Modernising Energy Data
The government is working with Ofgem, Innovate UK and other industry stakeholders to implement the vision of the Energy Data Taskforce through the Modernising Energy Data programme.
Overview
Data is fundamental to the future of our economy, which is why it is the focus of one of the Grand Challenges in our Modern Industrial Strategy.
In the energy sector, data is key to unlocking system and consumer benefits and managing the transition to a low carbon economy. With energy increasingly decentralised, millions of assets – solar panels, batteries, electric vehicle charge points and heat pumps –will need to be able to communicate with the operators of our networks, market platforms and each other. New business models will emerge that will reduce consumer bills and system costs whilst driving decarbonisation.
Data is essential to enable this. Transparent, accessible, interoperable and accurate data will facilitate the development of markets that will put consumers at the heart of this change, while enabling networks to support the proliferation of new business models and technologies.
The government and Ofgem have endorsed the Energy Data Taskforce’s recommendations. The next phase of work has begun; whilst the Taskforce itself has ended, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Ofgem and Innovate UK have formed a new group (Modernising Energy Data) working collaboratively with industry and other parts of government and the public sector to implement the vision described in the Taskforce’s report.
Activities underway
Some activities already underway by the Modernising Energy Data group are:
- an early draft of the Data Best Practice guidance (funded by Innovate UK and developed by Energy Systems Catapult) has now been published. This guidance will help organisations understand government and regulator expectations on how data should be managed to meet the needs of users
- BEIS is funding the development of an Energy Data Visibility Service in partnership with ONS. ONS are conducting user research and we expect a decision on next steps in the third quarter of 2020. Read the project specifications
- setting of regulatory expectations for digitalisation and the use of data through position papers and updates on the Ofgem website. Ofgem have also reviewed the networks’ digitalisation strategies and responded via an open letter
- additionally, recognising the need for interoperability between digital services, Innovate UK are running a £2 million innovation competition called Modernising Energy Data Access. The objective is to develop the right architecture that will allow efficient data sharing and enable interlinking of existing and new datasets across different sectors (like energy, transport, heat, land use etc), to support innovation and holistic decision making and outcomes.
Why the group was set up
The government and Ofgem announced the Energy Data Taskforce in October 2018, as part of the progress update to the Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan.
The Taskforce, led by Laura Sandys from Challenging Ideas and the Energy Systems Catapult, was tasked with investigating how the use of data could be transformed across our energy system and published in the report A Strategy for a Modern Digitalised Energy System.
The report provided a suite of recommendations on how to enable more effective sharing and use of data, including themes like:
- digitalise the energy sector and evolve its culture to embed the values of ‘presumed open’, i.e. making data publicly shareable as much as possible, while protecting commercially or personally sensitive data
- make data discoverable, searchable and understandable through a digital visibility service that makes it easy to find and use it
- establish an asset registration strategy, simplifying the experience for consumers through a user-friendly interface in order to increase registration compliance, improve the reliability of data and improve the efficiency of data collection and sharing
- ensure industry assets and infrastructure can be visualised through customisable and interoperable digital mapping services, enabling system optimisation as well as informing innovative business models and markets
Contact
If you would like to get involved, please contact us using the details below.
BEIS - smartenergy@beis.gov.uk
Innovate UK - EnergyData@innovateuk.ukri.org