Special issue on highly distributed power systems

The energy sector is operating in a context of continual change driven by a combination of government policy, environmental aspirations, regulatory influence, an ageing asset base, technical innovation, and changing social patterns and energy needs. While this creates a high degree of uncertainty, it is widely agreed that the 2030-50 UK power system will see significant penetration from small-scale generation, energy storage, and controllable load (collectively, 'distributed energy resources' (DER)) dispersed within the power network. Innovative work is required in order to research, assess, and demonstrate the workings of a highly distributed power system (HDPS) that is able to best utilise these DER. This special issue draws on the findings of the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)SUPERGENprogramme, particularly its consortium addressing'Highly distributed power systems'