Great Britain Implements Open System to Manage Energy Industry

The Office for Atomic Energy of Great Britain (UKAEA) has announced that UK energy systems have the potential to increase the reliability of their networks by incorporating software for controlling thermonuclear synthesis. This comes as a solution to the challenges faced by operators due to the changing nature of the electric power sector in the UK, where renewable energy sources are connected to the network along with conventional generating stations.

UKAEA collaborated with Sygensys, a British startup in the field of renewable energy sources, to study how the MARTE software can be utilized to manage thermonuclear synthesis. This could aid operators in solving problems with network stability and reducing instances of power disconnecting. The study was conducted over six months.

The UKAEA Fusion technologist, Nizar Ben Ied, remarked that there is a growing need for more sophisticated management systems that provide control at the system level, in addition to harmonization at the network level between generators and loads.

MARTE, which stands for “multi-flow applications in real-time,” was created by UKAEA for systems that monitor and protect plasma as part of the Joint European Torus (Jet) project. It is also used in various research programs of thermonuclear synthesis, such as the international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER).

The software is a real-time environment built on a multifaceted library that allows the same code to run in different operating systems. It is also designed to work in the hard time of real-time. Sygensys CEO, Andrew Larkins, highlighted the benefits of the open-source software, including its real-time functionality and exceptional reliability.

Regarding the long service life of assets in the energy industry, Larkins stated that power plants or storage batteries can be used for 15-20 years, making it necessary to have an open approach with modular-based code to facilitate data exchange between different devices and network applications.

The separation between the particular platform’s implementation and the real-time application code developed by the end-user is one of the primary benefits of the Marte architecture. This leads to improved network reliability and efficiency.

/Reports, release notes, official announcements.