Oxfordshire's Sygensys aids in new research to bolster UK energy grid

Oxfordshire tech start-up Sygensys has collaborated with the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) on a six-month study into software which could help strengthen the National Grid and prevent system failures and blackouts.

The Multi-threaded Application Real-Time executor, or simply ‘MARTe’, is a fusion control software developed by the UKAEA in 1995 and designed to manage the extreme temperatures and pressures associated with nuclear energy. With the UK’s demand for electricity expected to increase by 40 per cent over the coming decade, as well as an ever-increasing renewable supply to meet it, the study has assessed how MARTe’s capabilities might be rolled out to the wider energy sector in order to reliably keep up with increased load.

The UKAEA is looking to implement MARTe into the UK’s increasingly smart and decarbonised grid, in which traditional synchronous generators are being supplanted by more reliable and efficient inverter generators in the production of many forms of renewable energy. These inverter-based systems can be controlled to save fuel when load demand is low.

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Nizar Ben Ayed, Fusion Innovation Technologist at UKAEA, said: “There is a rapidly emerging need for improved control systems that provide system level control in addition to grid level harmonisation across generators and loads. This study has enabled UKAEA and Sygensys to explore the tech transfer potential of our fusion control software to help resolve grid stability issues and prevent blackouts.”

Sygensys CEO Andrew Larkins added: “To speed the transition to decarbonisation, systems must be easily maintainable, secure, and interoperable. MARTe certainly shows potential in all of these areas and could prove to be a real asset as it is further developed for commercial use.”

MARTe also provides plasma control and protection systems to the JET (Joint European Torus), a record-breaking nuclear machine located at the Culham Center for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire. The software was made open source in 2010 and has since seen use in JET’s more powerful counterpart, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).

It is hoped that MARTe, and fusion power as a whole, will ensure that the UK’s energy supply is not only safe and sustainable, but also reliable for years to come.

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