Icebreaker One founder and CEO Gavin Starks has been appointed co-chair of the UK Smart Data Council to bring the success of Open Banking to other sectors including small business finance and energy. 

Smart Data involves the secure and consented sharing (or ‘permissioned’ if business data) of customer data with authorised third parties to help improve services for consumers [reference].

It builds on Open Banking, the trusted technology that connects banks, fintechs and technical providers, which Gavin cochaired the creation of. It now supports over 7 million customers. In that time the data sharing services have boosted customer knowledge of their finances and enabled increased savings.

The Smart Data Council is run by the Department for Business and Trade has set up a Smart Data Council and will work on smart data schemes such as helping consumers and small businesses switch utility providers more easily.

It comprises key government departments, regulators, industry and consumer groups, and representatives from Citizen’s Advice, Innovate Finance and others.

Co-chair and Business and Trade Minister Kevin Hollinrake said:

“Our new Smart Data Council will build on the success of Open Banking and spearhead measures in sectors like SME finance, energy and telecoms, increasing competition and putting more money in the pockets of consumers and small firms.”

Gavin Starks said: 

“Frameworks for trusted data sharing have transformed the banking sector – I’ve seen that first hand with Open Banking. Now it’s time to do the same for energy and other utilities. 

“It’s why I founded Icebreaker One to make data work harder to get to net zero. Across all of the UK’s utilities, better access to data will help consumers, reduce emissions, and improve efficiency and innovation. I’m delighted to co-chair the Smart Data Council and help deliver positive outcomes for consumers and businesses.”

Council Members

• The Department for Business and Trade
• HM Treasury
• The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
• The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
• The Information Commissioner’s Office
• Ofcom
• Ofgem
• The Financial Conduct Authority
• The Competition and Markets Authority
• TechUK
• Innovate Finance
• Icebreaker One
• Citizens Advice
• The Coalition for a Digital Economy (COADEC)
• Open Data Institute
• Ctrl-Shift
• Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE)
• The Investing and Saving Alliance (TISA)

Icebreaker One joins alongside other participating organisations and signatories including BSR, EDM Council, Greenly, Greenhouse Gas Management Institute, Kainos, Kearney, Minimum, Normative, OS-Climate, Parabole.ai, Persefoni, Plan A, SSE, Steelcase, The Climate Registry, and XBRL International. 

The Carbon Call brings together over 60 organisations representing scientific, corporate, philanthropic, and intergovernmental sectors to address gaps in global carbon accounting. Specifically, the Carbon Call focuses on addressing interoperability, which is critical for data accessibility, transparency, and reliability across the entire value chain. 

If you are interested in carbon reporting and ESG data, please get in touch: partners@ib1.org

This week, Icebreaker One presented its Open Net Zero programme at Carbon Call’s workshop towards a more interoperable GHG accounting system at NYC Climate Week.

Liv Watson, senior advisor and digitisation lead at the Capitals Coalition, and co-chair of the Carbon Call’s expert advisory group, said: “Policy makers and regulatory authorities are increasing the requirements on companies to report GHG emissions. This increases the pressure on companies to accurately track, disclose, and manage their emissions and emissions data. We’re excited for these organisations to contribute to the Carbon Call’s mission of helping corporates close the gap between reported and actual emissions. Strengthening GHG accounting and reporting system is urgently needed to take effective action to slash climate pollution quickly. We cannot make decisions about products, services, or companies based on a GHG report, inventory, or carbon footprint, if we cannot understand or share the data in a meaningful way.”

Gavin Starks, Founder and CEO of Icebreaker One, said: “We’re delighted that Icebreaker One is working with Carbon Call to speed up our progress towards net zero. Access to trusted data and interoperable systems are essential to delivering net zero, and we’re looking forward to working together to make it possible.” 

The deployment of innovative data-sharing techniques and services will be essential for electricity networks to manage the additional electricity demand caused by the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs), the charge points that will power them, and other low carbon technologies. 

With nearly 16 million EVs expected to be on the UK’s roads by 2030, hundreds of thousands more charge points must be rolled out. Installation at this scale can only be achieved efficiently through access to robust, reliable data which facilitates understanding of consumer demand and electricity network capacity. 

