EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Resilient Decarbonised Fuel Energy Systems Led by the University of Nottingham, with Sheffield and Cardiff SUMMARY This Centre is designed to support the UK energy sector at a time of fundamental change. The UK needs a knowledgeable but flexible workforce to deliver against this uncertain future. Our vision is to develop a world-leading CDT, delivering research leaders with broad economic, societal and contextual awareness, having excellent technical skills and capable of operating in multi-disciplinary teams covering a range of roles. The Centre builds on a heritage of two successful predecessor CDTs but adds significant new capabilities to meet research needs which are now fundamentally different. Over 80% of our graduates to date have entered high-quality jobs in energy-related industry or academe, showing a demand for the highly trained yet flexible graduates we produce. National Need for a Centre The need for a Centre is demonstrated by both industry pull and by government strategic thinking. More than forty industrial and government organisations have been consulted in the shaping and preparation of this proposal. The bid is strongly aligned with EPSRC's Priority Area 5 (Energy Resilience through Security, Integration, Demand Management and Decarbonisation) and government policy. Working with our partners, we have identified the following priority research themes. They have a unifying vision of re-purposing and re-using existing energy infrastructure to deliver rapid and cost-effective decarbonisation. 1. Allowing the re-use and development of existing processes to generate energy and co-products from low-carbon biomass and waste fuels, and to maximise the social, environmental and economic benefits for the UK from this transition 2. Decreasing CO2 emissions from industrial processes by implementation of CCUS, integrating with heat networks where appropriate. 3. Assessing options for the decarbonisation of natural gas users (as fuel or feedstock) in the power generation, industry and domestic heating system through a combination of hydrogen enhancement and/or CO2 capture. Also critical in this theme is the development of technologies that enable the sustainable supply of carbon-lean H2 and the adoption of H2 or H2 enriched fuel/feedstock in various applications. 4. Automating existing electricity, gas and other vector infrastructure (including existing and new methods of energy storage) based on advanced control technologies, data-mining and development of novel instrumentation, ensuring a smarter, more flexible energy system at lower cost. Training Our current Centre operates a training programme branded 'exemplary' by our external examiner and our intention is to use this as solid basis for further improvements which will include a new technical core module, a module on risk management and enhanced training in inclusivity and responsible research. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Our current statistics on gender balance and disability are better than the EPSRC mean. We will seek to further improve this record. We are also keen to demonstrate ED&I within the Centre staff and our team also reflects a diversity in gender, ethnicity and experience. Management and Governance Our PI has joined us after a career conducting and managing energy research for a major energy company and led development of technologies from benchtop to full-scale implementation. He sharpens our industrial focus and enhances an already excellent team with a track record of research delivery. One Co-I chairs the UoN Ethics Committee, ensuring that Responsible Innovation remains a priority. Value for Money Because most of the Centre infrastructure and organisation is already in place, start-up costs for the new centre will be minimal giving the benefit of giving a new, highly refreshed technical capability but with a very low organisational on-cost.

The motivation for this proposal is that the global reliance on fossil fuels is set to increase with the rapid growth of Asian economies and major discoveries of shale gas in developed nations. The strategic vision of the IDC is to develop a world-leading Centre for Industrial Doctoral Training focussed on delivering research leaders and next-generation innovators with broad economic, societal and contextual awareness, having strong technical skills and capable of operating in multi-disciplinary teams covering a range of knowledge transfer, deployment and policy roles. They will be able to analyse the overall economic context of projects and be aware of their social and ethical implications. These skills will enable them to contribute to stimulating UK-based industry to develop next-generation technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels and ultimately improve the UK's position globally through increased jobs and exports. The Centre will involve over 50 recognised academics in carbon capture & storage (CCS) and cleaner fossil energy to provide comprehensive supervisory capacity across the theme for 70 doctoral students. It will provide an innovative training programme co-created in collaboration with our industrial partners to meet their advanced skills needs. The industrial letters of support demonstrate a strong need for the proposed Centre in terms of research to be conducted and PhDs that will be produced, with 10 new companies willing to join the proposed Centre