The systems that keep a modern city running are under strain their designers never imagined. AI data centres are consuming electricity at unprecedented rates, electric vehicles are plugging in at unpredictable hours, and renewable energy is feeding the grid in fits and starts. At a press conference held on 3 September, PolyU stepped forward and introduced the InnoHK Research Centre for Intelligent GRID and Energy Technologies (InnoHK I-GET), the only initiative under the InnoHK research platform dedicated to power grid technology. Part of SEAM@InnoHK, the third InnoHK research cluster established by the HKSAR Government, the Centre is based at the Hong Kong Science Park and draws together scientific and industrial strengths from Hong Kong, the Chinese Mainland and around the world.

Following the launch ceremony, Prof. Christopher Chao, PolyU Senior Vice President (Research and Innovation) (2nd from left); Prof. Zheng Zijian, PolyU Vice President (Knowledge Transfer) (1st from right); Prof. Chung Chi-yung, Director of InnoHK I-GET (1st from left); and Prof. Sir Bashir M. Al-Hashimi, Co-Director of InnoHK I-GET (2nd from right), introduced InnoHK I-GET at a press conference held on PolyU's campus on 3 September.

A milestone rooted in national priorities

Professor Christopher Chao, Senior Vice President (Research and Innovation) of PolyU, called the Centre a proud milestone in the University’s commitment to turning frontier research into real-world solutions. He noted that the Nation’s 15th Five-Year Plan prioritises a comprehensive green transition and the modernisation of traditional power grids into flexible, interactive smart architectures, a goal a global top-50 university is well placed to advance. He added that infrastructure could struggle to keep pace with soaring computing power, pointing to solutions such as shifting to energy storage during off-peak hours when electricity demand is low.

Breaking disciplinary boundaries

For Professor Zheng Zijian, Vice President (Knowledge Transfer) of PolyU, the Centre represents a fresh way of thinking for both grid research and industrial manufacturing. “The greatest distinction of I-GET is that it breaks through the relatively limited interdisciplinary boundaries of the power grid field in the past, expanding into broader interdisciplinary integration,” he remarked. Professor Zheng added that the Centre will collaborate with PolyU’s Mainland Translational Research Institutes across 12 Chinese Mainland cities and power enterprises in the Greater Bay Area to achieve complementary strengths in pursuit of carbon neutrality.

That breadth is reflected in the Centre’s four key research areas: autonomous energy management technologies for smart grids, green and intelligent grid interfaces, grid-friendly new energy transport, and emerging grid and energy technologies. Its research reaches well beyond electrical engineering into AI, advanced materials, electrified transportation, cybersecurity and quantum technologies.

The most complex system ever built

Professor Chung Chi-yung, Head of the PolyU Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Chair Professor of Power Systems Engineering and Director of the Research Centre for Grid Modernisation, serves as Director of InnoHK I-GET. He described the power grid as the most complex system humanity has ever built, noting that the shift to intelligent networks must absorb vast amounts of new energy whose output is inherently uncertain and intermittent. Commuters charging vehicles at fluctuating times and surging data centre consumption, he explained, compound the challenge of managing traditional systems. Professor Chung revealed that the Centre aims to nurture more than 80 high-calibre researchers and engineers, and expressed confidence that the actual figure would climb far higher with government support and industry investment.

A global partnership

Professor Sir Bashir M. Al-Hashimi, Senior Vice President (Research & Special Initiatives) of King’s College London and Co-Director of InnoHK I-GET, welcomed this international research consortium as an opportunity to reimagine a future power grid that is more resilient, sustainable, intelligent and capable of supporting everything from electric vehicles to AI-enabled services.

Bringing together more than 70 professors across the globe and 60 key industry partners, China Southern Power Grid Company, CLP Power Hong Kong Limited, HK Electric and Companhia de Electricidade de Macau – CEM, S.A., InnoHK I-GET is set to translate its research breakthroughs into international standards, bringing Hong Kong’s technologies to the world.