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NETWORK / 21 / MARCH 2018 experts and external stakehold- ers to map future uncertainties to which the project may need to adapt. Community interviews are enabling the team to better understand the importance of energy within everyday life, as well as how new innovations may affect people. Interviews have already taken place with residents of Caerau, concern - ing the mine water heat source project. Joint principal investigator Professor Karen Henwood comments: "As social scientists within FLEXIS, we're exploring how energy system transfor- mation will matter to citizens, communities, scientists and society. Our investigations will gain momentum as we embed them within demonstrator sites such as Port Talbot." Led by Professor Andrew Barron, the energy safety research strand is investigat - ing the technological develop- ments required for the extrac- tion of shale gas with minimal environmental impact and minimal resource needs, based on laboratory experiments and field research as well as com - putational modelling. Professor Barron's team is also looking at carbon capture and utilisation, specifically advanced carbon capture materials to application; new catalysts for the conversion of CO2 to fuel and flow cells for the total gas phase conversion of CO2 to fuel. The Sustainable Environment Research Centre (SERC) team is investigating routes to de- carbonise energy supply from optimised production of hydro - gen and methane from waste biomass such as sewage sludge, food wastes and straw, to developing bio-electrochemical systems to convert organic waste streams to hydrogen based fuels. Biological based reaction systems are also being devel- oped to convert carbon found in biomass wastes with hydrogen to green chemical intermediates for use in the paint and coating industries. In addition, SERC is developing hydrogen energy storage equipment in support of management strategies for intermittent renewable supply, whilst developing and dem- onstrating a range of fuel cell technologies including PEM for transport and stationary power and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) for heat and power from indus- trial syngases. International in nature Whilst FLEXIS has been funded to support development in the Welsh energy sector, its aspira- tions clearly have an interna- tional context. In August 2017, FLEXIS was launched globally at the 9th International Conference on Applied Energy hosted by Cardiff University. This leading annual international meeting for applied energy attracted over 630 delegates from more than 55 countries. A special plenary session of keynote speakers from across three continents (North America, Asia, Europe) presented their interpretation of energy system development across continents. FLEXIS hosted dedicated panel ses - sions with international guest experts on topics ranging from multi-vector energy systems to ammonia energy storage. FLEXIS principal investiga - tors Professors Alan Guwy and Phil Bowen represent the UK on the International Energy Agency (IEA) Technology Collaborative and Advisory Committees con - cerning hydrogen energy storage and clean and efficient combus- tion respectively. What's next for FLEXIS? The research will continue, effectively disseminated, whilst research associates will continue to be trained to con - tribute as future leaders in this challenging field. A major focus of attention over the next six months will be the crystallisa- tion of ideas for effective, timely development of the Neath Port Talbot demonstration area. For further information visit www. flexis.wales or www.flexis.cymru SMART INFRASTRUCTURE & CONNECTED ASSETS Is your organisation responsible for critical grid communications? Is it able to manage the exploding number of connected devices for automation and Internet of Things (IoT) deployments? The challenge can be huge. Connected communications devices need to support many applications, including automatic fault location and reclosing, asset health monitoring, inverter control, distributed generation protection, and advanced metering infrastructure. In the UK/Ireland landscape, the journey to DSO compounds this, especially as substation assets become increasingly digital and compute aware. The number of connected assets with communications capabilities can grow into the hundreds of thousands - and often much more. In one recent case, a utility planning to deploy its own private LTE network identified the need to manage over one- million pole-top devices. Adding to the challenge, device communications capabilities must be kept up-to-date. This optimises application performance while minimising cyber security threats. And to reduce costs, the maximum number of management functions should be securely performed remotely – functions, including remote configuration, troubleshooting and bulk jobs, such as firmware upgrades, as well as centralised data collection. Moreover, these functions need to be performed on multiple vendor devices connected to wireless and fixed private networks, as well as carrier services. On top of this, your staff need to master the growing volume of smarter OT communications and IoT type devices. So, are you ready to address today's device management chal- lenge? Check out Nokia solutions at: www.networks.nokia.com/ power-utilities/field-area-network or contact Nigel.nawacki@nokia.com for further information. I N D U S T RY I N S I G H T Get ahead of the IoT device management challenge Sensor Volt/VAR Recloser Device management Automate remote device management to optimize operations costs with growing M2M/IoT 0123