including EDF Energy, Siemens, BOC Linde and Caterpillar, together with software companies, such as ANSYS, involved with power plant and CCS simulation. We maintain strong support from our current partners that include Doosan Babcock, Alstom Power, Air Products, the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), Tata Steel, SSE, RWE npower, Johnson Matthey, E.ON, CPL Industries, Clean Coal Ltd and Innospec, together with the Biomass & Fossil Fuels Research Alliance (BF2RA), a grouping of companies across the power sector. Further, we have engaged SMEs, including CMCL Innovation, 2Co Energy, PSE and C-Capture, that have recently received Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)/Technology Strategy Board (TSB)/ETI/EC support for CCS projects. The active involvement companies have in the research projects, make an IDC the most effective form of CDT to directly contribute to the UK maintaining a strong R&D base across the fossil energy power and allied sectors and to meet the aims of the DECC CCS Roadmap in enabling industry to define projects fitting their R&D priorities. The major technical challenges over the next 10-20 years identified by our industrial partners are: (i) implementing new, more flexible and efficient fossil fuel power plant to meet peak demand as recognised by electricity market reform incentives in the Energy Bill, with efficiency improvements involving materials challenges and maximising biomass use in coal-fired plant; (ii) deploying CCS at commercial scale for near-zero emission power plant and developing cost reduction technologies which involves improving first-generation solvent-based capture processes, developing next-generation capture processes, and understanding the impact of impurities on CO2 transport and storage; (iimaximising the potential of unconventional gas, including shale gas, 'tight' gas and syngas produced from underground coal gasification; and (iii) developing technologies for vastly reduced CO2 emissions in other industrial sectors: iron and steel making, cement, refineries, domestic fuels and small-scale diesel power generatort and These challenges match closely those defined in EPSRC's Priority Area of 'CCS and cleaner fossil energy'. Further, they cover biomass firing in conventional plant defined in the Bioenergy Priority Area, where specific issues concern erosion, corrosion, slagging, fouling and overall supply chain economics.

Electrical power systems are undergoing unprecedented and ever-increasing change that will increase the levels of complexity and uncertainty to unprecedented levels, particularly in GB. Ensuring secure, reliable and stable power system operation is clearly paramount; not only for "traditional" electrical loads, but to power telecommunications, water supply and sanitation, natural gas production and delivery, and for transportation. Social discomfort, economic disruption and loss of life can arise in cases of partial or full blackouts. Uncertainty and complexity will arise due to the prevalence of Renewable Energy Sources (RES). In GB, millions of intermittent small energy sources (not under the control of the system operator) may be connected to the electricity distribution system in future, as opposed to historical arrangements, where a much smaller number (100 or so) of large-scale generators, under the control of the system operator, were connected to the transmission system. Furthermore, energy storage, electric vehicles, heat pumps, HVDC interconnectors, "smart grids" and associated control systems, will all act to increase the complexity and unpredictability of, and possibly introduce chaos to, the system. Extreme weather events are on the increase empirically and with reliance on renewable sources (mostly from solar and wind), this could also increase risks associated with uncertainty, complexity and system operability. Internationally respected organisations such as the IEEE and CIGRE emphasise the increasing complexity of power systems and highlight problems with unpredictable and changing power system dynamics as challenges that might compromise security and could increase the risk of blackouts. They also highlight potential improvements in reducing these risks through enhanced monitoring, control, automation and special protection schemes. Prevention and mitigation of the risk of blackouts is essential and the focus of this proposal. Understanding the changing nature of system dynamics is fundamental to addressing this risk. This Fellowship is focused on investigating, understanding, defining and representing previously un-encountered dynamic phenomena that will be manifest in future power systems due to the aforementioned increases in complexity and uncertainty. Novel modelling, prediction and control tools and methodologies will be developed to ensure an accelerated path to stable, secure, reliable and cost-effective operation and enhance understanding. This research will lead to prototype applications and demonstration in the world-leading facilities available at the host institution. Ultimately, the main impact will be maximisation of the secure use of renewables and effective decarbonisation of the electricity system, through creating models and tools to enhance "operability" of electrical power systems and reduce blackout risk. The Fellowship will enable the candidate and his institution to be international leaders in this field, which impacts both society and the economy.