The link-up between SSEN and Icebreaker One aims to identify and tackle data silos and develop data-sharing opportunities, such as two-way flows of new EV registrations and network capacity information, whilst ensuring customer privacy and cyber security measures are managed. Through two initial trial projects deploying in-depth interviews and innovation workshops, the team will identify better ways of: 

1. identifying key datasets needed
2. understanding barriers within SSEN around effective access to, and sharing of, data
3. finding innovative new ways to overcome any data-sharing challenges 

This project marks the first time Icebreaker One has partnered with an electricity network operator to formally understand what data sharing will be needed for key net-zero projects.

Andrew Roper, Distribution System Operations Director for SSEN Distribution said: 

“As a network operator we are responsible for holding and managing energy data. Sharing our data in a carefully agreed manner with other network users can play a major role in helping to plan and prepare for the arrival of low carbon technologies on our network. We are learning from other sectors such as the UK banking industry, which developed more open banking processes that increased competition and innovation, creating better service and more value for customers. 

“We are delighted to be working with Icebreaker One on this initial project, which should facilitate data sharing and support efficiencies which will ultimately deliver a more cost-effective net zero transition.”

Laura Sandys CBE, Chair of the Energy Digitalisation Taskforce, said: 

“It is crucial that networks make their data shareable and adopt the presumed open principle and SSEN is doing some exciting work here with Icebreaker One. We are hoping that all networks will be making their data accessible and as open as possible to ensure that we can crowd in new actors and companies to support the management of a decarbonised grid.”

Gea Mikic, Co-Founder and Programme Director at Icebreaker One, said:

“Rolling out the charge points we need to support the transition to EVs relies on connecting data across a network of organisations, and energy networks like SSEN are at the heart of it.

“This partnership will speed up the UK’s energy data revolution by identifying how SSEN can access and share the energy data needed to get more electric vehicle charge points installed in homes across the UK. 

“Better access to data is crucial to delivering net zero, from installing more electric vehicle charge points to adding more renewables to our energy grid. This is why we’re determined to make data work harder to get to net zero.”

Icebreaker One is working with the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles, part of the Department for Transport, on a project to explore the data infrastructure needed to roll out more electrical vehicle charge points. We spoke to Natasha Robinson, Joint Head of OZEV, about where data sharing fits into their plans to get more electric vehicles on the road.

Why is the UK moving towards electric vehicles? 

NR: We’re moving towards electric vehicles because of climate change, air quality, and energy security. 

All studies suggest that even on our current grid mix, and taking into account the whole life of the vehicles, electric vehicles have around a third of the emissions of traditional petrol or diesel-powered engines. That will only improve as the grid decarbonises, so they’ll get cleaner in use. Air quality is more of a mixed picture, but electric vehicles have a positive impact on reducing NOx emissions which are a key pollutant.  

From a driver’s point of view, we want this to be a good experience. For an increasing number of people going electric is already a better option than traditional cars.

Although there are higher upfront costs right now, running costs are far lower. For more and more people that cost equation is working. As we get more electric vehicles on the roads, that will follow through into the second-hand market, which is where the majority of people buy their vehicles, meaning there’ll be more cars available at more accessible prices. And if you can charge overnight at home, which around 70% of us can potentially do, you can leave the house with a full battery.

They also offer a great driving experience – like driving as you imagined when you were a kid, with instant acceleration and simple controls. For example, my brother in law isn’t a keen driver because he’s worried about stalling. You can’t stall an electric vehicle. It’s ideal for people who just want to get from A to B.

What are you working on at the moment to improve the experience for electric vehicle drivers? 

NR: On infrastructure, one of the biggest challenges is how you provide chargepoints to people who don’t have off street parking, or who live in a flat. We need to work out how to address that – for example, rapid or on-street charge points nearby. Different solutions are likely to be right for different places

One of the other challenges we’re working on is long distance journeys. Most vehicles have ranges of more than 200 miles which will cover the vast majority of people’s day to day journeys, but there will be times when people want to go further and they expect to be able to do that easily. Take a bank holiday, where people are more likely to travel to see family and will need to charge more away from home. We’re working on getting more charging capacity into motorway service stations, and we’ve set up a Rapid Charging Fund and a Local EV Infrastructure Fund to make sure that charge points are there wherever people need them.  

