The UFS Unit of Engineering Sciences, via the Grid Related Research Group led by Dr Jacques Maritz, has been actively collaborating with the Department of Physics at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) via the leadership of Prof Leonardo Rydin Gorjao for many years. Recently, the two entities expanded their multi-disciplinary endeavours and collaboration by exchanging postgraduate students with the aim of advancing the field of complexity science. Gerhard Venter was awarded a prestigious PhD position in NMBU’s Department of Physics, to be supervised by the UFS and NMBU research groups. In this position, Venter will merge the fields of complexity, graph theory, and dynamical systems to investigate complex dynamics in power grid networks. This exchange will open the door for future multi-disciplinary endeavours between South African and Norwegian complexity science research groups.

Energy systems are the backbone of modern society.  Electricity supply is a commodity that is ubiquitous in our daily lives, yet it is undergoing one of the most pressing transformations in the 21st Century due to climate change. Building a sustainable energy system is key to achieving the 2015 Paris goal of limiting global warming to well below two degrees Celsius. The need to mitigate CO2 emissions requires an overhaul of our energy systems. The European Union envisions a future of electrified heating and transportation systems, which currently still contribute two-thirds of all CO2 emissions. This electricity overhaul is seen as a major milestone in reducing CO2 emissions and simultaneously increasing the share of renewable energy sources. Unlike conventional energy from fossil or nuclear sources, the generation of wind, solar, and hydroelectricity is dependent on the climate and weather system. This naturally comes with several drawbacks, and integrating renewable sources of energy poses challenges for the design and operation of power grids and microgrids. The intrinsic fluctuations in the availability of these sources demand new adaptive control mechanisms, new and improved forms of energy storage, and more flexible energy markets. This collaborative work focuses on quantifying the mathematical nature of noise and complex behaviour in power systems, with a focus on microgrid system dynamic variables. It aims to pinpoint the drivers of fluctuations induced by diesel and solar generation and their effects on microgrid dynamic variables, such as frequency, voltage, and generated power. 

NMBU as research partner

Prof Leonardo Rydin Gorjao’s main research focus lies between power systems and physics-centric data analysis. He focuses on how physics can help us improve our understanding of renewable energies, power-grid stability, energy markets, and microgrids. How can network sciences, dynamic and stochastic processes, and generally complex systems aid us to live in a more sustainable world? In his research, he tries to aim for a balance between applied physics and data sciences. The topics that interest him are power-grid stability, electricity price dynamics, and the impact of renewable energy on the former. He is also involved in projects working with paleoclimate and psychopathology data analysis. 

Young UFS mathematician to join multi-disciplinary collaboration

Gerhard Venter is a lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the University of the Free State (UFS). He holds an MSc in pure mathematics and his principal research interest is graph theory. He is involved with the Grid Related Research Group at the UFS, where he applies his theoretical knowledge of networks to real-world problems. Venter was awarded the PhD position at NMBU after competing with applicants around the world. 

Harnessing powerful UFS tools

Tackling grand challenges in the paradigm of complexity science relies on large computing power, tools that the UFS has already crafted for more than a decade. Specifically, crafting digital twins for complex systems (or scientific experiments) allows scientists to train students and explore future research questions by minimising the experimental costs and time risks. Initial capital is needed to digitally twin the complex system, whereafter explorations are moved to remote data exercises. Digital twins have the added benefit of being shareable with international collaborators and to be included in virtual student training programmes. The UFS High-Performance Computing (HPC) Unit is one such example of an international leading tool to help tackle grand challenges. Another existing digital twin is that of the Qwaqwa Campus microgrid, which is closely monitored and recorded for complexity studies.