The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has issued its invitation to tender for a feasibility study for a ‘digital spine’ for the energy system.
The government said in its 2021 Energy Digitalisation Strategy that only a digitalised energy system can withstand millions of new energy flows from distributed low carbon technologies (such as heat pumps, solar, batteries, and electric vehicle charge points), along with 30GW of low carbon flexible assets (such as storage, demand side response and interconnection).
It said, “Many of these devices are already in homes and businesses today, so there is an immediate need to integrate them efficiently and securely into our energy system”. That will require the digitalised exchange of data, built on principles of data openness, sector-wide interoperability and security by design.
The Energy Digitalisation Taskforce called for strategic intervention by government to deliver this, including creating a ‘digital spine’ – is a framework of technical processes and defined governance roles and responsibilities that allow for secure and interoperable exchange of energy system data. The six-month feasibility study will explore open-source, distributed solutions for exchange of energy system data, including definition, scope options analysis, stakeholder engagement, security and operability implications, user journeys, and costs.
Tenders must be submitted by 21 November and BEIS expects to award the contract at the end of November.
See full tender details here