Supply and Delivery of a 5G network

Founded by the University of Strathclyde, Scottish Power Energy Networks and SSE Power Distribution, with support from Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Funding Council, the Power Networks Demonstration Centre (PNDC), recently secured funding from Transport Scotland to create a low carbon transport and propulsion systems hub as part of the broader whole energy systems capability that will focus on the testing and de-risking of integrated low and zero emission transport systems in the whole system context. The funding grant makes up part of a wider project where the Scottish Government intend to work with partners to deliver its actions to change the culture so that electric vehicles (EVs) are preferred to petrol and diesel vehicles. The electrification of transport places increased demands on managing electricity distribution networks, and with that, significantly enhanced communications capability. It represents a significant step in the change to decarbonisation and reducing the use of fossil fuels such as these used in petrol and diesel vehicles. Such a change will present an overall increase and particularly extremely localised electrical demand when charging vehicles. Coordinating these rapid change in electrical demand requires a secure, reliable and fast communication network, such that electrical generation can match demand. This test 5G network will enable testing various communication architectures to enable this transition. This equipment will be additional to the current infrastructure at PNDC and must be connected to provide the enhanced capability.