About UTOPYS

The grid outgrew its theory. We're writing the next one.

UTOPYS (Understanding Large, Complex Power Systems) is a ten-year programme to develop a new scientific foundation for the grids we are about to depend on, enabled by a state-of-the-art real-time power system simulator.

It is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) as part of the National Roadmap for Large-Scale Research Infrastructure, and delivered by a consortium of eight Dutch universities and research institutions.

The challenge

For a century, power systems were governed by physics we understood well. Controllable synchronous generators, swing equations, known topologies, and predictable dynamics. Small systems could be calculated by hand; larger ones yielded to numerical methods. When something surprising happened, field measurements were usually enough to explain it.

Decarbonisation has changed that. Rotating machines are being replaced by renewable generation connected through power electronic inverters with low inertia and fast switching behaviour. The passive load side has become active: consumers are now prosumers, trading in markets and responding to prices. Electrification of industry, heating and transport is pushing generation and transport capacity to its limits.

The result is a system with emergent, non-stationary behaviour. Separation of scales, which underpinned most of our analytical tools, is disappearing: fast phenomena now propagate far, and processes that used to live in their own time domain (e.g. dispatch in hours, balancing in minutes, switching in fractions of a second) have begun to interact. Layer on top of that the coupling between continuous physical processes and discrete digital controllers, across millions of devices, and phenomena appear that nobody can currently account for. Offshore wind connections already show oscillations we cannot fully explain.

Understanding this requires new mathematics, new control theory, and new market and regulatory design. All three require something we do not currently have: observational and experimental data of a large, complex power system behaving under a wide range of conditions.

That data is impossible to obtain today. Experiments on the national or European grid are not permitted. Revealing events like severe faults are rare, and measurement resolution is too coarse. A physical replica of a national grid is financially and physically impossible, and scaled-down laboratory replicas simply do not exhibit the phenomena. The UTOPYS facility is built to provide exactly that: a way to generate this data.

What we want to achieve

The purpose of the infrastructure is the science it enables. UTOPYS targets three connected tracks.

A new mathematical framework for complex power systems, one that handles rare events and cyber-physical dependencies natively, explains the phenomena we currently cannot, and can quantify system adequacy, limits and risk.

A new paradigm of control with self-organising systems, predictive control through digital twins, and a proper account of how large numbers of digital controllers interact with continuous physical dynamics.

Decentralised market designs and adaptive regulation compatible with a renewable-dominated system, accounting for stability under real-time market dynamics, supply-demand balance, and fairness.

These are not independent. New mathematics feeds the control work; both are needed to test whether a proposed market rule or regulatory instrument actually holds up. The fundamental principles should transfer beyond power systems to other large, complex networked systems.

How the programme runs

The initial ten-year period is divided into four phases. UTOPYS is currently in phase 1.

Phase 1: Commissioning (2026 – 2028)
Installing the cluster and integrating it with existing models, data and Dutch research infrastructure. Building the first library of components and baseline network models. Establishing the online platform for collecting the models and data. Development of the training materials to support wider access.

Phase 2: Scientific foundation
The exploratory core of the programme: developing new mathematics, control strategies, and market and regulatory design across the three tracks, each tested step by step against UTOPYS simulations. 

Phase 3: System studies
Joint projects bring the threads together in large, system-level studies that build on the theory from phase 2, such as international power flows, the root causes of blackouts, and real-time flexibility markets.

Phase 4: Sustainable operation
Our aim is for UTOPYS to continue as a platform for research well beyond the initial ten years, growing with new technologies and principles as they enter the power system. Its modular architecture is built for that kind of extension, and we hope to sustain its operation through an ongoing portfolio of projects that use the infrastructure.

Funding and acknowledgement

UTOPYS is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) under the National Roadmap for Large-Scale Research Infrastructure. Co-funding is provided by the participating institutions.