The UK Power Networks’ Open Data Portal, launched last month, features one of the UK’s biggest sets of information about the electricity network. It brings together thousands of datasets from a vast range of sources to provide visibility of UK Power Networks’ network assets; where they are, what capacity they have and how they are being used. With over 2,200 users already, the interactive online platform is aimed at helping everyone from local authorities to electric vehicle chargepoint installers, renewable energy generators, flexibility providers and anyone with an interest in low carbon technology.
“The tie-in with Open Energy is really making our data more searchable,” said Yiu-Shing Pang, Open Data Manager of UK Power Networks. “Our portal facilitates tags and metadata and now we’ve seen the metadata being pulled into Icebreaker One’s Open Energy search platform, which makes our data even more accessible”.
The Open Energy Search system describes datasets that exist, without storing the data itself. It has rich information about the datasets which helps people find the metadata or look for exactly what they want. It discovers metadata both about shared data published by Open Energy members for other Open Energy members. It also includes open data which is shared with everyone, such as the UK Power Networks data.
“If you want Open Energy search to help make your open datasets more visible, there are two steps you need to take. First of all, is to publish the metadata about your datasets using open standards. Then, let us know about it by emailing us on openenergy@ib1.org. Our data search can then incorporate your datasets and share them with our members and the general public, because this is available to everyone to use today” said Tom Hukins, API and Services Developer, Icebreaker One.
Search the UK Power Networks datasets on Open Energy’s Energy Data Search here: https://openenergy.org.uk/.