Power of maths growth story

Pioneering research and skills

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Power of maths National energy grids occasionally suffer from catastrophic events leading to large-scale blackouts that impact on millions of people creating costly and dangerous disruption. EPSRC-sponsored mathematicians at the University of Southampton have been working with experts in power engineering at Durham University to develop new tools based on pure maths to help prevent and manage such events.

A large-scale blackout can result from a fairly trivial localised fault, and the team are using methods from pure mathematics to develop novel strategies to limit the resulting damage. The research team led by Professor Jacek Brodzki developed a technique which provides topological information about the functional structure of the grid.

He says, “This information is used to create a ‘snapshot’ picture revealing the health of the network quickly; this gives the energy companies a way to accurately isolate faults and remove them from the grid preventing further damage”.

The researchers are also investigating possible implementations of their results in collaboration with the National Grid, and energy producers Alstom and Scottish and Southern Energy.

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