National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET), Frazer-Nash Consultancy, Previsico, and University of Liverpool (UoL) are working together, and supported by EIC, to improve the management of environmental risks to electricity assets. Currently, NGET carries out live monitoring of the progression of extreme weather events to determine the category of risk it poses, and to manage actions that need to be taken to mitigate any risks. There is scope for improving the process by automating alerts, thereby reducing response times.
The collaboration aims to develop a platform using NGET's data and unique hazard outputs to automatically categorize extreme weather risks and provide alerts, incorporating flood and erosion forecasts from Previsico and UoL respectively.
The goal is to optimise processes in the control room and improve response times in emergency situations.
Challenge
While National Grid’s infrastructure is engineered to be resilient in all conditions, the increasing frequency of extreme weather events means measures need to be in place to make sure its network and processes remain robust into the future. Currently, the network's control room continually monitors weather events and aims to manage and respond to environmental risks as optimally as possible, but it has identified ways to improve its capabilities and more effectively mitigate any impact on asset operability.
Solution
The project is looking to develop a platform for more efficiently monitoring and predicting risks to National Grid assets. The current method involves continual monitoring of extreme weather events to determine the category of risk and mitigations needed. The new system is hoping to create an automated approach for a warning system taking into account weather and flood risk.
Nicola Todd, Head of Strategy and Innovation, National Grid Electricity Transmission, said:
“Collaborations such as these are helping us unlock the new capabilities, we will need to manage our assets in the face of the increasing impacts of climate change. The project will harness the data available to us more effectively to ensure our network infrastructure remains resilient against extreme weather events in the future.”
Frazer-Nash Consultancy
Frazer-Nash Consultancy (FNC) are a leading systems and engineering technology consultancy. Frazer-Nash uses highly skilled engineers and subject-matter experts to deliver innovative technical solutions to our clients’ complex and challenging problems.
In collaboration with project partners, Frazer-Nash will develop a bespoke model that harnesses available data sources to generate a quantitative RAG risk rating that corresponds to the likelihood of an asset being damaged by upcoming forecasted weather event. Outputs – including those from networks of strategically placed sensors will be fed into the bespoke model to provide a robust multi-hazard warning platform to support improved hazard resilience for NGET assets. The tool will also generate automated alerts to real-time risks and long-term erosion risk – allowing NGET to prepare and respond in a coordinated way – and provide details of the asset coordinates, asset risk and mitigation actions alongside a heatmap for asset risks across a region.
FNC will incorporate the findings/data from University of Liverpool and Previsico to forecast/monitor/alert against flood risk (Previsico data) and river flooding/erosion risk (University of Liverpool).
Previsico
Previsico is an R&D-intensive SpinOut from Loughborough University specialising in real-time flooding modelling using the latest weather predictions to generate nowcasts and forecasts. The company’s mission is to eliminate the majority of flood impacts by providing actionable forecasts to those who need them. This requires continuous innovation through harnessing leading data sources and cutting-edge technology to produce quality forecasts for those at risk of flooding.
Within this project, Previsico will utilise sensor data, forecasting and nowcasting in order to forecast flood risk at NGET asset locations. This will include installing proprietary sensor hardware and forecasting technology on live NGET assets to provide real-world flood risk data. The system will provide rainfall predictions and live hydrodynamic modelling to produce hyperlocal flood forecasts.
University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool is a public research institution that is a founding member of the Russell Group and N8 Group for research collaboration. Its research group specializes in modeling storm-related hazards and predicting flood and scour risk to critical infrastructure, as well as assessing its climate resilience.
Working alongside the project partners, The University of Liverpool will focus on the long-term hazards to NGET asset locations posed by river and slope erosion and simulation of long-term erosional hazards.
