Why digital architecture is key to Britain's energy future

As the energy network grows and modernises, so does the digital architecture that links it all together. It needs to be acknowledged and understood as just as important as any other part of the energy system, NESO chief information officer Shubhi Rajnish argues. Britain's energy transition is often imagined in concrete and cables – wind farms, solar panels, nuclear plants and new network infrastructure. But behind every asset being planned and connected, the challenge of fragmented data threatens to slow the energy transition down and make the energy system more expensive. Right now, energy data is dispersed across different organisations. Transmission Owners have the information to design and build new electricity network routes for power to travel over. Gas and electricity distribution companies have visibility of assets on their systems that feed homes and businesses. Suppliers and aggregators hold data on homes, electric vehicles and batteries that, when brought together, can act as virtual power plants. That is merely the edges of it. Artificial intelligence (AI) is opening more opportunities to enhance the way the energy system is run. New ways to forecast and to simulate will create better outcomes for people, society and the economy but data volumes will grow as a result.