Three initiatives on data sharing and easier access:
Offshore data
The Crown Estate’s has announced a new look to its online Marine Data Exchange (MDE) that offers more user-friendly and intuitive design, improved search speed and browsing functionality, easier navigation for those trying to access a specific data set, and improved data visualisation capabilities
It said the new look was the result of 12 months of testing and refining with a wide variety of users who have helped make the process of accessing and analysing the data easier than ever before. The Crown Estate said the data would give those planning offshore projects “a valuable head start in understanding potential interactions and impacts, which can ultimately lower the risk of offshore development”, make it easier for users to identify knowledge gaps and gain insights into the evidence informing The Crown Estate.
The MDE was born in 2013 after offshore wind customers agreed to share data collated throughout the lifecycle of their projects. It now holds over 200 terabytes of survey data from offshore projects across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. That includes over 2,300 survey campaigns collated from feasibility through to decommissioning studies across the offshore wind, marine aggregates and wave and tidal sectors.
It also hosts outputs from the Offshore Wind Evidence and Change programme, evidence projects commissioned by The Crown Estate, and outputs from The Crown Estate’s spatial analysis and plan-level Habitats Regulations Assessments.
Huub den Rooijen, managing director of Marine at The Crown Estate, says: “With the need for clean domestic energy never greater, it is imperative that we have the best possible
“An open database like the Marine Data Exchange is a critical tool in providing high quality data, and this forms a core part of The Crown Estate’s work in driving the sustainable development of the marine space.”
Last year The Crown Estate began work on the first UK-wide register of offshore wind evidence gaps following the publication of a key new report by the Government’s Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). Both the report, and the future evidence register are being funded by The Crown Estate through the Offshore Wind Evidence and Change Programme and are available on the MDE
Retail data
Meanwhile, the Retail Energy Code Company (RECCo) has joined with ElectraLink and the REC Code Manager to integrate existing energy market data into retail energy market performance assurance so retail energy market participants in Great Britain can more easily assess their performance against regulatory obligations. This will improve reporting accuracy and increase energy businesses’ accountability to their customers .
Electralink also says that as a result data transfer costs for all market participants will fall, since data is provided through a not-for-profit mechanism. In addition, the team pseudonymised and delivered data, which subsequently ensures that personal data or confidential data is only provided when required rather than all data being transferred each month – also at less cost.
The project partners designed a flexible solution giving easier access to the data using APIs (application programming interfaces), giving more flexibility to users.
Paul Linnane, ElectraLink’s director of data and development, said: “RECCo looked to understand what centrally held data was available for REC performance assurance reporting against many KPIs across both fuel types. Following collaboration between parties and evaluation of the data, ElectraLink determined that data from the DTS could be incorporated into 57 KPIs reducing the impact on energy suppliers and other market participants from having to replicate the solution across their individual organisations. The variety of data available provides insights into countless energy market performance situations, and this is an excellent example of ElectraLink, RECCo and the Code Manager using central data and systems to benefit the overall
Market data
Elsewhere, Elexon is looking for more people to provide feedback and input into its new Elexon Kinnect Insights Solution. Kinnect will provide enhanced, customisable data that will replace the aging Balancing Mechanism Reporting Service platform (BMRS). The aim is to give easier access to data and data insights.
TCE register of offshore wind evidence gaps
Elexon’s Kinnect