Energy networks are vitally important enablers for the UK energy sector and therefore UK industry and society. The energy trilemma (energy security, environmental impact and social cost) presents many complex interconnected challenges which reach beyond the UK and have huge relevance internationally. These challenges vary considerably from region to region, and change as a result of technology and society changes. Therefore, the planning, design and operation of energy networks needs to be revisited and optimised. Current energy networks research does not fully embrace a whole systems approach and is therefore not developing a deep enough understanding of the interconnected and interdependent nature of energy network infrastructure. The Supergen Energy Networks Hub will provide leadership, a core research programme and mechanisms/funding for the energy networks community to grow and come together to develop this deeper understanding and explore opportunities to shape energy networks which are fit for the future. The research component of the Hub's activities comprises an interconnected and complementary series of work packages. The work packages are: WP1: Understanding, Shaping and Challenging; WP2: Energy Network Infrastructure; WP3: ICT and Data; WP4: Policy and Society; WP5: Markets and Regulation; WP6: Risk and Uncertainty. WP1 incorporates a co-evolutionary approach and brings the other work packages together in a structured way. WP2 is the backbone of the research, dealing with the physical infrastructure in a multi vector manner from the outset. WP3 to WP6 deal with aspects of energy networks that cut across, and are equally valid, for all vectors and have the ability to integrate and modernise network infrastructures. All work packages will consider both planning and design as well as operational aspects. Experimental work and demonstrators will be essential to progress in energy networks research and the Hub will bring these facilities to bear through WP1. The Hub will engage with the energy networks communities throughout the research programme, to ensure that the work is informed by best practice and that the findings are widely visible and understood. The main objectives of the communication and engagement activities will be to ensure the energy networks academic community are connected and coherent, and that their work has a high profile and deep level of understanding in the relevant Industrial, Governmental and Societal communities both nationally and internationally. This will maximise the chances of high impact outcomes in the energy networks space as well as promoting energy networks as an exciting and dynamic area to carry out research, thus attracting the brightest minds to get involved. Communication and engagement activities will be a constant feature of the Hub and will be particularly energetic during the first twelve months in order to rapidly establish a brand, and an open and supportive culture within the relevant communities. Engagement activities will as far as possible be carried out in conjunction with other key organisations in the energy space, to maximise the value of the engagement activities. The Hub aims to become a beacon for equality, diversity and inclusion. Our mission is to enhance equality of opportunity and create a positive, flourishing, safe and inclusive environment for everyone associated with the Hub, from staff, students, Advisory Board members and general Hub representation (at conferences, workshops and reviews). We recognise the need and the challenges to support early career researchers, and improve the balance of protected characteristics across the entire Hub community, such as race or ethnicity, gender reassignment, disability, sex, sexual orientation, age, religion or belief, pregnancy or maternity status, marital status or socio-economic background.

Electrical power systems are undergoing unprecedented changes that increase the levels of complexity and uncertainty, mainly driven by decarbonisation targets on the way to achieving net zero operation and addressing climate change. As an example, towards this direction the UK government has set a bold target for zero carbon electricity by 2035. Increasing complexity comes from the introduction of a large number of converter-interfaced devices (CID) that exhibit very different dynamic behaviour, governed to a large extent by control. In addition, uncertainty in power system operation is increasing, due to the intermittent behaviour of renewable sources but also increasingly by social behaviour through EVs and potential electrification of heating as well as complex market and power industry structures. This leads to an exploding search space of possible operating conditions and contingencies, which is particularly challenging for computationally intensive stability assessment and dynamic studies. This aspect coupled with the increasing complexity of dynamic behaviour, makes identifying critical operating conditions and contingencies challenging. Consequently, these developments raise the need for improved representation and understanding of dynamic phenomena as well as fast and informative dynamic security and stability assessment. Both aspects are crucial in order to avoid potentially hidden risks of instability that in the worst-case scenario can lead to widespread events and even blackouts. Consequently, the aim of this proposal is to develop methods, tools and models needed to achieve a secure, resilient and cost-effective power system operation. Building on progress made in the initial part of the fellowship, the extension will continue focusing on two main directions. From one hand, it will develop tools, methods and models to represent and investigate the changing dynamic behaviour of power systems in order to capture new arising dynamic phenomena, spanning both transmission and distribution (e.g. offshore/onshore wind, solar PVs, HVDC links, EVs, heat pumps, electrolysers, etc.). On the other hand, it will develop novel machine learning based and data-driven methods for the fast and informative stability assessment as well as the estimation of the stability boundary. This direction will enable unique understanding of the dynamic behaviour that will lead to ancillary services and control to mitigate or alleviate the impact of disturbances and improve system security and resilience. In addition, the fellowship extension will continue and ramp-up engagement with industrial partners to capture practical aspects and fine tune developed methodologies to pave the way for real world applications. In effect, the results of the fellowship will enable more secure, resilient and potentially more cost-effective operation of power systems due to better knowledge of system stability limits. Consequently, much higher integration of renewables and new technologies with various technical and environmental benefits can be achieved in order to meet bold decarbonisation targets in a secure, resilient and cost-efficient manner.