School of Chemical Engineering Associate Professor. Grant Wilson is an Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering with research interests in multi-vector, multi-scale data analytics, and a particular focus on the comparison of energy vectors over similar timeframes. Grant has published 14 research papers in scientific journals as well several online pieces in The Conversation. Digging deeper into the challenges of the decarbonisation of heat — it is the flexibility of energy systems to deliver energy in space and time that defines the greatest challenges.
How do we provide energy system flexibility in a low-carbon manner? How do we do this over different timescales? The Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage is researching answers to these critical questions, and the Energy Informatics Group continues to focus on bringing wider attention to this looming problem.
He is also interested in innovations in teaching and learning, and passionate about the benefits of using empirical energy data in teaching and wider outreach on the challenges of the energy transition. After several years in the public sector and in industry, he returned to the University of Strathclyde to undertake a PhD in Grant then became the senior researcher for the European Smart CO2 Transformation project that aimed to accelerate the penetration of CO2 derived products into various markets.
He is passionate about public engagement about energy systems, in particular the British energy system where the data is robust. His research is motivated to better understand the interactions between differing energy networks, demand management, and active network management over different timescales. This is key to understanding the routes to enhance network flexibility and resilience in order to decarbonise energy systems. Long-term, reducing our use of fossil fuels brings challenges in terms of the provision of stored energy available to energy systems to provide a balance between supply and demand.
This stored energy challenge needs to be addressed to enable the energy systems to fully decarbonise, by reducing the need for stored energy, and finding lower carbon methods to store energy.
