Automatic Control Engineering: The Catalyst for Clean Growth
Automatic Control Engineering (ACE) is a cornerstone discipline for dealing with the substantial growth of global energy demand and achieving a sustainable, Net-Zero, future. By developing sophisticated control systems and algorithms, ACE plays a pivotal role in optimising processes across various sectors, from energy generation and distribution to manufacturing and agriculture. The UK government has identified clean growth as a key priority, recognising the potential for economic growth and job creation while addressing climate change challenges, which are many and interconnected, such as different spatial and temporal scales and computation tractability, long-term planning decisions interacting with sub-hourly operational decisions, dynamic, deep uncertainties.
ACE is uniquely positioned to contribute to this vision by delivering innovative solutions to complex problems. The increased control over the network can enable a wider, more sophisticated range of smart methods and innovative schemes, such as demand response and smart energy management systems. By optimising power grids, enhancing manufacturing efficiency, and implementing precision agriculture techniques, ACE can help the UK achieve its ambitious clean growth targets.
The Clean Growth Committee is focused on four key areas:
- Control and optimisation of future energy systems: energy systems are evolving to integrate more renewable sources, digital technologies and distributed energy resources. This requires advanced algorithms and control systems to balance supply and demand, ensure system stability and reliability, and enhance energy efficiency in buildings and across multiple energy vectors, such as electricity, heat, and gas, while reducing carbon emissions. Hence, ACE is essential for creating a more flexible, resilient and sustainable energy system.
- Sustainable manufacturing and industrial decarbonisation: industrial processes need to reduce carbon emissions and environmental impact through the integration of cleaner technologies and renewable energy. ACE plays a crucial role in optimising energy use and production, enhancing process efficiency, and monitoring real-time operations. By optimally managing the complexity of modern manufacturing while reducing energy consumption, and minimising waste and emission, ACE contributes driving the transition toward more sustainable industrial practices.
- Sustainable agriculture and food systems: food needs to be produced in ways that preserve resources, reduce environmental impact, and enhance food security. Achieving sustainability in agriculture requires the use of automatic control systems to enable precision farming, which optimises water and energy usage, monitor soil health, enhance efficiency and yield while minimising waste, emissions, and resource depletion. By developing control systems for irrigation, fertilisation, and crop management, ACE is essential for creating resilient, productive, and environmentally friendly agricultural systems that can meet the demands of a growing population.
- Climate change mitigation and adaptation: the interactions between decarbonisation, climate adaptation and equity in interconnected energy systems needs to be captured to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adjust to the impacts of a changing climate. ACE plays a crucial role in this context by optimising energy efficiency, improving the integration of renewable technologies, enhancing the ability of infrastructure to respond dynamically to climate-related disruptions, such as extreme weather events, ensuring more effective and timely interventions.
The Clean Growth Committee will provide informational forums, meetings for technical discussions, organise workshops, invited sessions, and special issues, bringing together academics and industry experts to tackle the multifaceted challenges associated with clean growth through advanced control systems and technologies.
Through collaboration with industry, academia, and policymakers, the ACE Network is committed to address the pressing needs of sustainable development and support the transition to a low-carbon economy.