We’re also working on regulation to make sure the experience for drivers is as good as it can be. We’ve already brought in regulation to make sure all new private chargepoints are smart, and that all new homes have a charger as standard. Next, we’re looking to make sure chargepoints have open access to card and contactless payments, and are completely reliable – we’re looking for 99% reliability for all rapid charge points. Finally, we’re setting new rules to make sure that chargepoints meet accessibility standards so everyone can use them. 

What’s the role of data access in making all of this happen? 

NR: One of the big challenges we’ve seen so far is understanding the patterns of drivers’ demand: where people are parking, how they’re using their vehicles, when and how they’re charging them. Industry and local authorities need better data access to look at energy capacity and grid reinforcement that’s required to put chargepoints where people actually need them. We need to be able to understand where the hotspots of demand are all across the country to meet that demand. 

That is essential for the private motorist, but also for commercial fleets. Making sure that local authorities can easily access the data that helps them predict demand in their area will make sure they understand need, and can make sure charge point supply meets demand. 

Read: how Open Energy can help get electric vehicles on the road 

The other thing better data access can do is give drivers much more of the information they need. If we can make it easier for businesses and local authorities to share data with each other securely and easily, we can get useful data to the public too – for example, where charge points are, what speed they are, how much they cost, whether they’re accessible, and how they can pay for charging. 

We want individuals, businesses, local authorities and central government to have the information that they need at their fingertips so they can have confidence in the transition we’re making as a country to electric vehicles. There’s a future where your car could tell you it’s running low on energy, then suggest a location nearby and tell you whether it’s available. That’s actually a better experience than refuelling at a petrol station is now. None of that will be possible – the charge point nearby, the location information, the availability information – without the data sharing that underpins it. 

Read: How Icebreaker One and OZEV agreed a priority use case

Why did you decide to work in partnership with Icebreaker One on improving data access? 

NR: We wanted to understand more about what’s possible in improving data sharing – looking at user needs in depth with an organisation with an established process. 

Read: Icebreaker One partners with OZEV to roll out more EV charge points 

We want to build expertise and export that to other areas. That’s not just about cars and batteries – it’s also about the systems behind it. There are countless international counterparts who are having the same problems.

This is an international transition and we want to be a leader in this space. There are huge opportunities for the UK in electric vehicles – environmental, industrial and consumer – and levelling up our ability to find, access and share data underpins it all. 

Read: Use case report – electric vehicle on-street chargepoints

A proof-of-concept project between Open Energy and Elexon has already been completed. It integrated ten data sets from the new Elexon Kinnect Insights Solution with Icebreaker One’s Open Energy service. 

The available data initially includes open data sets that provide a forward view of electricity availability from generation and interconnector capacity and historic views of the electricity generation fuel mix. Data consumers can build a picture of where GB electricity has originated from, using the data sets exposed on the platform. 

New data sets

Now that the integration has been established, Elexon plans to make more data available on the Open Energy platform as development of the Kinnect Insights Solution progresses. This may include some shared data sets, which Elexon will manage through the Icebreaker One Trust Framework that enables secure access control.

In addition to providing essential market data, Elexon will also offer its expertise to companies and innovators working with Icebreaker One, helping make use of Elexon’s wealth of data on the wholesale electricity market to develop new products and services.

Speeding up the energy data revolution

Peter Stanley, Director of Digital Operations at Elexon, said: “As the energy industry evolves and develops new products, systems and services to meet net zero targets, we will all increasingly rely on data and data insights. This will mean higher volumes of data running through industry systems, and more market participants interacting with the data. It’s essential that this data is both open and securely managed, in order to facilitate the levels of innovation and change that the industry needs.”

Gavin Starks, CEO and Founder at Icebreaker One, said: “We’re delighted to join forces with Elexon to speed up the UK’s energy data revolution. Enhancing access to and use of Elexon’s data sets through Open Energy will help accelerate our collective mission to unlock access to energy data across the whole of the sector. 

