs of both the Supergen Energy Networks (Impact) Hub and individual ECRs. The committee also offers an open and collaborative platform for ECRs to connect and exchange ideas. Inspired by my experience with the Supergen Energy Networks (Impact) Hub, I also joined CIGRE UK NGN, where I currently serve as a team lead. My goal there is to help young researchers and professional engineers in the power industry engage with CIGRE’s activities and develop their knowledge, skills, and networks within the industry.
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System of Systems Architecture
Supergen Energy Network Impact Hub is taking a mission approach to solving energy network challenges. This mission on ‘Energy Network Solutions for Net Zero Whole System Futures’. investigates System-of-System (SoS) architectures to support solving those problems. Dr Daniel Carr arranged an internal workshop to further develop research questions and work that can be completed in this area. Daniel is working in conjunction with Prof. Jianzhong Wu, Dr Muditha Abeysekera, Dr Shuai Yao, Dr Xun Jiang and Elliot O’Malley on the mission.
The objective of the workshop was to identify key players, stakeholders and challenges within energy networks and how taking a systems of systems architecture approach can solve the challenges posed by Net Zero energy networks.
SoS architecture is used to help manage, plan and operate complex systems made up of constituent interconnected systems. Currently the operation of gas, heat and electricity networks operate separately or with little coordination. Moving to multi-vector energy networks and managing the different vectors will require a SoS approach. The aim of Daniel’s project is to deliver systems engineering approaches to developing multi-vector energy networks to deliver efficient, secure, resilient and sustainable energy systems of the future.
Connection Queue Problem
The Energy connection queue problem is particularly difficult to solve. With a large amount of renewable energy generators waiting to connect to the grid slowing down the transition to Net Zero. The planning process is slow, and there are large backlogs waiting for connection due to network reinforcement being needed to allow these projects to connect to the grid. Identification of the key processes and stakeholders involved from planning, local and national government, energy supplies and consumers were carried out. A SoS approach to tackling this problem should be developed further. One of the key outcomes from the work was stakeholder mapping to show how different stakeholders interact and rely on each other to improve the overall efficiency and speed up of grid connections.
The workshop was able to identify many challenges posed by moving towards a Net Zero future and how using a SoS approach can help both solve and speed up these transitions.
The connection queue problem was selected to move forward within the mission with work starting on in-depth stakeholder and process mapping, as the subject lends itself to being considered through a SoS architecture approach.
The next stages of the work will be to engage with the members of the SEN Impact Advisory Committee to engage our industrial partners for developing the SoS architecture further and how it can be used for solving the complex problems of the connection queue and decarbonisation of heat.
Currently, my contract, supported by the Supergen Energy Networks (Impact) Hub, extends until October of next year. After that, I hope to maintain a close and direct relationship with the Supergen Energy Networks (Impact) Hub, whether through securing additional funding to extend my contract or by receiving flexible funding as a Principal Investigator (PI). Personally, I aspire to continue developing my academic career with the strong support of Supergen and my team at Cardiff. I aim to make significant progress in securing project funding and advancing my academic position. I also hope to establish closer collaborations with industry, ensuring that my research finds practical applications. For the Supergen Energy Networks (Impact) Hub, I hope to see its continued growth, playing a crucial role over the next five years and beyond in supporting the planning and operation of the UK’s energy networks, ultimately contributing to the realization of net zero through well-prepared and congestion-free energy networks.
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#EmbraceEquality
Newcastle University colleagues share their thoughts on #embraceequity International Women’s Day 2023
As we celebrate International Women’s Day, it is important to reflect on the progress made towards gender equality and recognise the work that still needs to be done. The theme for International Women’s Day this year is #embraceequity.
The difference between equality and equity is subtle yet important. Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. Equity recognises that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources or opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. Equity is vital as it recognises that everybody starts from different places in life, and if we embrace equity, it promotes inclusion and diversity in everything we do.
For International Women’s Day, we asked our colleagues three questions:
- What does equality mean to you?
- What does equity mean to you?
- Can you share an example of when something you have undertaken yourself has led to a positive change in terms of gender equity? This could be in your personal or professional life.
We used the responses from the first two questions to create a word cloud, pictured in Figure 1.
“I encouraged a female PhD student to apply for a doctoral prize fellowship which she would not otherwise have considered. She successfully won the fellowship, and it has kickstarted her post-doctoral research career.”
“I had an intern helping me who was a single parent doing her bachelor’s degree and I was happy for her work hours to be flexible around her and made the effort to find her extra funding to continue the work further.”
