Illustrative: a wind farm on a ridge with rotors turning and helical wakes, or a solar tower and its heliostat field
Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Infrastructure, Energy and Industry · Department of Energy and Resources
Stability, adequacy and flexibility in power systems built on wind, solar and storage
Energy transition risk and grid integration
A power system dominated by wind, solar and batteries behaves differently from one built on spinning machines, and the risks change with it.
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- Inverter-based resources and system inertia
- Frequency and voltage stability
- Grid-forming and grid-following inverters
- Resource adequacy and loss-of-load expectation
- Flexibility, storage and demand response
- Transmission planning and interconnection queues
- Blackouts, restoration and black start
- Data centre demand growth
- Supply chain risk for transformers, cables and batteries
Build a twin of any place
Search any place or open the world; the layers and generators follow energy transition risk and grid integration on the planet map, the globe and in 3D.
Infrastructure, Energy and IndustryAny placeTwin builder
- Terrain 0 to 523 m
- 83,815 buildings in the box
- 5,085 footprints in the core, 2,796 with an estimated height
- Roads 176 km
- Rail 99 km
- 57 substations
- 4 port
- 2 airport
- 5 hospitals
- 8 railway stations
- 4 water works
- 2 power plants, 202 MW
Drag to move, right drag or Shift with a drag to turn and tilt, Ctrl with the wheel to zoom. Keyboard: arrows move, Shift with arrows turn and tilt, + and – zoom, 0 resets, V steps through the views, Escape clears.
Places5
Layers5
iCredits
- Terrain Surface height in whole metres on a grid of about a hundred and twenty metres, read from one overview of the 30 m product at build time. Produced using Copernicus WorldDEM-30 © DLR e.V. 2010–2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014–2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved. read 2026-10-17. Estimate: A surface model: trees and roofs are in the heights. Relief is exaggerated for legibility and the factor is printed on the stage.
- Buildings Footprints of the central city extruded to their tagged height, and a count of buildings per 150 m cell over the rest of the box. © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0. data as of 2026-10-17. Estimate: Where a building has no height or levels tag its height is an estimate by use, flagged in the data and shown in a lighter tone.
- Roads and rail Motorways, trunk, primary and secondary roads and the railway lines, with their length in kilometres. © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0. data as of 2026-07-15.
- Lifeline assets Substations with their tagged voltage, port land, the airport, hospitals, railway stations and water works, each as one point. © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0. data as of 2026-05-31.
- Power plants Every plant inside the box, with capacity in MW and primary fuel, from the 2021 release. Power plants: Global Power Plant Database v1.3.0 (2021), World Resources Institute and partners, CC BY 4.0. release 1.3.0, 2021-06-02. Estimate: A 2021 snapshot, never current operating status.
Why this place: Wellington's regional lifelines programme, which began with a published 1991 case study of its lifelines in earthquakes, is a reference case for lifelines engineering, so the twin teaches on the place where the practice was named. One box of about twenty by eighteen kilometres holds a dense harbour city on steep terrain, its port and airport, the rail terminus and the Hutt corridor, the substations that feed the city and two wind farms in the western hills, so every lifeline family is present and legible at one scale. Data quality: OpenStreetMap building and road coverage of New Zealand is complete, Copernicus DEM GLO-30 covers the terrain at thirty metres, and the Global Power Plant Database lists the plants.
Flat plan of the same data. The 3D twin opens on devices that can draw it, once its data and code have been checked; the numbers are the same either way.
The boundaries, names and designations shown do not imply any judgement on the legal status of any territory, or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Countries: Natural Earth (public domain).
Energy now in New Zealand
Night-time lights, fires and gas flares, sunshine and heat, the signals of energy use, supply and demand, over New Zealand.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 2
Energy now
Keyboard, with the map focused
Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll to zoom
Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
Loading the latest NASA imagery.
Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
Energy now, framed on New Zealand.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), VIIRS 375 m active fire product, NASA LANCE; vector tiles via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- MERRA-2 reanalysis, NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office; distributed by the NASA GES DISC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- MODIS and VIIRS atmosphere products, NASA LANCE and LAADS DAAC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
- Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
- Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
- Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
- Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
- NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- Past year, daily temperature (ERA5 via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
- Past year, daily temperature and sunshine (NASA POWER): These data were obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) POWER Project funded through the NASA Earth Science/Applied Science Program..
- Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Optional layers (8 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates
- Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
- Active fires and thermal anomalies: VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m (FIRMS), NASA LANCE FIRMS · 13 Oct 2026
- Incoming sunlight at the surface over land, monthly mean: MERRA-2, NASA GMAO / GES DISC · July 2026
- Daytime cloud fraction: MODIS Terra, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
- Land surface temperature, day: VIIRS NOAA-20, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
- Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
The subject, methods and measures and debates and bodies
The field and its scope
For grid planners, system operators, protection and control engineers, market analysts and regulators who need to assess stability, adequacy and flexibility in power systems with high shares of inverter-based generation.
