A new report is calling for higher standards in data sharing across the UK’s energy networks to improve its resilience and deliver better results for consumers and the environment.

Commissioned by Government, Ofgem, and Innovate UK, the Energy System Data Taskforce report has recommended five priorities action to modernise the UK energy system through better data management and sharing.

The recommendations set out in A Strategy for a Modern, Digitalised Energy System say that modernisation is being hindered by often poor quality, inaccurate, or missing data, while valuable data is often restricted or hard to find. 

The Taskforce has delivered a strategy centred around two key principles – filling in the data gaps through requiring new and better-quality data, and maximising its value by embedding the presumption that data is open. These two principles will start to unlock the opportunities of a modern, decarbonised and decentralised energy system for the benefit of consumers.​

Its report takes on board many of the recommendations in the NIC’s report Data for the Public Good, which called for new standards to encourage open data sharing to support the development of smart systems which can reduce the impact of disruptions and failures across the UK’s infrastructure network.

The Taskforce found that data optimisation and the wider digitisation of assets would help to optimise how existing energy infrastructure assets are used, promote better services for consumers, and make it easier for the UK’s energy generation to decarbonise and enable innovative new forms of generation and distribution.

Better data is also crucial in ensuring energy operators and distributors can better understand how their systems operate. It will boost their resilience in the face of disruptions, shocks and accidents and increased pressures resulting from climate change, something which the Commission is looking at as part of its wider Resilience Study.

Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission Sir John Armitt said:

“Data has the power to transform how the UK generates and uses energy, but to be effective, it needs to be shared as widely as possible.

“It’s positive the Taskforce has therefore accepted the Commission’s recommendations for improving data sharing, so that the UK can harness the benefits of smart infrastructure.”

The National Infrastructure Commission was represented on the steering board of the Taskforce by Sarah Hayes, who led the work on the Data for the Public Good report.

Key recommendations

The Energy Data Taskforce makes five key recommendations in the report:

• Digitalisation of the Energy System – Government and Ofgem should use existing legislative and regulatory measures to direct the sector to adopt the principle of Digitalisation of the Energy System in the consumers’ interest.
• Maximising the Value of Data – Government and Ofgem should direct the sector to adopt the principle that Energy System Data should be Presumed Open, supported by requirements that data is ‘Discoverable, Searchable, Understandable’, with common ‘Structures, Interfaces and Standards’ and is ‘Secure and Resilient’.
• Visibility of Data – A Data Catalogue should be established to provide visibility through standardised metadata of Energy System Datasets across Government, the regulator and industry.
• Coordination of Asset Registration – An Asset Registration Strategy should be established in order to increase registration compliance, improve the reliability of data and improve the efficiency of data collection.
• Visibility of Infrastructure and Assets – A unified Digital System Map of the Energy System should be established to increase visibility of the Energy System infrastructure and assets, enable optimisation of investment and inform the creation of new markets.

“A culture of risk aversion has dissuaded collaborative, data driven solutions”

Laura Sandys, Energy Data Taskforce chair, said:

“Data and digitalisation, while not the sole enablers of Energy System transformation, are essential to optimising the value of assets and infrastructure, driving innovative services, better understanding risks, increasing system resilience, and driving us towards Net Zero carbon and decentralisation at best value to consumers.

“In addition, greater data openness will provide much superior price and market visibility, increase liquidity and drive investment into the right technologies, locations and solutions for the system, all delivering better system and price outcomes for consumers.

“The Taskforce has found that the energy sector faces a unique set of challenges which have hindered the progress towards a more digitalised, data rich system.

“A culture of risk aversion has dissuaded collaborative, data driven solutions, while a skills gap, where it is hard to get the right combination of data, energy and engineering talent, needs to be filled.”

Martin Cave, Ofgem chairman, said:

“Data will play a crucial role in enabling competition and innovation to drive down prices for customers and provide them with new products and services.

Staged approach should be taken towards achieving modern digitalised energy system

The Taskforce has said that a staged approach should be taken towards achieving a modern, digitalised energy system:

• Data Visibility: Understanding the data that exists, the data that is missing, which datasets are important, and making it easier to access and understand data.
• Infrastructure and Asset Visibility: Revealing system assets and infrastructure, where they are located and their capabilities, to inform system planning and management.
• Operational Optimisation: Enabling operational data to be layered across the assets to support system optimisation and facilitating multiple actors to participate at all levels across the system.
• Open Markets: Achieving much better price discovery, through unlocking new markets, informed by time, location and service value data.
• Agile Regulation: Enabling regulators to adopt a much more agile and risk reflective approach to regulation of the sector, by giving them access to more and better data.

Philip New, Energy Systems Catapult chief executive, said the transformation of the energy system would require an acceleration in the pace of innovation across the sector , with digitalisation and data a key enabler of that innovation.

Click here to download A Strategy for a Modern Digitalised Energy System