In July we held the final of our Phase 3 Advisory Groups tasked with shaping the Open Energy programme of work in the following areas: 1) Membership and 2) Delivery. The purpose of the July meetings was to wrap up the Advisory Group process and report back on what we have achieved during this six month phase of the project.

The three groups have been convening monthly since March and include a wide range of industry leaders and subject matter experts, representing a cross section of private and public players with a unique contribution. The Advisory Groups have played a critical role in Open Energy’s development, providing us with a 360 perspective that ensures that Open Energy is designed effectively for the benefit of the energy sector. 

Here’s a summary of everything achieved and discussed in the July meetings.

Membership

Details of what was concluded in July appear below, but it is important to call out the fantastic engagement we have had from all participants in the Membership AG and the great feedback we have received – thank you to all!

Concluded this month:

• Report back on Data Licensing consultation and final policy made available
• Finalised sections 1-4 of the Operational Guidelines and received an update on the future development of the Operational Guidelines
• Received a demo of the technical build
• Further update of the business case and benefits of Open Energy, financially, from a regulatory compliance perspective and in terms of potential commercial opportunities
• Presented an overview of the ‘Go to Live’ plan
• Noted the importance of the support function in helping Data Providers and Data Consumers come on-board and use Open Energy Access Control (recognising that participants are all at different stages of development.)

March-July achievements:

• Agreed our Terms of Reference, conditions for participation, roles, responsibilities and liabilities for the Membership Advisory Group and its future roadmap
• Agreed standard definitions, acronyms and terminology to be used in Open Energy (to be incorporated in Operational Guidelines)
• Agreed high-level membership charging principles (Not for Profit, proportionate, inclusive) to form basis of detailed membership model work
• Provided input into and agreed Data Sensitivity Classes, from closed, through shared, to open
• Provided input into and agreed Data Access conditions
• Reviewed proposed approach to Licensing and provided input into consultation
• Detailed input into the membership and charging model, distillation of the business case and value of membership, including the importance of de-risking the commercial proposition, setting up the proposition for stakeholders to sell internally
• Provided input on sections 1-4 of the Operational Guidelines
• Provided input to the definition of active membership
• Shared architecture overview with AG

Delivery

As with the Membership Advisory Group, we’d like to thank all our participants for the great engagement, energy and input that we’ve had. 

Concluded this month:

• Concluded work on Data Access Conditions for Data Consumers and the Guidelines for Data Providers.
• Reviewed the Beta testing results and the lessons learned from the process
• Licensing and Access Control conditions which included Authorisation Flows, Licensing Model and Access Rule

March-July achievements:

• Standard definitions, acronyms and terminology to be used in Open Energy (Section 2 of Operational Guidelines)
• Consultation on data sensitivity classes
• Users and key players within the Open Energy ecosystem – Data Providers / Service providers / Dual roles
• Data sensitivity classes 

• Review of the operational guidelines
• Concluded work on Data Access Conditions for Data Consumers and the Guidelines for Data Providers.

• Reviewed the Beta testing results and the lessons learned from the process
• Reviewed Licensing and Access Control conditions which included Authorisation Flows, Licensing Model and Access Rules.
• Beta test lessons learnt and reviewed. Live demo of Access Control.
• Request for additional Use Cases to add to development timeline

Steering Group

Concluded this month:

Agreed

• The final points of the Open Energy proposition, including how it supports Data Best Practice Principles and The Digitalisation Strategy and Action Plan
• Beyond Phase 3 go-to-live plan and future activities 
• The approach for identification and evaluation of the next set of use cases  

Progressed

• The long term sustainable funding approach, including the next steps in development of the business model  
• The Open Energy Beta
• Research and Open Energy documentation 
• Next steps beyond MEDA phase 3

Reviewed

• MEDA phase 3 delivery,  including the overall achievements for the Membership and Delivery AGs
• EDVP delivery and inclusion within Open Energy

March-July achievements:

• Providing oversight throughout the development of the Open Energy Search and Access Control beta. This has provided the focal point for reporting, challenge function and sign-off for the recommendations made by the Advisory Groups. 
• Shaping the approach to funding and how Open Energy will be paid for, including the interim Membership fee approach
• Guiding development of the Open Energy proposition and ensuring clarity in the way it’s positioned and communicated
• Reviewing and signing off on our Operational Guidelines, Data Access, Data Sensitivity and Licensing policies
• Ensuring a good fit with objectives and implementation of EDVP 

Our sincere thanks go to the members of the Steering Group, who have overseen all of our work.

