Breakout Session: Big Data is a Catalyst for Energy Market Shift

Breakout Session: Big Data is a Catalyst for Energy Market Shift

A dramatic shift in the UK energy system is necessary to meet the EU’s renewable targets. The traditional energy system is a centralised network with one-way power flow, with electricity generated by traditional power plants and very little data leveraged for system and consumer benefit. In order to move away from costly and carbon intensive fossil fuels and incorporate an increased proportion of intermittent, renewable generation, a shift towards a decentralised energy system with multi-directional power flow, electricity generated locally by distributed generators and increased visibility and intelligence is needed. This shift requires an unprecedented amount of data to be processed from the energy system to unlock hidden generation and demand flexibility on the network. We’ve estimated that the UK energy system currently produces in the region of 1 GB of data logged per day, however by 2030, in order to meet our carbon targets, 270,000 GB would need to be logged per day. This requires a dramatic change in energy tech, analytics and the way in which energy users and generators interact with their electricity.