Introduction: The project will consider the requirements, the high-level architecture, operational need, and business impact of developing a future control room simulated environment. The outputs will include an initial roadmap and architectural design for the future control room simulator, as well as outline a proposed programme of works for the simulator’s initial operational period. This NIA project will also make recommendations for future development, further work required, use cases and user requirements for the proposed simulator to assess its viability and ongoing benefits to the electricity industry.

Objectives: The project has the following key objectives: 

Capture the requirements from a range of internal and external stakeholders for a future control room.
Identify a range of existing and new use cases, create a set of future scenarios and perform a first assessment on how today’s control room will need to adapt to be able to perform in these future scenarios.
Establish a preferred option, design, and requirements specification for a potential future control room simulator that will be used to simulate the requirements and future scenarios identified in objectives 1 & 2.
Capture the current and future functionalities and requirements of technology vendors and suppliers.
Demonstrate affordability and fundability of the preferred solution through the development of a robust financial business case.
Develop a roadmap for the facility with an associated short, medium and long-term innovation programme. This roadmap will extend beyond the build of a digital twin of the GB electricity network and will clearly highlight the critical path to enabling the DSO transition.