Quantities and units
Methods and their limits
Each method is listed with what it assumes and where it fails.
What the field debates
Bodies that set practice, and the data they publish
Bodies and standards are named so learners can find and apply their published work; the Academy teaches their use and links to the publisher, and no affiliation is implied.
From a tripped unit to a frequency nadir: inertia, the rate of change of frequency and the seconds that matter
A sudden loss of generation is a power imbalance; the kinetic energy stored in rotating machines sets how fast frequency falls; the seconds until fast reserve arrives set how far it falls; and whether the nadir stays above the load-shedding threshold is the question operators plan around.
Sources: Milano et al., Foundations and challenges of low-inertia systems (2018); Tielens and Van Hertem, The relevance of inertia in power systems (2016); Bialek, What does the GB power outage on 9 August 2019 tell us about the current state of decarbonised power systems? (2020); Hatziargyriou et al., Definition and classification of power system stability revisited and extended (2021).
How energy transition risk and grid integration connects the sectors
Select corners to build a signature, then hover a line to read what each sector gives and receives.
Signature
Energy and its partners
Energy gives power for transport and telecoms to infrastructure (0.8), pumping and treatment to water (0.5) and fertiliser, machinery and cold chains to food (0.5).
W · E · I · F · H · B
- Sectors
- 4 of 6
- Relations
- 6 of 15
- Coupling
- 0.46 share of total
Strongest relations in play
- Energy → Infrastructure · power for transport and telecoms0.8
- Water → Energy · cooling water and hydropower0.6
- Water → Food · irrigation0.8
- Infrastructure → Water · pipes, dams and treatment works0.6
At a glance, hub, what is changing now and courses
Energy transition risk and grid integration at a glance
risksacademy.cominfrastructure-energydiscipline
- Open, 0
- In preparation, 0
- Subtopics, 9
Research and tools
Research and preprints as they are published, by discipline, with the faculty's other tools.
The hub lists the newest research and preprints for Energy transition risk and grid integration, each with its source and date. Open the research hub
What is changing now
Recent developments in energy transition risk and grid integration, each with its source; sources checked on 16 October 2026.
- Report
Expert panel explains the 2025 Iberian blackout
The ENTSO-E expert panel's final report found the 28 April 2025 blackout in Spain and Portugal resulted from interacting factors, including oscillations, gaps in voltage and reactive power control and cascading generator disconnections, and recommended operational, monitoring and regulatory changes.
Why it matters. It is the reference case for voltage control risk in high-renewable grids and shows local behaviour can trigger system-wide failure.
Source: ENTSO-E, 28 April 2025 Iberian blackout, 20 March 2026.
Courses in this discipline
Courses for this discipline are in development; until they open, study it through the connected courses and open lessons below.
The course catalogue lists every open course of the Academy.
How Energy transition risk and grid integration is taught, as a process you can run
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Practice, learning and connections
How technology helps and what risk it brings
Achievements in this discipline
Course achievements
One for each course with this as its primary discipline, earned when you pass the course's assessed activities.
Department: Energy and Resources
Earn two discipline achievements in the Department of Energy and Resources. In development.
An achievement is a record of the learning completed and assessed here. How recognition works.
Where the subject is practised
A field platform page on this subject is in development.
The two Foundry systems where it is practised
- FoundryNXS-NET systemGrid stability and restoration are network continuity problemsContinuity room, Topology room
- NXS-DSS systemTransition pathways and adequacy are scenario setsScenarios room
Foundry system pages describe what each system and its rooms are designed to do; the courses teach the methods these systems apply.
Across the ecosystem
Take part in Infrastructure, Energy and Industry
Start from who you are.
Core references and where to begin
Start with Hatziargyriou, then Tielens, then Milano.
Questions, answers and key terms
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Where do the data and the places come from?
How do I take part beyond the courses in energy transition risk and grid integration?
Key terms
Inverter-based resource
A generator or storage unit connected through power electronics, such as solar, wind or batteries.
System inertia
The kinetic energy stored in rotating machines that slows frequency change after a disturbance.
Grid-forming inverter
An inverter that sets voltage and frequency itself, so that it can support a grid with few synchronous machines.
Loss-of-load expectation
The expected number of hours or days in a period when demand cannot be met.
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
Around Energy transition risk and grid integration
Prepare with a related course
Open courses in connected disciplines teach the methods this discipline will build on.