About
About the project.
AI is about to change the world, it will transform many roles, jobs and workflows. This site is specifically about how AI is likely to interact with power systems analysis and the practical ways in which engineering gets done. The aim of the site is to provide calm, reasoned and nuanced understanding of AI and its abilities and limitations.
I want to show you what AI can really do, and not do, and avoid the breathless “AI will transform everything” version. The practical version, where we get more thorough, more consistent, more detail and faster without losing engineering judgement. This website is a general resource for AI uses in power systems analysis and interpretation.
The focus is primarily power systems analysis, but it also covers wider use cases such as data analytics and AI interfaces. Many of the analysis cases use publicly available models. The IEEE 14-bus, IEEE 39-bus and the NESO Reduced GB model, so concepts can be demonstrated and reproduced in well understood networks.
And yes the whole website was designed with an AI.
Biography
Steve Sommerville — power systems engineer and researcher.
I am an experienced power systems engineer with 25+ years in HV and EHV power system design and analysis. I am currently completing a PhD in Power Systems Stability at Brunel University London looking at voltage stability, sub-synchronous oscillation, damping controls for IBRs, and the modelling of system strength in inverter-dominated networks. Alongside this, I have developed a keen interest in AI and how it will transform how we do power systems analysis. I am also the Managing Director of Aurora Power Consulting.
Focus areas
Topics covered across the site.
- Loadflow and network analysis
- System strength and short-circuit analysis
- Reduced network models and screening studies
- Synchronous inertia and frequency response
- Grid Forming Inverters
- RMS / EMT dynamic studies
- Reactive power and voltage stability
- HVDC and interconnector behaviour
- AI tooling for power-system workflows
Test networks
Public test networks used in this project.
When working in research it is often beneficial to use publicly available test networks. This helps other researchers replicate findings and avoids IP and NDA concerns. For this project I am currently focusing on three main standard models:
- IEEE 14-bus model — a simple, well-established model used for testing concepts and ideas. It is a simple test network, intended to have enough detail in to let a simulation engine think and solve problems, but it is nowhere near complicated enough for a real network.
- IEEE 39-bus model (aka New England 10-machine) — a more detailed model representing a larger system with multiple voltage levels and large synchronous machines. Big enough to show interesting transmission-level behaviour, small enough to navigate easily and debug when things don’t work.
- NESO Reduced GB model — produced by the UK system operator; a reduced / simplified model of the whole GB system, split into 28 zones. A flexible generation mix, complex transmission, HVDC interconnectors and realistic transmission characteristics.
Why public models? Reproducibility, no IP or NDA constraints, established benchmarks for comparison, and well-understood by the research community.