Public Funding for Icebreaker One Ltd

**Open Energy (OE) unlocks access to energy data in a modern context.** Together, we have created a solution which answers the needs of a clearly articulated use-case that demonstrates the user-needs for the proposed solution, co-created and validated by the sector itself. **It has been developed in collaboration with over 60 domain experts from across the energy community in a number of industry Advisory Groups (AGs).** This included representatives from energy producers, electricity and gas District Network Operators (DNOs), representative bodies (e.g. Electralink, Gemserv, ENA Open Networks Programme Data Working Group), Local and Combined Authorities, data providers (e.g. EV chargepoint operators, Smart Metering data providers) and government and regulatory bodies. AG outputs include detailed descriptions of what the market needs are---as validated by the AGs---including policy, operational and technical components. Functional evidence includes a full demonstration of the technical systems required. **The solution, Open Energy, provides a cohesive, integrated solution to enable a large ecosystem (\>8,000 organisations) to connect, find, access and use data.** It addresses both Open Data (can be used by anyone, for any purpose, for free) and Shared Data (permissioned access is required and can be provisioned through a pre-emptive license). We do this through implementation of an open search engine that enables the discovery of data from across the sector and enables the user to find and access the data without any friction (e.g. no registration is required for search). To ensure permissioned access can be both trusted and scaled, we have delivered a robust Open Energy Governance Platform (OEGP) that can securely machine-authenticate organisations across the OE ecosystem. The service is supported with operational and policy processes that facilitate and codify how it will scale. **This proposal meets the scope of this project---solving the fundamental challenge of modernising data discoverability, access and exchange between energy organisations and stakeholders.** **Our Phase 3 plan addresses the development of a private beta with limited real users as well as a public-facing beta.** The private beta will involve stakeholders identified in the use-case highlighted in Phase 2\. The public beta includes open access to the energy data search function, including registration and publishing of related data. **We will test a private-to-public scaling of the OEGP system through an open application process that will enable any organisation to apply and register their identity.**

Open Energy will modernise access to energy data across industry and address decarbonisation and the climate crisis via economic innovation. In Phase One we demonstrated the potential for a sustainable, scalable, industry-led solution that will meet the needs of a highly complex market, and address interfaces with regulators. We gathered the support of a material and substantial set of stakeholders and embraced the other participants in the programme in our solutions, demonstrating a clearly extensible model that will interface across markets and clients. This groundbreaking, forward-looking proposal addresses the organisational silos that work against information sharing. We have validated the need for Open Energy, to agree shared principles and practice to underpin our data infrastructure. Stakeholders repeatedly emphasised that there cannot be no 'single platform' in which 'all data is put' to address 'all use cases'. Our proposal tackles multiple aspects of the MEDA challenge and the articulated user needs. To deliver taxpayer value-for-money, address public sector needs and catalyse innovation in the SME sector, two programmes of work will build upon and reuse existing, proven processes and systems that enable data-sharing in a parallel sector: Stakeholder engagement A three-month programme convening industry & the public sector to deliver a minimum viable Open Energy Standard based on user needs. Open Energy Governance Platform (OEGP) prototyping & testing Develop a prototype OEGP through which market rules can be applied in response to the needs articulated. The prototype OEGP will be underpinned by the industry-led shared principles and practice that will be agreed through the industry working groups in our Stakeholder Engagement workstream. Building on existing public and private sector investments (e.g. Open Banking) we will aggregate, repurpose and redeploy existing processes, practices and technologies which have already received £millions of investment from industry and the taxpayer. Our Phase Two roadmap will sequence development to Enable data publishing in machine-readable formats Enable machine-discovery of data Enable the 'pull' of specific data, subject to governance rules, by specific users for specific needs (e.g. a data platform for specific use-cases)

Open Energy has the potential to both transform the energy industry and address the climate crisis via economic innovation, accelerating decarbonisation. Our project will develop an open standard for data sharing in the energy sector. On implementation it will enable energy network and market stakeholders to share data robustly, legally and securely, driving the use and adoption of innovation across the energy sector. Following the UK's world-first work on Open Banking (which was co-chaired by Gavin Starks, Icebreaker One’s founder), we will develop a standard for sharing data that will enable UK energy network stakeholders to optimize the use of network assets, better price existing energy products and create new offerings, driving both private and public good. Open Energy is convening the relevant stakeholders across the energy industry, policy, science and asset owners to define an open standard for catalysing data access across the energy sector. A transparent, open marketplace built around the needs of both the market and our climate reality will enable energy companies to invest in measurably low-carbon products and services. The primary challenges are culture and business models. Organisations are based on legacy models that hold data ‘closed’ (negotiating access and uses on a case-by-case basis) instead of taking ‘shared’ or ‘open’ approaches (using pre-emptive licensing and web-based systems). High transaction costs (in time, process and money) are stopping the energy sector from working with data at scale. Lack of information transparency provokes an overly cautious approach in stakeholders, constraining creativity in finding new models, products and market solutions. Data is not discoverable, clearly licensed for use, nor in formats that people or machines can easily manipulate. Open Energy will create the conditions to allow the energy sector and wider ecosystem to use data at scale, creating the standard to address the foundational ‘data plumbing’ to enable businesses to innovate and the UK to plan policies and regulation to protect its citizens, their environment and economy, and accelerate the path to decarbonisation. Open Energy will repurpose the approaches used in Open Banking to the energy sector and demonstrate the concept viability in practice, with an initial use case implementing the approaches on solar electricity generation and asset meta-data. The Open Energy team has experience in collecting solar data and working with the physical assets, which we will bring to bear on this growing distributed energy resource data set.

SERI (Standard for Environment, Risk, and Insurance) is an opportunity to address the climate crisis with economic innovation. This project will focus on the development of an open standard to enable insurers to access shared environmental, financial and risk data across organisations and silos. It provides the building blocks for UK insurers to innovate around climate risk, improve their current products and create new products that will cover new and more types of risks, creating both private and public good. We need better ways to share data --- robustly, legally and securely --- that create value, rather than leaving it in stagnant data lakes. An addressable, open marketplace built around the needs of both the market and our climate reality will enable insurance companies to invest in measurably low-carbon financial products and services. The primary challenges are culture and business models. Organisations are stuck in legacy models that hold data 'closed' (negotiating access and uses on a case-by-case basis) instead of taking 'shared' or 'open' approaches (using pre-emptive licensing and web-based systems). High transaction costs (in time, process and money) are stopping asset owners, funders and insurers from working with data at scale. This is limiting creativity in finding new models, products and market solutions. We are holding back innovation: data is not discoverable; is not clearly licenced for use; is not in formats that people or machines can easily manipulate. SERI is innovative in that it will create the conditions that will allow insurers and the wider insurance ecosystem to use data at scale. Standards that address this foundational 'data plumbing' will enable insurance businesses to innovate and the UK and its regions to plan policies and regulation to help protect citizens, their environment and economy, and accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence-based technologies in insurance. SERI will convene the relevant stakeholders in the insurance industry, in policy and science and asset owners to define an open standard for catalysing data access across the insurance sector. This will enable the use and adoption of artificial intelligence tools within the insurance sector.