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

圣赫勒拿是英国的一个领土岛屿，位于大西洋中部。这里有4,000名居民，主要产业是旅游业、渔业和一些小型农业。它目前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，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%可再生能源。由于该岛规模较小，在过渡期间，公用事业公司将提供有关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一个岛上能量流的数字模型，直接与电网上特定节点的实时更新联系起来。这种“数字孪生”模型将用于模拟存储、电网增长、供应和需求管理的选项。这些问题将在电网的稳定性、安全性和能源获取和能源贫困等社会措施方面加以探讨。虽然博士项目在很大程度上是对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新的小规模能源网越来越相关。目的和目标研究如何使用数字孪生模型对岛屿能源流进行建模，以便模型能够在真实的时间内适应电网供需的变化。研究这种类型的模型如何有利于能源存储，接入和发电配置的探索。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。为了研究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潜在变化的量化措施联系起来。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趣。在产品设计和制造过程中使用数字孪生技术的案例研究和例子已经很成熟。在能源或电力系统建模领域存在的较少。通常情况下，尽管该技术在全国范围内的潜力得到了广泛的认可，但只有较小规模的例子被提出，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，将有大量关于其电网如何运作和对更高比例的可再生能源供应作出反应的数据。与他们的合作为创建“双胞胎”模式提出了一个有趣的前提;它可以随着他们的可再生能源战略的发展和岛上真实的时间基础设施的变化而发展。由于该岛的规模较小，因此有可能对主要能源流进行整体建模;对于英国规模的网络来说，这种详细程度将是一项重大任务，特别是当这种模型的使用仍然具有巨大潜力时。能源流动的完整模型是必要的，以更好地探索复杂的指标，如安全，稳定，弹性和能源贫困。该项目属于EPSRC生活与环境变化，能源和工程研究领域的福尔斯

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