Jon Regnart, Senior Consultant for Business Modelling Innovation, on keeping critical services running through power disruptions. And why storage, AI-driven analytics, microgrid controls and new commercial models could help

There’s nothing quite like the panic of rushing for a train, feeling proud you’ve made the platform on time, only for all the stations boards to flash up “TRAIN DELAYED”.

I had a particularly bad experience at Tile Hill Station, near the University of Warwick. A storm had brought down the overhead power line, and I was stuck there for hours. Cold and wet, I eventually gave up on my evening pub plans and just paid for a taxi home. Electrified services are only as dependable as the power behind them.

It was irritating. But, looking back, I was actually fortunate. I had the means to get a taxi, get home and carry on my evening as normal.

For many of us, that’s probably what energy system failure looks like: rare, memorable and annoyingly inconvenient.

As a child, I thought those moment when the electricity went off was strangely exciting, getting the candles out and my neighbour’s wind-up torch whirring away. That novelty is a sign of how incredibly reliable the UK energy system has been in recent years.

Why resilience matters

But the consequences of an energy system failure aren’t evenly distributed. What is a minor inconvenience and a fairly fun childhood memory for me can disrupt essential services, isolate communities or put vulnerable people at risk. That’s why we’ve launched the Energy Resilience Accelerator – to help UK SMEs scale their innovations.

For emergency services transitioning to electric fleets, an energy system needs to maintain emergency response capability during a power outage. For electricity network operators, a resilient energy system means providing vulnerable customers, remote and island communities with essential services through prolonged blackouts.

These are all challenges being faced today, not hypothetical future scenarios. And as we electrify more of our transport, heating and critical infrastructure, the consequences of disruption change too. So, resilience needs to be designed into the UK’s clean energy transition from the start, not added as an afterthought.

Five challenges for scale-ups, set by the organisations that face them

Energy Systems Catapult has partnered with organisations including NHS England, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED), the National Energy System Operator (NESO) and Centrica to develop a series of demand-led innovation challenges focused on energy resilience.

Our challenge partners have helped define the problems, and now we’re looking for SMEs with solutions that can help address them. If you’re successful, you’ll have the opportunity to shape your solutions with organisations actively seeking new approaches to resilience.

The challenges span very different parts of the energy system:

1. Keeping NHS ambulance fleets operational during power disruptions as services electrify;
2. Helping remote and island communities remain resilient through severe weather and a changing energy system;
3. Enabling network operators to better anticipate and support vulnerable customers during outages;
4. Understanding complex infrastructure dependencies and resilience risks; and
5. Developing commercially viable alternatives to business-as-usual backup generation for critical sites and estates.

Resilience is more than hardware

Importantly, we’re not only looking for new technologies.

One of the strongest themes to emerge from our challenge development work is that resilience is rarely delivered by a single piece of new hardware. It increasingly depends on the interaction of technologies, data, services, business models and operational capabilities. A battery alone is not necessarily a resilience solution. Neither is a backup generator.

Take an ambulance fleet: keeping it on the road during an outage depends on smart charging, forecasting and a clear backup plan as much as any one battery. Resilience comes from how technologies, data, services, people and operational processes work together: better forecasting, smarter decision-making, improved coordination, greater visibility and commercial models that make investment viable.

Who we want to hear from

That means we want to hear from a diverse range of innovators.

You might be developing long-duration energy storage. You might be creating AI-driven predictive analytics, resilience modelling platforms, decision-support software, asset monitoring solutions, flexibility services, microgrid controls or new commercial models that make resilience investments more attractive.

And your solution doesn’t necessarily need to have started in energy. We’re particularly interested in organisations that have tackled similar challenges in sectors such as defence, aerospace, telecommunications and other critical industries. If you can see how your capability could transfer to the energy system, we’d like to hear from you.

What matters most is that your innovation has reached a level of maturity where it is ready to engage with real customers and can be implemented against real operational challenges.

We’re looking for SMEs with solutions at technology readiness level (TRL) 6 or above and evidence of traction, whether through pilots, deployments, customer engagement or commercial activity.

Support for homegrown innovation

Successful applicants will receive tailored technical and commercial support from the Catapult, access to challenge partners, support to develop trial propositions, and opportunities to shape solutions around genuine operational needs.

Most importantly, they will gain access to organisations that are actively looking for answers to resilience challenges and potential routes to future deployment.

So, if your organisation is developing technologies, services or business models that could help critical services and infrastructure anticipate, withstand and recover from disruption, we’d like to hear from you.

Because the most successful innovations are not simply the most novel.

They’re the ones that solve a real challenge for a real energy user and create a real route to market.

Applications are open until 8 November. Find out more and apply for the Energy Resilience Accelerator.