“Better access to data is crucial to delivering net zero – from installing more electric vehicle charge points to adding more renewables to our energy grid. We must modernise the way we share data – but we won’t get there without changing the way we share data. This is why more businesses, public bodies and non-profits are tapping into the power of Open Energy to drive action towards our net zero future.”

Elexon joins other key industry organisations whose data is already indexed with Open Energy, including SSE, Western Power Distribution, and National Grid ESO.  

Explore Open Energy

Icebreaker One aims to open up discussion about how data access can speed up our progress towards net zero, so invited Robbie to share his perspective on open data and the IEA.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) took a first step toward open data on 24 March 2022 as an outcome of its 2022 Ministerial Meeting in Paris. But the destination remains unclear. Is the final objective simply to make the data the IEA collects from governments public, while leaving its legal status dangling? Or is the objective to provide genuinely open data, ideally under Creative Commons Attribution licensing, to ensure the information being made public is robustly usable and reusable by anyone and for any purpose? I favour, as does the open energy modelling community, the more ambitious journey of course, albeit one with doubtless more obstacles en route. 

IEA data is valuable

The IEA collects energy statistics from its member countries and from other nations and then collates and processes this information. These datasets are unique because no other organisation is in a position to readily assemble such data from governmental sources under relatively consistent technical parameters. The datasets are valuable because of their consistency and reach, both geographically and historically. And the datasets are necessary because citizens — on the presumption that democratic processes are to be valued — should by default be able to source the information being used to form and refine policy options free of cost and legally unencumbered. 

The current and tragic Russo-Ukrainian War and ensuing energy crisis only seeks to highlight the urgency of access to the kind of high quality energy sector information that can underpin quality political discourse and robust public policy development. This necessity predates the Ukrainian conflict: the current attempts to liberate the data the IEA assembles began in October 2021 with an open letter from Hannah Ritchie published in the respected journal Nature. Hannah is head of research at Our World in Data based in Oxford, UK. In her letter, Hannah stresses that the process of scrabbling together statistics on the progress of the Covid pandemic and subsequent immunisation rates must not be repeated for energy and sustainability data. 

IEA data and the transition to net-zero

The IEA datasets can serve many potential roles. The application we highlight here is the provision of data that can be used to populate energy system models. By exploring a wide range of scenarios, these computer models can help shed light on a myriad of questions about future energy systems — on how they might work, what their overarching characteristics might be, and indeed whether a set of suggestions being made are even collectively feasible. That final point being all the more important as we turn to fully renewable and operationally agile systems with greater levels of potentially erratic demand-side participation — including asset purchasing decisions, usage patterns, and demand responsiveness (and noting thankfully that social scientists are now contributing expertise). 

So the question of how best and how rapidly to pivot from western dependence on Russian coal, oil, and natural gas is now paramount. Together with the question of how to react if Russia unilaterally elects to curtail supply. Some modelling projects have recently extended their European energy system models to include Ukraine and Moldova (PyPSA for instance) but the availability of suitable national data remains problematic nonetheless. 

What’s next?

The larger issue is, of course, not how to pivot from Russian supply, but how to pivot from fossil fuels entirely. And recently, 50 or so system modellers signed another open letter to the IEA to point out that the cost of failing to identify high performing system trajectories because of incomplete or less accurate information could be astronomical. And in complete contrast to the very modest revenues that the IEA currently receives from selling such information to commercial organisations. 

The IEA’s first attempt at the public licensing of nil cost data was a shambles. In 2021, the IEA published some non-primary datasets under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND-3.0-IGO licensing. This particular license is not open, not suited for data (fails to address European database rights), not international, not compatible with material under other licenses, and not current. A bizarre choice really. The Creative Commons CC-BY-4.0 addresses these issues head on and is the license most practitioners recommend in this context.

Key advantages of the CC-BY-4.0 are that it grants permission to both use and republish in original or modified form by anybody and for any purpose. And it has also become a de facto standard that then avoids the creation of legally walled‑off data silos through incompatible licensing provisions.

Hopefully the IEA will appoint a navigator for the next steps in its journey toward genuinely open data. What you too can do to help speed this journey: 

• raise the issues with the IEA via social media or other channels 
• raise the issues with your elected representatives 
• support organisations advocating for open data in the energy sector and elsewhere 

Up to 14 million electric vehicles are expected to be on the road by 2030, driven by the phase-out of new petrol and diesel engines from 2030 – a key part of the UK’s net zero strategy.

