Power systems are undergoing a fundamental transition due to the rapid adoption of distributed renewable generation, the electrification of heating and transport, and the new availability of customer-level sensing, communications and control.
Together, these trends significantly increase the scope for coordination across system planning and operation and the value that can be created in terms of improved reliability, affordability, and sustainability. However, they also ramp up system complexity and challenge the core assumptions which traditional approaches for power grid coordination relied upon.
The Power Systems Architecture Lab (PSAL), led by Professor Thomas Morstyn, is focused on addressing these challenges through computational research across power systems modelling, control, planning and market design. We create new algorithms, models, and software needed to coordinate complex, distributed, and uncertain power systems. Our group is based within the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford.
What unifies our work is a view that the central technical challenge of the energy transition is coordinating an increasingly large, heterogeneous, and uncertain set of decisions, across spatial and temporal scales, and at the interface of power grid physics and electricity market incentives. Our approach brings together deep domain knowledge, rigorous mathematical theory, and advanced computing.
We collaborate closely with economists, computer scientists and social scientists to address interdisciplinary challenges for the energy sector. We also work with industry partners to demonstrate and scale new solutions, and advise policymakers on new power grid technologies and electricity market reforms.
