Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | JANUARY 2022 | 37 Technology Association working with Ordnance Sur- vey and 1Spatial, is considered one of the rst steps towards a "integrated Internet of Energy" for the UK. Water companies were the driving force behind the creation of a National Under- ground Asset Register, a digital platform designed to minimise cable and pipework strikes. Initially developed as part of Northum- brian Water's Innovation Festival in 2018, then trialled in the northeast of England and London, the tool is now being developed into a nationwide geospatial platform by Atkins for the Geospatial Commission. The intention is to share data between utility companies and local authorities to improve e‹ ciencies in construction and development, reduce disruption and improve safety. The evolution of these initia- tives as they begin to address the challenges of interoperating with each other and the wider landscape will be key to delivering the value they clearly represent. Open data starts at home Technology and data specialists at utilities are beginning to understand the value of sharing data but utopian visions are all too oŒ en grounded by the harsh realities of leg- acy systems and outdated information man- agement processes. Innovation and data leaders interviewed for this report expressed concerns about the quality, consistency and completeness of data they hold, which is still oŒ en unable to interact internally, let alone move across external boundaries within and outside of the industry. Gabrielle Barnard, head of informa- tion management at SGN, says: "We are all actively working to address variable levels of data quality, which will take time and invest- ment. There's also the discussion around legacy systems. Technology has progressed immeasurably in a relatively short amount of time, so how do you incorporate those legacy systems, that perhaps aren't 'data smart'?" Standardisation is considered key to mak- ing data interoperate with other organisa- tions. In future it could help cut integration costs associated with low-carbon energy solutions and more holistic analysis of data. Electricity Distribution Network Opera- tors (DNOs) engaged in the transition to Dis- tribution System Operators (DSOs) are ahead of the curve in this regard. UK Power Networks and Western Power Distribution (WPD) have both launched open data portals where information on consump- tion, generation and loads is provided in consistent and standardised formats. WPD's portal incorporates Application Program- ming Interfaces (APIs) that enable users to automate the gathering and processing of datasets. The Common Information Model (CIM) standard, adopted by the International Electrotechnical Commission, de nes the common vocabulary and basic ontology for the electricity network and assets, and has already been implemented by certain DNOs. Its wider implementation is another facet to the sector's future open data strat- egy, explains Matt Webb, head of enterprise data at UK Power Networks: "There are dif- ferent › avours of the CIM, it can't cater for everything, which means we have to develop extensions and customised components. Part of the alignment piece is the need to come together to agree on the › avour to apply and the extensions to develop." Gas has no established CIM, but the Energy Networks Association is currently exploring what shape that might take. As Webb highlights, the challenge of how sec- tor-speci c CIMs become extensible enough to enable interaction across boundaries remains. The water sector has made strides on standardisation, with 11 companies, covering 81% of the UK population, engaged in the STREAM open data initiative set up to estab- lish a framework and strategy for sector-wide open data based around six core capabilities. Con dence in the veracity of sector data is critical to enable third parties to develop use cases. Michael Hull, performance and infor- mation team leader at Northumbrian Water, explains: "Once we standardise, we'll be able to not only share data between compa- nies but also the supply chain. They will be able to use that data to improve the perfor- mance of their assets based on observed real world operational data performanceŸdata." Risk factors Utilities have a reputation for stability and risk aversion, not least due to understanda- ble sensitivities around the operation of criti- cal national infrastructure. E¡ orts to expose their data to other organisations introduce new risk around legislative and regula- tory compliance, the protection of critical national infrastructure, data privacy, intel- lectual property and consumer impact. According to Hull, the trickiest aspect of integration in the STREAM project was get- ting legal agreements and a framework in place to ensure companies were willing to share the same type of data, at the same level of granularity, with the same parameters. The energy sector has made signi cant progress in sorting through the necessary data governance and assurance processes, giving companies the con dence to place sensitive data into a common environment. Ofgem's best practice guidance describes a data triage process for identifying potential risks then exploring ways to mitigate them to keep the data open. Webb tells Utility Week: "If we apply cer- tain mitigation techniques, if we aggregate data, anonymise it, or obfuscate it in some way, then we can publish it. It just requires a slightly di¡ erent mindset." However, the ability to do that consistently at a sectoral level so that everyone is driving forward at the same pace, "is going to be a constraining factor", he says. Technology is in many ways outpacing e¡ orts around standardisation and regula- tion with many platforms available to collate and process data in a common environment. Given the rapidly shiŒ ing energy landscape it's di‹ cult for companies to accurately fore- cast their needs in ve or 10 years' time, in which case a tech platform that enables a "just start and scale" approach may be the preferable option. Ali Nicholl, one of the founding team at Iotics, comments: "The pandemic has vis- cerally shown us how interconnected we all are, how reliant we are on supply chains and how everything has an impact on everything else. Yet we persist in a data approach that does not mirror the real world and keeps data in silos. "There are technologies that enable you to start small, build on your existing Mini- mum Viable Product speci cations etc, and scale up when needed, it just takes a men- tal leap to understand the bene ts. All of the system integrators or big technology providers are now starting to talk about eco- systems, that's where things are headed." in association with In association with In this report Why do we need interoperable data? Picking up the pace of progress It starts at home – tackling internal data quality and governance first Rationalising risk factors Finding the value C A S E S T U D Y A cross-boundary ecosystem I N S I G H T R E P O R T A zero boundaries world for industry data: necessity or pipedream? Pressure is mounting for energy and water companies to break down barriers to the visibility and use of data across organisational functions, company divides and the sector borders. But do technology and business leaders in utilities buy into this ambition and how hard will it be for them to achieve? 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 01000001 00100000 01 1110 1 0 0 110010 1 0 1 1 1 001 01000 0 01 00 1 000 0 0 0 1 11 1 01 0 0 1 100 1 0 1 01 1 1 0 0 1 0 01 10 In association with In this report Why do we need interoperable data? Picking up the pace of progress It starts at home – tackling internal data quality and governance first Rationalising risk factors Finding the value C A S E S T U D Y A cross-boundary ecosystem I N S I G H T R E P O R T A zero boundaries world for industry data: necessity or pipedream? Pressure is mounting for energy and water companies to break down barriers to the visibility and use of data across organisational functions, company divides and the sector borders. But do technology and business leaders in utilities buy into this ambition and how hard will it be for them to achieve? 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 01000001 00100000 01 1110 1 0 0 110010 1 0 1 1 1 001 0 0100 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 00 0 0 0 011 1 1 0 1 0 0 110 0 0 0 0 01 0 1 0 0 0 01 0 1 0 1 101 01 01000 0 01 00 1 000 0 0 0 1 11 1 01 0 0 1 100 1 0 1 01 1 1 0 0 1 0 01 10 Download the report To read more from A Zero Boundaries World for Industry Data: Necessity or Pipedream?, including insight into establishing value propositions in data and a case study on a digital twin projects that spanned multiple industries please download the full report at: https://utilityweek.co.uk/a-zero-boundaries- world-for-data/

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