Smart meter data – new uses under investigation in GB

Two major initiatives have been launched to grow the use of smart meter data to support the development of new products and services for Britain’s consumers and the energy system.

The two initiatives, which are supported with £2.8 million (US$3.3 million) in funding from the government’s Flexibility Innovation Programme, are focussed on the establishment of a smart meter energy data repository and smart meter-based Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

As smart meters proliferate they are providing a growing source of data on consumer consumption patterns and network behaviour. Demand is growing, not only in Britain but elsewhere such as in Europe and the US, for access to this data to develop new innovations and accelerate the emergence of the decentralised flexibility based energy system.

The two programmes are being run in two phases, with the first to investigate the feasibilities of the respective proposals, from which one each will be selected for the second phase to develop a demonstrator.

Smart meter energy data repository programme

The smart meter energy data repository programme with a total £1 million funding is founded on the challenge of accessing the data that is spread across the millions of smart meters while maintaining privacy and other limitations and is proposing the establishment of a single, secure cloud-based repository for the data.

Currently some data is made available via the Data Communications Company (DCC), which operates the network connecting the smart meters with the energy suppliers, but the access is both complex and time consuming.

The aim of the phase 1, for which three projects have been selected, is to determine the technical and commercial feasibility of such a repository, quantify the benefits and costs and simulate how it could work.

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The three projects will be undertaken together with the DCC.

Anonymisation Enhanced Smart Meter Data Repository: Energy data and software company Advanced Infrastructure Technology Limited and network operator Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks will collaborate on a machine learning-based solution to leverage aggregated anonymised smart meter data to reduce the cost of heating and powering homes.

The approach is anticipated to help lower prices and speed up the rollouts of low carbon technologies such as electric vehicle chargers and heating systems.

Smart Energy Data Repository: Energy software and hardware company Hildebrand is leading a consortium including Frontier Economics, legal company Bird & Bird and the University of Salford to examine the use cases of a centralised energy data repository that allow privacy preserving analytics to be done on smart meter data.

These use cases might include understanding the impact of energy suppliers’ flexibility events, conducting carbon accounting or aggregating demand to ensure grid stability.

Smart Open Data Access: Icebreaker One, a data specialist, is leading a technical and commercial feasibility assessment of an open, decentralised and standards-based approach for a smart meter data repository, based on a ‘connect don’t collect’ data approach.

The project will identify and prioritise a use case and put forward a proposal for how this core use case can be technically addressed, using a privacy and data protection-by-design approach.

Smart meter-based Internet of Things (IoT) applications

The smart meter system based IoT applications programme with total £1.8 million- (US$2.2 million) funding is aimed to assess the role of data in deriving benefits from the monitoring and management of smart meter system based IoT sensor devices.

Phase 1 funding has been awarded to five projects.

City Science SMART Hub for Distributed Demand Side Response: Engineering company City Science and the University of Exeter intend to develop a ‘SmartHub’ device to enable demand side response.

The focus will be on the management of heat pumps for domestic heating, but the device will be designed using open standards to allow for various demand response applications, such as smart EV charging and the management of other smart appliances.

Project SMASH: Green Energy Options will explore a number of topical use cases, including capacity planning and management of low voltage networks, load peak avoidance in individual homes and support for residential demand side response.

In addition, the project will consider the development of a prepayment meter interface device that is also a home energy management system.

Smart Metering Internet of Things System: Hildebrand will lead the DCC and University of Salford to investigate using sensors connected via the DCC’s smart metering communications system to provide data for the management of energy use flexibility and efficiency.

In phase 1, the aim is to develop temperature and humidity sensing, which could be incorporated within a standard prepayment meter interface device.

Flexibility Innovation Project – Internet of Things: Data expert N3rgy Data is leading a consortium with Green Energy UK, Chameleon and Gen Game to use its energy data service platform to capture consent to access temperature and gas consumption data from smart gas meters.

A heat coefficient algorithm will be used to identify the heat efficiency of consumer’s premises, which could enable the provision of tailored advice and solutions on using energy more cost effectively.

Low cost enabler to connect IoT data to the smart meter system: Energy supplier Octopus is collaborating with Silicon Labs, Rufilla, NCC Group and Element Energy to build a cloud-connected secure smart meter gateway consumer access device that accesses real time energy data from smart meters and sends that data to a designated cloud service.

The aim is to use the smart meter network in place of proprietary cloud services to create smarter controls to optimise energy usage for products such as heat pump controls or EV chargers.

The phase one of the two initiatives is expected to run for about three months, with the second phase expected to start in April and run until March 2024.