We urgently need to take action to mitigate climate change. While there is clearly a need for bold leadership, no single organisation or sector can act entirely in isolation. Energy is a complex, interconnected system – bringing with it risks of unintended consequences and of significant inertia. Closed datasets impede the coordination and collaboration we desperately need, prolonging the status quo and locking out new entrants and insights.

At the Centre for Net Zero, our mission is to realise faster, fairer and more affordable paths to net zero. At the heart of our work is a not-for-profit Open Research Lab. We lead groundbreaking global research on the biggest questions in the energy transition, and make our data, models and reports freely available for everyone to understand, challenge and build on.

One of the questions we’re exploring is how the structure of our energy markets can support the transition to net zero. In order to make sensible changes to the way that our energy markets work, we need to think about the whole system – identifying impacts and feedback loops that might not be intuitive. Data is one of the essential ingredients to this, but no one party has all the data they need to think about the system as a whole. Relatedly, a key part of our mission is supporting the fairness of the energy transition. Access to wider datasets helps protect against implicit biases within the data we work with, and safeguard against unintended impacts on particular parts of society.

The Open Energy programme offers exciting new possibilities for thinking about the energy system in a more joined up way. At the moment it’s hard to imagine the impact of new policies or market structures because it’s hard to track how people, markets and physical systems all interact. But underpinned by shared data, it’s possible to stitch together real-world measurements and models of the various parts of the energy system to create what’s called a Digital Twin. 

With that, we can start to ask insightful questions about what we might do to change the rules of the system. For example, what if we were to dramatically cut the cost of adopting heat pumps, or make unit energy costs reflect the dynamic utilisation of the local network, or introduce a new way to reward electric vehicles for the flexibility they offer. Answering any one of these questions requires data from across the energy system (and beyond) – from the physical networks and assets through to the way we expect individuals and businesses to behave. Making it easier to share, discover and link data are the first steps along that path.

“[Our] new modelling strategy will increase transparency and collaboration. This will improve our insights and increase confidence in policy.” UK Government’s Energy White Paper, December 2020

The benefits to our net-zero transition could be enormous. There is great potential to underpin broader and more productive research collaborations. I see a growing number of passionate and intelligent people coming to this mission, and an urgent need to find effective ways for them to contribute and collaborate. I also believe there is a real opportunity for the UK to establish a leadership position around energy data, which can facilitate change on a global scale.

For the Centre for Net Zero this means the opportunity for greater impact – through richer analysis for policy makers, business leaders and investors, which in turn allows them to make bolder decisions about their role in the transition.

About the Centre for Net Zero

Backed by Octopus Energy, the Centre for Net Zero is an Open Research Lab focused on the energy transition and working closely with governments, cities, investors and businesses around the world to get us to net zero quickly, fairly and affordably. Find out more at CentreForNetZero.org.

About Icebreaker One

Icebreaker One is a UK-based non-profit making data work harder to deliver net-zero, working across agriculture, energy, transport, water and the built world. Its Open Energy project aims to revolutionise the way energy data is shared in the UK and create an energy data ecosystem that works for everyone. More information at IcebreakerOne.org

We urgently need to take action to mitigate climate change. While there is clearly a need for bold leadership, no single organisation or sector can act entirely in isolation. Energy is a complex, interconnected system – bringing with it risks of unintended consequences and of significant inertia. Closed datasets impede the coordination and collaboration we desperately need, prolonging the status quo and locking out new entrants and insights.

At the Centre for Net Zero, our mission is to realise faster, fairer and more affordable paths to net zero. At the heart of our work is a not-for-profit Open Research Lab. We lead groundbreaking global research on the biggest questions in the energy transition, and make our data, models and reports freely available for everyone to understand, challenge and build on.

One of the questions we’re exploring is how the structure of our energy markets can support the transition to net zero. In order to make sensible changes to the way that our energy markets work, we need to think about the whole system – identifying impacts and feedback loops that might not be intuitive. Data is one of the essential ingredients to this, but no one party has all the data they need to think about the system as a whole. Relatedly, a key part of our mission is supporting the fairness of the energy transition. Access to wider datasets helps protect against implicit biases within the data we work with, and safeguard against unintended impacts on particular parts of society.

