The Thinking Pod Innovations Ltd.
Ingenuity Centre
University of Nottingham Innovation Park
Triumph Road
Nottingham
NG7 2TU

correspondence@ttpi.tech

National Grid ESO

National Grid, UoN, TTPi

Photo by Imam Muhaimin on Unsplash

National Grid ESO is the electricity system operator for Great Britain.

In order to meet Government set net zero targets, there needs to be an increase in renewable energy sources supplying to the grid. When many renewable energy sources connect – this can cause problems with fundamental network stability. National Grid had studied Virtual Synchronous Machine (VSM) that would contribute to mitigating this risk.

The University of Nottingham were commissioned to create / implement the VSM hardware to validate their simulation model. TTPi built the VSM prototype for this. We were commissioned to create a versatile power controller to allow multiple connections to the power grid for generators, storage etc. 

The main aim was to create a flexible platform to allow renewables to deliver power to the grid in stable manner. 

The majority of grid-connected renewables use algorithms to synchronise with the supply, which limits the amount of energy that can be transferred before the grid becomes unstable. 

National Grid ESO with the University of Nottingham worked on virtual synchronous machine algorithm as a potentially more stable replacement for phase-locked loop systems. 

National Grid

Areas
GB. National Grid ESO is the electricity system operator for Great Britain.
Size
Around 300 employees
Market
Power distribution

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Mark Sumner, University of Nottingham

We delivered a 50 Kw 3 phase power converter that enabled Nat grid to validate these algorithms

Other applications

Solar converter

Grid connected battery storage

Any renewable energy sources

We designed, manufactured a bespoke multi-phase power converter and controller to enable various power sources to be connected to the grid. 

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