Energy flows on Saint Helena Island during transition to 100% renewable grid

圣赫勒拿岛是位于大西洋中部的英国领土岛屿。这里有4000名居民，主要产业是旅游业、渔业和一些小型农业。目前，它由柴油发电机提供服务，对当地人来说成本很高；按照英国的标准，这里的能源贫困程度很高。能源供应商Connect计划将群岛的能源供应转变为100%的可再生能源。由于该岛规模较小，公用事业公司将在过渡期间提供过渡过程及其电网反应的详细数据。这个博士项目旨在建立岛上能量流动的数字模型，直接与其电网上特定节点的实时更新相联系。这个“数字孪生”模型将被用来模拟存储、电网增长、供需管理等选项。这些将从电网的稳定性、安全性以及能源获取和能源贫困等社会措施方面进行探讨。虽然博士项目在很大程度上是圣赫勒拿岛的案例研究，但总体上缺乏对小规模孤立可再生能源电网的研究。由于可再生能源技术的价格明显低于传统发电站，世界上许多目前未通电的地区预计将以这种方式发展。因此，这些探索的结果与世界各地较新的小规模能源电网越来越相关。目的和目标是研究如何使用数字孪生兄弟对岛屿的能量流动进行建模，以便该模型实时适应电网供需的变化。调查这种类型的模式如何有利于能源储存、获取和发电配置的探索。这将与任何向更可再生能源供应过渡的电网相关，例如英国。为了调查这种类型的模型如何将供应、存储和需求与能源获取和能源贫困的潜在变化的较难量化的衡量标准联系起来。过去几年，数字孪生技术在学术界和工业界引起了极大的兴奋。在产品设计和制造过程中使用数字孪生技术已经有了成熟的案例研究和例子。在能源或电力系统建模领域存在的较少。通常情况下，尽管这项技术在全国范围内大规模应用的潜力得到了广泛认可，但只展示了较小规模的例子，例如高效建筑的智能模型。随着圣赫勒拿的能源公用事业公司实施向100%可再生能源的过渡，将会有大量关于他们的电网如何工作以及对更高比例的可再生能源供应做出反应的数据。与他们的合作为创建“孪生”模式提供了一个有趣的前提；这种模式可以随着他们的可再生能源战略的发展以及岛上实时的基础设施变化而发展。由于该岛的规模较小，有可能将主要能源流动作为一个整体进行建模；对于一个像英国这样大的网络来说，这种详细程度将是一项主要任务，特别是在这种模型的使用仍具有如此巨大的潜力的情况下。为了更好地探索安全、稳定、弹性和能源贫困等复杂指标，需要一个完整的能量流动模型。该项目属于EPSRC生活在环境变化、能源和工程研究领域

The Island of Saint Helena is a British territory island situated in the middle of the Atlantic. Home to 4,000 inhabitants, the main industries are tourism, fishing and some small agriculture. It is currently served by diesel generators at high cost to the locals; by UK standards there is a high level of energy poverty. The energy supplier, Connect, plan to transition the Islands energy supply to 100% renewables. As the Island is small scale, detailed data of the process of transition and how their grid is reacting will become available during the transition, from the utilities company. This PhD project aims to build a digital model of the energy flow on the island that links directly with live updates to specific nodes on their grid. This 'digital twin' model will be used to simulate options for storage, grid growth, supply and demand management. These will be explored in relation to the grid's stability, security and social measures such as energy access and energy poverty. While the PhD project is very much a case study of saint Helena island, there is a lack of research in general on small scale isolated renewable energy grids. As the price of renewable energy technologies is significantly lower than conventional stations many currently unelectrified areas in the world are expected to develop this way. Therefore, the findings of these explorations become increasingly relevant to newer small-scale energy grids across the world.The aims and objectives To investigate how an islands energy flow can be modelled using a digital twin so that the model adapts in real time to changes in the supply and demand on the grid. To investigate how this type of model can benefit exploration of energy storage, access and generation configuration. This would be relevant to any grid transitioning to a more renewable supply, such as the UK. To investigate how this type of model can relate supply, storage and demand to less quantifiable measures of energy access and potential changes in energy poverty.The last few years digital twin technology has generated great excitement amongst academics and in industry. Well-developed case studies and examples exist for the use of Digital Twin technologies in product design and manufacturing processes. Fewer exist in the realm of energy or electricity systems modelling. Often, although the potential for the technology on a large, national scale is widely recognised, only smaller scale examples are presented, such as a smart model of an efficient building. As the energy utilities company of Saint Helena implement the transition to 100% renewables, there will be huge amount of data on how their grid works and reacts to higher percentages of renewable supply. Collaboration with them poses an interesting premise for creating the 'twin' model; it can be developed as their renewables strategy develops and alongside the real time infrastructure changes on the island. The ability to model the main energy flows as a whole is possible because of the small scale of the island; this level of detail for a network the size of the UK would be a major tasks, especially when the uses of such a model still pose such vast potential. A full model of energy flow is necessary to better explore complex indexes such as security, stability, resilience and energy poverty.This project falls within the EPSRC Living with environmental change, Energy and Engineering research areas