To address that challenge, the Department for Transport, Office for Zero Emission Vehicles, and Icebreaker One will work together to identify the data infrastructure needed to roll out more charge points.

Access to robust, reliable data

This means the UK will need to roll out thousands more charge points to meet demand – but an installation effort of this scale requires access to robust, reliable data to understand consumer demand and electrical network capacity. 

The partnership will bring together a coalition of industry stakeholders, regulators and decision-makers to support OZEV’s work to open public EV chargepoint data and improve consumer experience. Its ultimate goal will be to develop a data infrastructure for EV charge points that can unlock cost efficiencies, innovation, and help deliver a net-zero future. 

Making it easy to search, access and securely share energy data

The partnership is part of Icebreaker One’s Open Energy programme, which is designed to make it easy to search, access and securely share energy data. Backed by Ofgem and the UK Government, it will bring together data held by thousands of individual organisations and institutions in an open marketplace. 

Currently in its pilot stage, the Open Energy service is being developed based on use cases – like the need to access energy data to install EV charge points – that are designed to address real-world problems put forward by industry stakeholders. 

Gavin Starks, CEO and Founder of Icebreaker One said:

“Electric vehicles are a vital part of the UK’s journey to net zero. Anyone who drives an EV knows that there aren’t yet enough charging stations – what’s less well-known is that rolling out charge points relies on connecting data across organisations. 

“Open Energy enables trusted connections for organisations who need to search, access, and securely share data to install, access and use charge points. We’re delighted to be working with the Department for Transport and Office for Zero Emission Vehicles on a project that will help the UK transform our transport system.”

It means the project will receive £750k in UK Government funding to continue developing a standard that all organisations in the energy data ecosystem can use to search, share and access data. It’s also developing a prototype governance platform to make sure data is shared securely. 

Icebreaker One will host a webinar on 16 February at 10am to share more information about its progress so far and plans for the future.

Open Energy aims to transform the way organisations exchange the information they need to phase out fossil fuels and implement renewable energy technology. Icebreaker One is aiming to roll out the Open Energy standards, guides and recommendations across the energy sector over the next year.

Open Energy has been guided by industry advisory groups across the UK which include representatives from Ofgem, Scottish Power and SSE. It’s led by Gavin Starks, one of the key figures behind the Open Banking Standard that has revolutionised the banking sector over the past five years.

Icebreaker One worked with project partners Open Climate Fix, Raidiam and PassivSystems, to win the Modernising Energy Data Access (MEDA) competition, run by Innovate UK as part of the Industrial Strategy Prospering from the Energy Revolution programme. 

Gavin Starks, founder and CEO at Icebreaker One, said,

“We’re delighted to have this backing to continue developing the data infrastructure to help unlock access to data to deliver efficiency and innovation across the energy sector.

This will have a material impact on the UK’s ability to make the most of decentralised energy supply and consumption, help address the coming challenges of the transition to electric vehicles and catalyse the delivery of our net-zero targets.

Our work will help unlock data discovery by enabling energy data search and usage by delivering a trusted ecosystem for decentralised data sharing.”

Rob Saunders, Challenge Director, Prospering from the Energy Revolution at UKRI, said:

“The MEDA competition was designed to accelerate innovative ways for energy data to be open-sourced, organised and accessed, providing a platform for new technology, services and more agile regulation within the energy sector. 

“The Icebreaker One project showed exactly what can be achieved through collaborative thinking and will help create a framework for all stakeholders to share data further for the common benefit – and ultimately for the UK’s net-zero ambitions. We are looking forward to working with them closely as the project develops further.”

David Manning, Head of Data Management at SSE plc, said: “At SSE we recognise that becoming a data driven organisation is critical to our role in helping achieve a net zero world.”

“Readily accessible and trusted data will be essential to building the decarbonised energy system of the future; ensuring flexibility, customisation and personalisation for energy users, large and small. It’s exciting to see the progress being made in this space.”

Read more about Open Energy