Energy sector data sharing model proposed in Britain
Image: DESNZ
A ‘digital spine’ built on the essential functional components for data sharing is considered a feasible option to support the digitalisation of Britain’s energy system.
The proposal, which is advanced in a feasibility study by Arup, the Energy Systems Catapult and the University of Bath, is built on a ‘prepare’, ‘trust’, ‘share’ architecture, each considered vital to ensure an ecosystem of data sharing can be realised.
The ‘prepare’ component involves the implementation by each organisation of a cross-sector node that allows it to control and specify the data to share, prepares the data to a minimum operable data standard specific to each data type and use case, and presents it through standard APIs and access and security controls.
For this, there should be only one consistent cross-sector version to reduce the friction and barriers to cross-sector data sharing.
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The ‘trust’ component provides the definition, implementation and governance of the legal and identity frameworks, establishing the user’s confidence, right and legality, where required, to share data between parties.
This trust framework would be use case driven and there could be more than one of them in the sector, e.g. a ‘network’ instance, a ‘regulation’ instance and a ‘privately’ owned and operated instance but designed from the same blueprint and thus architecturally identical.
The ‘share’ component comprises the connectivity layer and technology implementation for the governance of access controls to data, enabling actors to discover data being shared, request and pull the data of interest from other actors and provide governance, licencing definition and brokerage.
Likewise, it is considered there could be more than one of these in the sector.
“The data sharing infrastructure enables and fosters a culture of data sharing in the sector by empowering collaboration within the sector to co-define the rules, and through the enabling infrastructure facilitating the sector to compete on the game,” states the feasibility study report.
Example use cases
The feasibility study was commissioned by the UK government following recommendations from a task force to advance the digitalisation and decarbonisation of the energy sector and is based on broad stakeholder input.
Requirements were inter alia that it should be equally a technological and a governance initiative and that it should be as simple as possible without barriers to entry for data providers or actors with lower digital capability and reporting.
Example use cases on which it has been tested include the identification of vulnerable customers, local energy planning and electricity flexibility.
Next steps
In an accompanying response document, the government states it believes that the feasibility study represents a positive contribution to the digitalisation of the energy system and the decarbonisation of the power sector and that a data sharing infrastructure would bring significant benefits to the energy sector.
Delivering it will require industry collaboration to address the technical and cultural challenges.
In the next steps the technical development will be led by the Electricity System Operator, soon to become National Energy System Operator (NESO), with the delivery of a pilot data sharing infrastructure based on an outage planning use case in 2024 and a minimum viable product in 2025.
On the governance side, Ofgem intends to publish a consultation on data sharing setting out its view on an enduring governance structure in winter 2024.
The government says it will scrutinise progress in this space and expects to publish a progress update in 2025.
