New online hub will make energy data more accessible

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NEW online hub will make useful energy data more accessible to businesses, academics and the voluntary sector.

Presumed Open Data (POD) is an initiative that seeks a faster decarbonisation of the energy system and improved system infrastructure through maximising both the visibility and value of energy data.

A Western Power Distribution project, the hub is being delivered by Centre of Sustainable Energy in partnership with Energy Systems Catapult.

A large amount of useful data about the energy sector exists and has been published both online and in written form but it’s difficult to find, or access, or make use of.

POD will make these datasets accessible to businesses, academics, the public sector, and community and voluntary sector organisations through the development of a new data hub.

So far 61 unique datasets have been identified and tested and their potential value for stakeholders assessed.

Bridget Newbery, who is managing the project for Centre of Sustainable Energy, commented on the news: “We are anticipating a range of benefits to come from the opening up of these datasets.”

Potential benefits envisaged include better flexibility response behaviour, a more strategic deployment of community-owned renewable energy projects, lower customer bills and better system security.

Centre of Sustainable Energy will be running workshops at the end of the month (26 and 28 May), where participants will be able to learn more about POD and uncover further uses to which the data can be put and the benefits that will accrue.

The workshops will be run online, and will include:

  • An overview of the initiative, the types of data that have been identified to date and some use case examples.
  • A chance to comment on existing use cases and generate ideas how Western Power Distribution’s data might be used.
  • Collation of ideas and suggestions for the development of the online data hub, including necessary datasets, technical requirements and ongoing user testing, to ensure that the hub is designed to maximise its usefulness and maximise benefits to third party end users.

To find out more about the workshops email [email protected].