Smart Energy Data Service goes live

A new SDR UK data service has launched today, providing secure access to newly licensed datasets for the first time. Led by Energy Systems Catapult and the University of Oxford, Smart Energy Data Service (SENSE) is designed to make accessing, linking and using energy data easier, faster and more impactful.

SENSE’s datasets will reveal how energy is used across the UK, with a focus on two key areas: planning EV charging infrastructure and reducing energy waste in non-domestic buildings.

SENSE joins five other SDR UK smart data services which are based at leading UK universities and research organisations. Each data service acquires, stewards, and enables safe access to diverse smart data within secure environments that protect privacy while enabling breakthrough research. 

Smart data is generated whenever we engage with the digital world – from the smart meters and energy appliances in our homes to the phones in our pockets as we move, shop and navigate daily life.

When responsibly linked – connecting energy consumption with mobility patterns, fuel poverty indicators and other contextual information – this data becomes a powerful for understanding complex social challenges, and for informing the technologies and services that innovators develop to address them.

“SENSE brings together unique, hard-to-access datasets into a single platform, removing the complexity of linking data sources so researchers can focus on generating real insight.”

Dr Richard Snape, director of SENSE.

The data within SENSE has been made publicly available for the first time with a Smart Data Research UK grant, giving researchers efficient access to datasets that would otherwise be difficult to obtain.

Available datasets include:

• Smart meter usage data from five distribution network operators (DNOs) across GB;
   
• Merged data from DNOs providing a consistent summary of commonly required information such as voltage, capacity and substation IDs;
   
• Datasets on non-domestic buildings including schools and hospitals, including an exclusive dataset of fine-grained consumption data across 25 NHS trusts;
   
• Vehicle data including car ownership, travel data and public chargepoint use;
   
• Fuel poverty statistics.
   

Datasets are expected to be especially useful for academics, small and medium enterprises, energy experts, consultants and policymakers focused on cleaner energy systems.

SENSE has been designed to bridge critical data gaps that currently hinder decarbonisation efforts, unlocking benefits for society and the economy. It’s focused on two critical use cases:

• Equitable energy transitions: enabling researchers to investigate demands from domestic, private hire and non-domestic vehicles and the timing of demand on hourly, daily, weekly and seasonal basis. In combination with social demographic data, this will help support research with real social value, including how public EV charging infrastructure can support fair and inclusive access for rural and underserved communities.
  
• Energy behaviours and efficiency: examining how societal behaviours impact energy use in public and commercial buildings, enabling more effective energy management.

The data is accessed through the new SENSE website. Users self-serve by creating a login that provides direct access to open datasets which can be downloaded or explored within the SENSE platform. There are also safeguarded datasets that users can request access to. 

“SENSE provides an exciting opportunity for UK energy researchers to access a wide range of powerful datasets with unprecedented ease and security.

“It’s exciting to see such a strong partnership with a common goal: making high quality data accessible to more researchers. In the face of our pressing energy research challenges, I cannot think of a more valuable resource for the UK research community.”

Phil Grünewald, co-investigator on the SENSE project and lecturer in engineering at the University of Oxford

“Without the efficacy of data, every data science and AI idea is just speculative. Energy consumption behaviour is changing fast as novel technologies become available to store, shift, return and demand energy from an “active” network enabled by proactive suppliers. Now, our aim is to enable UK R&D to be in the lead globally in accessing and experimenting with the resulting data, making our SENSE programme a catalyst and a magnet for innovators and bright minds.”

Peter Grindrod CBE, co-director of SENSE and professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford.

Find out more

READ: Dr Richard Snape from our Smart Energy Data Service (SENSE) reflects on rapid changes in the energy sector and opportunities for the use of smart data.

VISIT the SENSE website.