We are supporting a five-year research programme that’s being led by a world-leading expert in electricity power networks.

Professor Furong Li of Bath University has been appointed a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair, a position sponsored by NGED.

Prof Li will lead a team of electronic and electrical engineering experts seeking to improve access to open data, models and evidence to help NGED, its stakeholders and other network operators drive decarbonisation.

The team will work strategically with NGED on a model to help operators access more granular information and enable the introduction of financial incentives, encouraging energy use or energy saving depending on when renewable supply is plentiful, or when networks are congested.

Prof Li said: “Moving to a demand-driven decarbonisation model is crucial if the UK is to achieve its Clean Power 2030 and net zero 2050 commitments. Our research will help the UK’s network operators move from the existing monolithic power system model, where data sharing and dynamic interactions between sub-systems are very limited, to a new, more agile and flexible model fit for rapidly changing low carbon systems.

“We will work with NGED to make that information clearer and give operators better visibility of energy flows between customers and networks.

“Currently, it is hard for consumers to understand the impacts of different choices such as switching to a heat pump or electric vehicle, and hard for network operators to predict the uptakes of low carbon technologies between locations and over time – our work aims to change that.”

We are providing more than £200,000 in research funding for the duration of the five-year partnership.

Cathy McClay, managing director of NGED’s Distribution Systems Operator: “We are delighted to be the industrial sponsor of this prestigious research chair. For more than 20 years, Professor Li has collaborated with us and made significant contributions around network investment and digitalisation at a time of rapid and complex change for the energy sector.  

“This research chair is well deserved recognition of her expertise, and we look forward to deepening our strategic relationship to drive greater access to open data and models. This will be key for us to bring key stakeholders together, driving agile network operation and development to withstand future risks and shocks.”

Prof Phil Taylor, Bath university’s vice-chancellor and president, said: “We are excited to working with NGED strategically to deliver impacts that go far beyond NGED and the UK.”