Register your interest to shape the future of Open Energy

The UK is investing £100M’s to revolutionise its energy infrastructure, to help us get to Net Zero and adapt to huge changes in energy supply (e.g. renewable energy) and demand (e.g. vehicles).  

Since 2020, Icebreaker One has operated and co-developed Open Energy with industry and government stakeholders. Open Energy’s mission is to make it easy for any organisation in the UK to search, access and securely share energy data. It provides the infrastructure for data sharing, including powerful Energy Search, financial-grade security, and (coming soon!) easy access control for commercial data. All these efforts are underpinned by our Trust Framework for data sharing. 

These services are designed in collaboration with industry Advisory Groups and a sector Steering Group, in which we define codes of practice for the programme and the sector.

Icebreaker One is looking to understand where our current members and network have interest in participating in Advisory Groups. 

Open Energy — Advisory Groups 

The Open Energy Advisory Groups convene and combine individual expertise to help understand how the UK may better modernise energy data access. They are overseen by the Open Energy Steering Group. 

There are a few possible Advisory Groups which could be formed to further develop Open Energy. If there is an Advisory Group you’d like to see in the future that isn’t reflected below, please also let us know via the form. 

Please register your interest in participating in the following groups to identify which should be formed.

The groups we are proposing are: 

Data Licensing Advisory Group

The aim of the Data Licensing Advisory group is to develop the standard licences that are required to allow Shared Data to flow through Open Energy Access Control, in alignment with the Data Sensitivity classes. This will include key policies, such as conditions for participation, roles and responsibilities. The outputs of this group will be the necessary licences and requirements for a functioning Access Control. 

We are seeking individuals with the following knowledge or experience: 

  • Legal professionals, especially those with energy data and/or other data licensing expertise
  • Energy data providers who are familiar with or wish to share their data under a shared data licence through Open Energy
  • Data consumers, startups and innovators
  • In-house data governance and compliance
  • Information security, with a focus on data sharing 
  • Digital and data transformation Data policy analysts
  • Open data licensing, open source and content licensing – specifically to understand lessons that have been learnt in this area and, where applicable how they may apply to shared licensing

Metadata Standards Advisory Group

The aim of the Metadata Standards Advisory Group is to agree to the metadata standards for publishing data to Open Energy. Further to the Energy Data Visualisation Project (EDVP) recommendation to “continue the development and evolution of EDVP” this advisory group recognises the need for industry collaboration, co-design, and feedback of a metadata standard for publishing energy data. This advisory group will inform the development of Energy Search for organisations to search, publish, and share data through Open Energy. 

We are seeking individuals with the following knowledge or experience: 

  • Energy data owners or providers
  • Energy data consumers, including startups
  • Data analysts: in particular those responsible for finding and utilising data within the energy or policymaking
  • Data and/or metadata publishing and maintenance
  • Experience in managing data catalogues
  • Data managers
  • Experience and knowledge of open data
  • Experience of CKAN
  • Experience with standard systems, processes and technologies used in the energy industry
  • Policy and compliance

We are considering piloting Open Energy Working Groups, as a chance to operationalise particular use cases which have come up in the development of Open Energy thus far. 

Energy Security and Resilience Working Group

The aim of the Energy Security and Resilience Working group is to proactively address this winter’s energy security in supply, demand and efficiency (reduction of consumption) domains. Although the recent British Energy Security Strategy sets out future policy direction and targets, many of these developments will not be addressed in time for this coming winter (2022-23) and may impact hitting our binding Net Zero targets.

Improve energy security in supply, demand and efficiency include: accelerating the switch to a new energy mix; reducing energy use across the UK (domestic, public and commercial); smartly scheduling moveable demand where possible to reduce peaks; and ensuring economic stability while the cost-of-living crisis. To achieve this, there needs to be a coordinated understanding of where energy is being used, where it can be reduced or shifted, and how this relates to network supply and distribution.  Current modelling, while advanced, does not have the right quantity, quality, diversity, granularity and time resolution to maximise the benefit for the whole system.  Industry, Government and consumers need better access to data and information to help reduce risk, increase efficiency and maximise resilience. 

We are seeking individuals from the following organisations, with the knowledge or experience of : 

  • Energy generation, transmission and distribution
  • Renewable energy
  • Micro and community energy generation
  • Cyber security
  • Economics
  • Public policy
  • Geo-politics
  • Consumer energy suppliers 
  • Ofgem
  • Consumer Advocacy
  • Fuel poverty and associated vulnerabilities (e.g. health, disability, young families, older residents etc.)

Public Electric Vehicle Working Group

The aim of the Electric Vehicle Working Group is to operationalise the use case developed through the Office of Zero Emission Vehicles’ Icebreaking Process. The use case faces the challenge of more than 30% of households in the UK cannot install at-home EV chargepoints. This highlights the importance of affordable, public, and nearby on-street charging which requires local authorities to deliver this infrastructure in a timely, efficient, equitable and cost-effective way. This working group will be working to explore and operationalise how data can help the dilemmas that arise from the huge challenge of satisfying the coming demand for on-street charging.

We are seeking individuals from the following organisations, with the knowledge or experience of : 

  • Chargepoint operators
  • Chargepoint manufacturers
  • Electricity transmission operators
  • Consultancies that offer services in the EV space 
  • Connections departments of DNOs
  • Local Authority Energy and Electric Vehicle planners
  • Transportation authorities

Fleet Electrification Working Group

The aim of this group will be to analyse the operational, technical, legal, licensing, and policy considerations for commercial vehicle electrification. This group will comprise a collective of people from organisations to whom the EV use case applies and who are focused on operationalising/showing the end-to-end delivery of it.

We are seeking individuals from the following organisations, with the knowledge or experience of : 

  • Fleet and industrial vehicle operators/business owners
  • Chargepoint operators
  • Chargepoint manufacturers
  • Electricity transmission operators
  • Consultancies that offer services in the EV space 
  • Connections departments of DNOs
  • Local Authority Energy and Electric Vehicle planners
  • Transportation authorities

Residential Heat Working Group

The aim of the Heat Working Group is to operationalise the Future of Heating use case developed through the August 2021-February 2022 Pilot Phase of Open Energy. The use case focuses on a new residential housing developer who will no longer be able to install gas-based solutions, but needs to be able to properly equip properties for heating needs without placing unsustainable demands on the grid while still being in line with regulatory requirements. This working group analyses the operational, technical, legal, licensing, and policy considerations when accessing the data required to analyse the optimal combination of up-front costs and reduction in grid connections.

We are seeking individuals from the following organisations, with the knowledge or experience of : 

  • Residential property developers, responsible for making decisions about low-carbon heating installations in new developments
  • DNOs, responsible for determining grid headroom and capacity for new developments
  • Low carbon heating manufacturers and service providers, particularly those producing smart components and/or using data to drive product and service development
  • Mechanical and electrical engineers, responsible for decision-making of low-carbon heating installations and their operation
  • Local authorities – for example, those in planning departments responsible for implementing local policies 
  • Architects and other consultants, responsible for decision-making of low-carbon heating installations 
  • Citizens Advice, representing consumers
  • Insurance companies, specifically individuals who require further information around the cover offered in the eventuality of complex incidents such as flooding and storm damage to assets that might be installed as a consequence of reducing grid connection requirements.

Have we missed something? Let us know via the form.

Join Us

If you’d like to be a part of the Open Energy community where you can get regular updates, please sign up to our newsletter. 

Please get in touch with us at openenergy@icebreakerone.org if you have any questions.