This document is open for comment, click here for the report.

This use case report is part of the outputs from a partnership between Icebreaker One and the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles. The project aims to close the data gaps required to roll out thousands more electric vehicle charge points across the UK by working together with industry to identify the data infrastructure needed to roll out more charge points.

Use case summary: More than 30% of households in the UK cannot install at-home electric vehicle chargepoints, highlighting the importance of affordable and nearby on-street charging. But how can local authorities deliver this infrastructure in a timely, efficient, equitable and cost-effective way, ensuring ‘location optimisation’? We explore how data can help the dilemmas that arise from the huge challenge of satisfying the coming demand for on-street charging.

Open Energy, a service that makes it easy to search, access and securely share energy data is being developed based on use cases. Taking this use case approach helps ensure the Open Energy service is  designed to address real-world problems put forward by industry stakeholders. 

The third use case from Open Energy’s Pilot phase focuses on the future of heating in the UK. It will illustrate how data sharing can support developers of new residential properties to install low-carbon heating systems that meet regulatory requirements in a cost-effective way. 

Government strategy means that, by 2025, all new homes will be banned from installing gas and oil boilers and will instead need to be heated by low-carbon alternatives that are less familiar and, in many cases, are likely to place higher demands on the electricity network. Residential property developers will therefore need to think more holistically about how to meet the heating energy demands of their developments. 

In the wake of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee’s report – Decarbonising heat in homes – which highlighted the scale, complexity, and cost of the challenge, the focus of our third use case is particularly timely. 

However, as is often the case with anything worth doing, we hit a few road bumps along the journey to this outcome. 

The starting point for our third use case

In Autumn 2021, members of the Open Energy Steering and Advisory Groups, including representatives from government, regulators, consumer bodies, trade associations and industry, identified potential areas of focus for new use cases. Broad areas considered during this process included electricity supply flexibility, electric vehicles (EVs), fuel poverty, heat pumps, smart meter adoption rates, and the transition away from domestic gas boilers/heating.

Following input from Advisory and Steering Group members, Icebreaker One prioritised flexibility in the energy market (or ‘flex’), as the key area of focus for the development of our third use case. 

The challenge with focusing on a theme, rather than a problem

However, flex as a theme proved challenging to pin down to a specific use case, for two key reasons. 

1. It is a very broad theme, with flexibility arguably having a key role to play across multiple facets of the energy ecosystem. 
2. Flexibility in the energy market, and how it can be delivered and managed, is still in the early stages of development. Thus, it has been challenging to identify real-world problems that better data access could help solve now (or in the near future). 

As an example of the latter challenge, one problem statement considered for development into a use case was as follows:

‘A flexible asset operator wants the ability to offer its available flexibility into the different markets for flexibility (ESO, DNO/DSO, wholesale suppliers, potentially peer-to-peer sales), and needs access to relevant data so it can sell its assets more effectively to those that need them.’

However, following discussion with key stakeholders, it became clear that a number of potential markets for the sale of flexibility are under development, or not yet in existence, and further work needs to be done around the regulatory and legal restrictions of managing such services in an evolving market. 

Thus, while it is certain that this is a problem that needs solving, the obstacles to progress are much bigger than data sharing alone can currently solve – though this may not always be the case.  

A slight shift in approach

A change in focus was needed. So, Icebreaker One pivoted its approach to consider the real-world issues that stakeholders in the energy industry are facing now and in the near future, and that the Open Energy service could help address.  

The future of heating leapt to the forefront, given the ban on the installation on gas and oil boilers in new properties is only three years away. The electrification of heating will place higher demands on the electricity network, and more complex modelling will be required to ensure regulatory requirements are met while keeping pressure on the network to a minimum.  

For residential property developers, this will involve not only establishing the most appropriate heating equipment for the location and property types, but also how demands on the grid can be managed through the installation of superior insulation, renewable sources of energy and – bringing us full circle to our original focus – equipment and systems to support flexibility. 

In this complex ecosystem, data will be key to working out the best solutions.

Open Energy’s third use case problem statement

Icebreaker One has therefore prioritised the problem statement behind our third use case as follows: 

‘A new residential housing developer (or an Mechanical & Electrical contractor operating on its behalf) wants to know how to reduce grid reliance and minimise grid connection requirements when building and kitting out new housing developments with energy technology (both the heating technologies themselves and renewable/flex resources that could reduce grid reliance) while still being in line with regulatory requirements. 

‘It needs data to be able to analyse the optimal combination of up-front costs vs reduction in grid connection in terms of overall cost of development.’

How can Icebreaker One’s Open Energy programme help?

Open Energy will make it easy for stakeholders across the industry to search, access and securely share energy data. This data can be open or shared (such as access being restricted to specific Data Consumers and/or requiring payment for accessing the data). 

Its service will enable residential developers (or those operating on their behalf) to understand the data available to help them plan the best heating solutions for their development, and to access and licence this data in a more streamlined manner. This will help property developers to:

• Use the data to analyse options and establish the most cost-effective solution
• Ensure their properties are sustainably developed in a way that is compliant with regulatory requirements around decarbonisation and keeps demands on the electricity network to a minimum. 

Help us develop this use case and make Open Energy a reality

Open Energy’s use cases are designed to demonstrate the value of the Open Energy programme and to catalyse innovation, by illustrating how better, more streamlined access to energy data can support specific industry needs based on focused, real-world problems.

To fully develop this use case, and help ensure it addresses the needs and concerns of potential Data Consumers and Data Providers, we would welcome feedback on:

• The opportunities and benefits this use case presents
• The challenges of implementation
• The data required for implementation (including any specific, known datasets, whether open or shared).

