How Open Energy enables RIIO-ED2

Anyone working in the energy sector needs to deal with a fast-moving set of demands driven by customers, public pressure and regulation.

The need to get to net zero underpins all of it.

Getting to net zero makes our energy system more complex: renewable power generation and flexibility and storage technologies all make our power grid more decentralised. Meanwhile, as our overall power use shifts towards electricity, reliability and cost-efficiency is more important than ever.

This level of decentralisation and reliability can only happen if data can be shared: securely, efficiently and in real time.

That’s the vision at the heart of Ofgem’s RIIO-ED2, a performance-based model for the spending and investment of energy network companies that determines how they will operate between 2023 and 2030.

What RIIO-ED2 means for data sharing

Ofgem’s vision for the future is set to speed up the pace of digitalisation in the energy sector.

It focuses network operators on their plans for data sharing, digitalisation, flexibility and forward planning, requiring them to share and coordinate energy data use better.

Ofgem decided that DNOs must:

publish and regularly review a Digitalisation Strategy & Action Plan in accordance with their guidance
use data in a way that meets the expectations of Data Best Practice guidance.

Network operators have submitted their business plans for this new RIIO period: now, they need to deliver on the commitments they’ve made.

That means network operators need to scale up their data maturity quickly, helping them to efficiently exchange large quantities of data in a secure way. Sharing individual datasets manually drives up legal, administration and data-handling costs and introduces more potential for human error.

How Open Energy helps deliver RIIO-ED2 business plans

Open Energy makes it easy to search, access and securely share energy data. It covers both Open Data and commercial Shared Data where access requires control. It’s a non-profit service run by a non-partisan organisation, Icebreaker One.

Open Energy uses open standards to make data interoperable between different systems and organisations, using financial-grade security and a powerful search engine to make data discovery fast and secure.

For organisations holding vast quantities of data – like network operators – Open Energy improves the data sharing process by automating security checks and legal contracts. ‘The data owners sets their terms once over a defined period, then lets Open Energy do the rest.

In the short term, Open Energy helps networks to plan effectively and meet new digitalisation and data-sharing license obligations, like making their data discoverable, searchable and shareable.

In the long term, Open Energy helps networks moving through the transition from DNO to DSO by meeting their enhanced data requirements.

How Open Energy helps organisations comply with Data Best Practice Guidance

*DBP – short*	*How OE supports – short*
Identify roles of stakeholders	OE continuously identifies stakeholders for you, via its Committees, Advisory Groups, and sector engagements
Use common terms within data, Metadata	OE is consolidating terms within data and metadata, guided by the industry
Describe data accurately	OE is helping industry to define a common metadata standard
Users to understand the data	OE helps with creating ‘core supporting information’
Make datasets discoverable	the OE search function makes data discoverable
Understand needs of data users	Data users are part of OE’s governance; Data providers can directly talk to users to learn their needs
Ensure data quality is prioritised by user needs	OE’s notification system will provide you with data user issues
Ensure data is interoperable	OE enables interoperability by encouraging metadata descriptiveness and transparency
Protect data	OE provides FAPI connections and strong governance, which ensure secure sharing of data
Store data	OE helps you retain control over your data
Data is presumed open	OE, guided by industry, sets classifications for open and shared data
Conduct Triage	OE’s Data Sensitivity Classes system complements Presumed Open and triage

How Open Energy helps organisations deliver their Digitalisation Strategy and Action Plan

DSAP short	How OE supports
provide benefits to stakeholders	OE will help you discover what stakeholder benefits are
work to defined vision	OE has developed an industry-wide vision; DNOs can use this to complement their vision
deliver benefits early	OE is a solution that is in the market now, ready to use
make it easy to understand	Using OE guarantees this as solution is based on customer research and consultation
coordinate with the ecosystem	OE is interoperable by design and coordination is at its core

Open Energy is a non-profit service designed to transform data sharing in the energy system. It accelerates the journey to net zero, enables innovation, and helps organisations comply with fast-moving regulation.

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