Dr Wei Sun

Chancellor's Fellow in Energy Systems Integration

Dr Wei Sun is a Chancellor's in Energy Systems Integration within the School of Engineering. His research focuses on the planning and operation of low-carbon energy systems with high renewable penetration, utilising applied data science and advanced optimisation techniques. Dr Sun holds a Visiting Research Fellowship at UCL.

Dr Sun has extensive experience in energy modelling at different scales. He previously worked on building a multi-scale energy system integration architecture for the National Centre for Energy Systems Integration (CESI) and served as a lead researcher on the Hydrogen’s Value in the Energy System (HYVE) project. He has also contributed to the RESTLESS and ARIES energy resilience projects.

Current Focus 1: Decarbonising AI & Data Centres

 Dr Sun’s recent work addresses the critical energy challenges posed by the rapid growth of Artificial Intelligence. He focuses on quantifying the flexibility of data centres and optimising their integration into the power grid to support net-zero targets.

• Spatial Flexibility: Scheduling computing loads across geographically distributed centres.
• Temporal Flexibility: Optimising job timing to match renewable generation.
• Supply Configuration: Integrating on-site storage and renewables.

 Dr Sun recently organised the  International Workshop on Managing Global Energy Demand of AI Data Centres (Imperial College London, 2025).

Invited talks for IEEE PES International Meeting (PESIM) 2026, Assessing Data Center Flexibility in Low-carbon Power System: Current Capabilities and Future Prospects

Selected Recent Publications

• Grid Frequency Stability Support Potential of Data Center: A Quantitative Assessment of Flexibility in IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications (In press, 2026)
• Multi-Objective Low-Carbon Scheduling Method for Data Centers Based on Ensemble Reinforcement Learning in IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid (2025) link

Open PhD Opportunity

Topic: Improve the Energy Sustainability of AI Data Centers in Future Energy System

Current Focus 2: Open Energy Modelling & PyPSA-GB

Teaming up with Dr Andrew Lyden, Dr Sun works on PyPSA-GB, an open-source model of the Great Britain power system. Moving away from "black box" commercial tools, the team advocates for transparent, reproducible energy modelling. Their research utilises high-fidelity simulations to stress-test grid resilience against extreme weather, analyse security of supply risks in Scotland, and optimise flexibility assets to minimise renewable curtailment.

Key Output

• PyPSA-GB GitHub Repository – Open-source code for the GB transmission network model.
• Electricity System Security of Supply in Scotland (Report for ClimateXChange/Scottish Government, 2023)
• PyPSA-GB: An Open-Source Model of Great Britain’s Power System (Foundational Paper)

• PhD Electrical Power Engineering, University of Edinburgh, 2015

• Chartered Engineer (CEng)
• Member of the Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET)
• Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)

• Hydropower Interdisciplinary Group Design Project [MEng]
• Electrical Engineering Fundamentals of Renewable Energy [MSc]
• MSc Sustainable Energy Systems - Dissertation supervision
• MSc Advanced Power Engineering - Dissertation supervision

• Network Integration of DER
• Electricity Network Modelling
• Gas/Hydrogen Network Modelling
• Climate Change Impacts on Renewable Energy
• Optimisation Modelling
• Statistic analysis
• Data Science applications in Power Systems