The Open Energy programme offers exciting new possibilities for thinking about the energy system in a more joined up way. At the moment it’s hard to imagine the impact of new policies or market structures because it’s hard to track how people, markets and physical systems all interact. But underpinned by shared data, it’s possible to stitch together real-world measurements and models of the various parts of the energy system to create what’s called a Digital Twin. 

With that, we can start to ask insightful questions about what we might do to change the rules of the system. For example, what if we were to dramatically cut the cost of adopting heat pumps, or make unit energy costs reflect the dynamic utilisation of the local network, or introduce a new way to reward electric vehicles for the flexibility they offer. Answering any one of these questions requires data from across the energy system (and beyond) – from the physical networks and assets through to the way we expect individuals and businesses to behave. Making it easier to share, discover and link data are the first steps along that path.

“[Our] new modelling strategy will increase transparency and collaboration. This will improve our insights and increase confidence in policy.” 

UK Government’s Energy White Paper, December 2020

The benefits to our net-zero transition could be enormous. There is great potential to underpin broader and more productive research collaborations. I see a growing number of passionate and intelligent people coming to this mission, and an urgent need to find effective ways for them to contribute and collaborate. I also believe there is a real opportunity for the UK to establish a leadership position around energy data, which can facilitate change on a global scale.

For the Centre for Net Zero this means the opportunity for greater impact – through richer analysis for policy makers, business leaders and investors, which in turn allows them to make bolder decisions about their role in the transition.

About the Centre for Net Zero

Backed by Octopus Energy, the Centre for Net Zero is an Open Research Lab focused on the energy transition and working closely with governments, cities, investors and businesses around the world to get us to net zero quickly, fairly and affordably. Find out more at CentreForNetZero.org.

About Icebreaker One

Icebreaker One is a UK-based non-profit making data work harder to deliver net-zero, working across agriculture, energy, transport, water and the built world. Its Open Energy project aims to revolutionise the way energy data is shared in the UK and create an energy data ecosystem that works for everyone. More information at IcebreakerOne.org

It will team up with a world-leading, multidisciplinary team to unlock opportunities for the UK to lead in greening finance and financing climate-friendly solutions. 

The consortium, led by the University of Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, was selected by UK Research and Innovation to establish the Centre, with £10m initial investment.

Other members of the consortium include Imperial College London, the Met Office, the World Bank Group, COP 26, and the Alan Turing Institute. 

The Centre will begin its work at the start of April 2021 ahead of COP26.

Read more about the UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment here.

Selected from over 500 applications based on expertise and ability to advise the Commission over the next two years, Andreas has been appointed in  a personal capacity. Theodor is appointed as a representative of Agent Green, the most prominent biodiversity protection NGO in Eastern Europe. 

The Platform on Sustainable Finance will advise the European Commission on the development of a robust list of screening criteria for the EU green taxonomy on sustainable finance policy as well as on the monitoring and reporting of sustainable investments in Europe.

Professor Hoepner commented: 

“It is a great honour to have been selected to advise the European Commission’s Platform on Sustainable Finance. As leaders work to ensure that recovery from Covid-19 is as green as possible, this platform provides a unique opportunity for UCD to contribute its expertise but also for Project Cygnus to showcase the findings of its work.”  

Dr Cojoianu said:

“I am incredibly pleased and honoured to be able to advise the Platform on Sustainable Finance and explore how leaders can make investment decisions that contribute to achieving net-zero.”

They have previously published a piece on impact investing that defines the concept, identifies the key players involved and draws comparisons with ESG investing. With Project Cygnus, they are looking to expand on this, assessing the pandemic’s economic impacts across green, red and white industries and laying the foundations for recommendations on how green recovery can be fostered by policymakers and financiers.

If you work in cities and regions committed to net-zero or if you are an asset manager interested in getting involved in Project Cygnus, please contact us.

If you’re interested in our take on the EU taxonomy for green investment, please read this piece.

1. how to create a working blueprint for the freer sharing and licensing of data at scale;
2. how Open Banking principles can be applied to other sectors such as energy;
3. how investment is responding to the risks related to climate change;
4. the need to move faster to decarbonise activities; and
5. adopting the principles of a war economy.

“As a benchmark, we spent two to three times our GDP creating the railways, effectively creating the industrial revolution. The idea that we’re going to somehow re-engineer and de-carbonise everything for some small percentage of our GDP, I think is magical thinking.” Gavin Starks, Founder & CEO, Icebreaker One

Listen to the full episode:

For further reading on open data and data sharing, please click here.