A STATE-OF-THE-ART laboratory that will allow researchers to put the electricity grid through its paces is being launched at Newcastle University.

Funded jointly by Siemens Energy Automation Division and the university, the £2m Smart Grid Laboratory will allow experts to test future worst-case scenarios in real-time without any risk to customers.

By simulating changes in energy across the grid – both on a day -to-day basis as well as in extreme cases such as when part of the network is damaged following a storm – the aim is to further understand the demands on the system.

The technology will also be used to test how the anticipated electrification of the UK’s heat and transport networks will affect the grid.

The rise in heat pumps and electric vehicles, together with the growing importance of solar panels for energy generation, will mean increased energy flows through the electricity grid which could push the ageing system towards its limits.

Dr Pádraig Lyons, from Newcastle University, said: “Computer models are good to a point, but they lack the realism to mimic constantly changing energy flows across the grid and state-of-the-art intelligent network control systems. With this new technology we are virtually linked up to the grid so the second by second fluctuations across the real network are also happening in real-time in our lab.”

The lab at the university’s campus is part of a larger Smart Grid project which includes a grid-scale energy storage test bed being developed on Science Central - a major regeneration project being led by Newcastle University and Newcastle City Council.

Experts from the university, in collaboration with Siemens and Northern Powergrid, will be trialling new technologies for energy storage to efficiently and sustainably manage delivery of energy across the UK electricity grid.