“I was a mentor to a teenage girl through the Girls Network and hope that I supported my mentee even in small ways to realise her potential as a young woman.”
“A recent funding application was undertaken anonymously and lead to a 50/50 gender split, even age split with more ECRs and more ethnic diversity. All of these attributes help to create a more diverse and positive research culture.”
“In an event me and a few friends were running, we decided to dedicate performance slots to female artists after having male dominated line-ups for a long time. We received a positive response from our female attendees, discovered some great artists and the opportunities have helped several of the artists progress their music careers.”
One of the biggest barriers to equity is the cost of childcare, which disproportionately effects women with children as they are typically the primary care givers. We acknowledge all responses received in our survey and are aware of challenges and barriers that are present. Our colleagues and the processes that are implemented are continuously being improved to ensure that all voices are heard. It is important to challenge behaviour that unfairly discriminates against anyone in the workplace. We hope that our anonymous survey will encourage others to share their stories in the future, as well as embracing the benefits and barriers of embracing equity that exist.
See here for more inspirational stories.
#IWD2023 #EmbraceEquity
Net zero, the target of reducing our emissions by 100% by the year 2050, is a movement which most people know about and support. In a recent government survey, 87% of people had heard of net zero, and 83% reported climate change as a concern. Net zero can be accomplished by reducing our emissions into the atmosphere and increasing the amount of carbon we remove from the atmosphere (Carbon capture), so that they balance out. This process is called decarbonisation. For net zero to be a success, we must decarbonise our energy production, our buildings, our heating, and our transport. Whilst this sounds simple, in practice it is very tricky, as nearly everything we do as a species releases carbon. The average person in the UK has a carbon footprint of about 10 tonnes, meaning that the UK releases around 66 million tonnes of Carbon into the atmosphere every year! If you’re interested in learning more about your carbon footprint and ways to reduce it, check out the WWF Carbon footprint calculator.
How we move to net zero is going to affect people’s lives a lot. Whilst most of the public knows what net zero is and are supportive, less is known about the details. In fact, in the same government survey, only 9% of people said they knew a lot about the topic. This is a problem, as for net zero to be a success, people need to know about it and buy into the mission. Recent events such as the COP 26 meeting in Glasgow has given the movement more publicity. In another survey conducted in November 2021 by the research agency IPSOS, pollution and climate change were found to be Britain’s highest concern, across a range of demographics. However, other issues such as lack of faith in politicians and the economy have since overtaken them. Whilst these are important, we can’t stop thinking about our 2050 target – its only possible if we make radical change now.
The survey
To learn more about the public’s opinions and knowledge on net zero, academics here at Newcastle University recently issued a survey to 830 participants. They made sure that the people used in the survey reflected the general population, or a representative sample. A table showing a breakdown of the sample is found below:
The participants were then asked a series of questions about net zero, as well as some questions about themselves in general. The personal questions allow researchers to investigate whether people of different demographics have different views or levels of knowledge about net zero, which is important as everyone needs to be involved.
Key findings
- 7% of people rated their understanding of net zero as 5 or lower out of 10. Only 16% ranked themselves 8 or above.
- 85% of people scored how well the government had informed them about net zero as 5 or lower out of 10.
- 8% of people rated the need for net zero at 10
- Acceptance of net zero is higher than understanding
- 84% of participants agreed that there is a need to change both the electrical and gas networks.
- 75% strongly agreed that we need to change how we generate electricity
- 53% said we must eliminate fossil fuels. The rest said we should reduce our use of them.
- 35% of people thought that net zero would affect their transport habits. The rest did not or were unsure.
- Participants believe everyone should be involved in making changes, but that the most important changes rested with government and energy producers/generators.
- 70% thought that net zero would change their life at least slightly,
What does this tell us?
Firstly, the survey suggests that the general public are more clued up on net zero than the investigators thought! It was particularly good to see that knowledge of net zero is relatively consistent across different demographics.
The findings of the survey support the idea that most of the public is behind the net zero goal, especially the mission to phase out fossil fuels. It also highlights that people think most important decisions and behaviour change need to come from government and the energy producers/generators themselves, even though everyone has a part to play. This is called a top-down approach. The findings also highlight that the government and energy companies can do more to educate people about how the journey to net zero will affect everyone. However, it also shows that most people recognise that net zero is everyone’s responsibility, which is fantastic ! If us, the public, can show government and energy companies that net zero is something that we feel passionately about, then we can move towards a greener, more sustainable future together.