If you have insights that could help us develop this use case, whether you’re a potential Data Consumer or Data Provider, please email openenergy@icebreakerone.org.

Get involved with Open Energy

• Become a member of Open Energy to use our pilot service
• Join Icebreaker One, which develops and operates Open Energy, as a supporter

Sign up to the Icebreaker One newsletter

But the UK’s EV-charging infrastructure is currently inadequate to support this. The need for access to data to support the rollout of a charging infrastructure to enable a surge in EVs has never been clearer.

Icebreaker One’s Open Energy programme 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 that are designed to address real-world problems put forward by industry stakeholders. 

Icebreaker One has consulted people across government, regulators, consumer bodies, trade associations and industry to develop a new Open Energy Use Case focused on EVs. It explores the value of better data sharing, and ensures the development of Open Energy is focused on user needs.

Comments are welcome and help us shape our work.

Read the Open Energy Electric Vehicle Use Case

Get involved

• Become a member of Open Energy to use our Pilot service
• Join our Advisory Groups to help shape the future of the Open Energy service
• Join Icebreaker One, which develops and operates Open Energy, as a supporter
• Sign up to the Open Energy newsletter
• Email the team for anything else

Icebreaker One’s Open Energy programme 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 that are designed to address real-world problems put forward by industry stakeholders. 

One use case currently in development is focused on how Open Energy will help electrical network and system operators meet the evolving and growing needs of EV users. We’ve conducted detailed interviews with the people on the front line of making this happen – here’s what we know so far.

Why the UK needs more EV charging points

The switch from conventionally-fuelled to emission-free vehicles forms a core part of the UK government’s Net Zero strategy, with the sale of new petrol and diesel (internal combustion engine, or ICE) cars to be banned by 2030. The reason for this is clear; transport produced 27% of the UK’s total emissions in 2019. The ban on the sale of new ICE cars, combined with lower running costs for EVs and an anticipated drop in up-front EV prices, means we can expect an explosion in EVs on the road over the coming years. 

But, as anyone who drives an EV knows, our EV charging infrastructure is inadequate. Not every household is in a position to install its own charge point, and even those that are will sometimes make use of public chargers. The UK government estimates that, by 2030, the country will need around 400,000 public charging points. But, as of December 2021, according to ZapMap, there are fewer than 30,000 public charging devices. This is a massive ramp up, and doesn’t even take into account the anticipated rise in installation of home EV charge points. 

In itself, the need for an exponential increase in charge points is a massive logistical challenge. But what’s arguably an even greater challenge is the capacity of our electricity network to cope with the rising demands placed on it. 

What’s standing in the way

Central to the task of ensuring that demands placed on the grid by the rising uptake of EVs are the UK’s Distribution Network Operators (DNOs). Their connection departments are responsible for processing and managing requests to the grid for electricity in the here and now, as well as forecasting future capacity requirements so that they can prioritise where to invest in greater capacity.

They need to know when and where charge points will be installed (domestic, public, commercial and industrial), the nature of these charge points (slow, rapid, ultrarapid, for example), and how they are utilised. But there is currently no mandatory registration of installations, with data having to be pulled from multiple sources. Data on utilisation of different types of charge point and plans for future installations is even more patchy and problematic to access. Concerns from those that hold the data may include reservations about access control, and whether their data is in a format that is suitable for sharing.

These challenges with data access make it inefficient and challenging for DNOs to plan for likely capacity requirements. This is only going to become trickier as EV uptake accelerates, potentially resulting in a too-slow rollout of charge points. 

Matt Webb, Head of Enterprise Data Management at UK Power Networks, told us:

‘The likely future demand on the electricity network that will be created through the accelerating uptake of EVs poses a significant challenge for network operators. We are faced with the need to meet customer and stakeholder expectations through the facilitation of timely connection of all forms of EV charging infrastructure while maintaining continuity and quality of electricity supply at lowest possible cost to the customer.

‘To ensure we are ready to service increasing numbers of fuse upgrades and potential network reinforcement where aggregate demand from EVs has the potential to exceed local network capacity, we require insight into potential and actual charge point installation and utilisation. The provision of data from a variety of stakeholders is key in this respect and the Open Energy programme has the potential to streamline processes to help meet this need and the challenge of delivering an electricity infrastructure that is fit for the future.’   

Matt Webb, Head of Enterprise Data Management at UK Power Networks

How Open Energy helps 

Open Energy makes data sharing simpler by automating data licensing, security checks, and technical integration. It can work with organisations that hold the data needed by DNOs, bringing it together into a one-stop shop with appropriate security and access controls, and in a consistent format. Using Open Energy, a DNO will vastly improve its access to the data they need to help make sure that grid capacity can meet the demand from newly installed EV charge points. They will be able to access this information more quickly and cost-effectively than ever before. They will be able to access hundreds of datasets with just one round of authentication and technical integration. 

In turn, it will allow DNOs to collaborate more effectively with other industry stakeholders. As well as accessing others’ data, DNOs can publish their own data securely, safe in the knowledge that only authenticated users can access it. It means no need to agree to a unique set of terms and conditions every time someone requests your data. Agree to Open Energy rules and policies once, and they’ll be applied automatically every time data is shared. 

Ultimately, better access to data via the Open Energy programme will help break down silos and ensure that an increase in the number of EVs – and EV charging points – does not place unsustainable demands on our energy resources. This will, in turn, help ensure that the UK is able to meet its ambitious targets for EV ownership by 2030 and beyond. 

Get involved

• Become a member of Open Energy to use our pilot service
• Join our Advisory Groups to help shape the future of the Open Energy service
• Join Icebreaker One, which develops and operates Open Energy, as a supporter
• Sign up to the Open Energy newsletter

Photo credit: Precious Madubuike on Unsplash