We convened the first NIMBUS Advisory Group meeting in December, co-chaired by SSEN-T and Icebreaker One. 

In partnership with SSEN Transmission, SSEN Distribution, IBM and Palantir, IB1 is working on NIMBUS (Network Innovation and Meteorology to BUild for Sustainability) project to better understand the degradation of energy assets and improve their reliability through the use of new, granular data sources.

The purpose of this meeting was to gain a collective alignment on NIMBUS aims and understand what data opportunities and barriers the participants are facing.

Key insights

  • It was noted that:
    • The NIMBUS project aims to address the following key issues:
      • The severity of the impact of weather conditions on energy assets
      • The inefficiencies of current modelling – basic location data and low granularity of weather data
    • These issues will be addressed by:
      • Building an operational risk model focused on the use of high granularity of weather data to highlight higher-risk assets and how to modify asset regimes to reflect climate risk in specific areas on specific assets
      • Developing a clear methodology as to how to approach different assets
      • Create a blueprint for the energy industry to share data, especially with the work of IB1 to make data more open and accessible
    • Benefits:
      • The outcome of the NIMBUS project would enable TSOs and DNOs to understand the impacts of weather and climate on their assets health, functionality and resilience, through the use of new data sources and methodologies
      • Cost-efficiency for TSOs and DNOs
    • The decided priority use case is the 132kV Beauly to Shin transmission line, chosen due to the diversity of weather conditions
    • IB1 considers data through the lens of the Data Spectrum, developed by the Open Data Institute (ODI). In this, the availability and permitted use of data has three broad categories:
      • Closed Data: Usable only within organisations or with bilateral agreements
      • Shared Data: Usable with openly-published restrictions on access, purpose or onward sharing
      • Open Data: Usable by anyone for any purpose
    • The Open Energy project developed data sensitivity classes that provide additional nuance to Shared Data by considering the personal, commercial and security sensitivity of the data.
  • It was discussed that:
    • There is the possibility of exploring working toward informing specifications,  standards and planning during the beta phase
    • IB1 is interested in exploring how to get data sensitivity classes as part of triage process
    • Impacts of weather on transmission tower assets can be expanded to other assets based on different types of weather conditions and used for more than just electricity outputs
    • This project is also important for stakeholders in the water, rail, telecommunication and infrastructure sectors so the group agreed to use their networks to try and recruit appropriate representatives of these sectors to the AG

We are still accepting applications for the NIMBUS Advisory Group. If you or a colleague is interested in joining, please find more information here.