Northern Powergrid increases stakeholder engagement with energy data marketplace
monthly API calls
registers users
datasets
Company profile
Northern Powergrid manages the electricity distribution network for more than 8 million people in the UK’s North East, Yorkshire, and northern Lincolnshire region.
Sector
Utilities & energy
Location
UK
Data leader
Challenge: Delivering transparency through data access
Data is a key enabler of eective future energy systems, enabling a wide range of stakeholders, from local authorities to generators, to make better-informed decisions that increase eciency and drive decarbonization. To deliver benefits, data must be easily available, and understandable by all stakeholders.
"We continue to recognise the critical role data plays in supporting our stakeholders and enabling the energy system transition. By placing stakeholder experience at the heart of our approach, we’ve made meaningful strides in improving the accessibility and usability of our open data marketplace."
Data experience: Building collaboration through data
As Northern Powergrid moves towards becoming a DSO, we knew that we had to extend the range and usability of the data we provide, understanding the needs of new stakeholder groups and meeting their specific requirements. Opening and sharing our data was a license imperative set by energy regulator Ofgem, but we wanted to go further, sharing data through an accessible, transparent approach that made the right information available to stakeholders through self-service in formats that
they could easily understand and use. We therefore looked to create an external data marketplace and chose to work with Opendatasoft on the program, thanks to its powerful technology and energy market experience.
The Northern Powergrid open data marketplace first went live in December 2022 and now offers an extensive range of information and visualizations for stakeholders, who include people who want to connect generating assets to the network, local authorities, academics, and employees of other energy and network companies. Organized under key themes, it provides a range of interactive features for users to help them access and utilize data effectively through self-service.
We knew that many stakeholders, such as local authorities, were not experts in energy data and were unlikely to have interacted with the company before. Our portal therefore had to deliver a tailored, intuitive experience
designed around their needs.
As part of this we have created specific user pages for dierent audiences, providing direct access to relevant data, tools and information. These have been introduced for local authorities and community groups, flexibility service providers and connection developers. Additionally, an interactive dashboard for local authorities brings together all the data they require in a single place, avoiding the need to switch between datasets.
Decarbonization relies on a distributed ecosystem of renewable and battery storage sites. Companies planning new generating sites
therefore need to pick locations where our network has spare connection capacity so that they can provide power to the grid.
To help, the marketplace shares Northern Powergrid’s Embedded Capacity Register (ECR) through an interactive, map-based visualization. This contains information on both connected generation and storage sites, and those waiting for connections.
This enables stakeholders to make informed decisions on where to connect – all through self-service. Additionally, we collect information from the other system operators in England, Scotland and Wales to create a national picture of distributed generation, available as an interactive visualization and heatmap, filterable by generation source.
Redeveloped network availability heat maps provide stakeholders with easier to use, clearer visualisations of the opportunities for new connections to the network whilst highlighting any challenges posed by network constraints. This new methodology also oers greater insight into the data behind the visuals and is aligned with other datasets such as Northern Powergrid’s ECR.
As part of our drive to build a community around data, Northern Powergrid actively encourages and shares reuses of our data on the portal. These include councils planning EV charging points, environmental organizations mapping infrastructure, and a combined dataset that brings together all UK-wide smart meter data in a single place.
Focusing on the user experience
As part of widening data access, we have a strong, ongoing focus on ensuring accessing and benefiting from the marketplace is intuitive and seamless. We have worked closely with independent user experience experts to map different journeys through the marketplace, segmenting them into three groups. High level users, who are familiar with both data and industry jargon are enabled to search directly for data in the catalog. Medium level users can access information through data pages to give them context. Finally, low level users, such as local authorities, with limited or no industry experience or knowledge of data, are directed to user pages which bring together all relevant datasets.
Huwise: the data marketplace for data sharing at scale
To provide its stakeholders with an engaging experience and maximize e ciency Northern Powergrid relies on three key strengths of Opendatasoft’s solution and approach:
Intuitive interface
While the Northern Powergrid’s network covers an area of 25,000 square kilometers, most users are only interested in data around a specific location, such as a town or local authority. The ability to view most datasets through a drill-down map enables users to easily pinpoint the area they want. AI-based search also helps to connect stakeholders with relevant data, understanding the intent and context behind their search to deliver the right information to them.
Collaborative support through community
Huwise is dedicated to helping its customers get the most from its solution – but knows that often key insights can come from other clients. To help deliver collaborative support, it has therefore created its Community engagement space, where users can ask questions and engage with their peers. We are a strong supporter of the Community, sharing its experiences and learning from Huwise’s other energy customers in the UK, Europe, North America and Australia.
Easy administration
Northern Powergrid’s data marketplace contains over 2.08 million records spread across 84 datasets, as well as a range of feature pages, dashboards and statutory documents, such as its Long-Term Development Statement and Distribution Future Energy Scenarios. The Huwise solution’s ease of use makes it straightforward for our two-person Northern Powergrid team to manage the marketplace, with the ability to quickly update pages, data assets and visualizations, without having to rely on external support.
Results: Enabling collaboration across the stakeholder community
"Our focus on stakeholders has helped drive increased engagement, fostered greater use of our data products, and supported innovation across our regions. Through this, we’re contributing to the development of a smarter, more decarbonised energy system— one that reflects the needs of the communities we serve."
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Growing data use by stakeholders
Thanks to the strength of the platform, ongoing stakeholder engagement and focus on the user experience there has been an enormous increase in usage. Around ten new users are registering for the marketplace every day, with average monthly external user numbers now reaching 4,000, making an average of 143,000 monthly API calls.
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Self-service increases efficiency and speed
Previously, if stakeholders wanted to find out information they had to submit their questions to us. Now they can self-serve, finding answers themselves, without needing to wait. For example, an EV charging point developer can carry out its own initial feasibility studies around potential sites, only needing to make contact when it has narrowed down its options. This also reduces the workload of our staff by reducing incoming requests.
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Success recognized by the regulator
As part of our journey to becoming a DSO, regulator Ofgem assesses Northern Powergrid’s progress every year. In the latest exercise, data and information provision was the company’s highest scoring area when evaluated both by a survey of stakeholders and an expert panel review.
"Data sharing underpins the shift to net zero but means that network operators need to engage with a wider range of stakeholders, many of whom are not energy specialists. Northern Powergrid’s focus on interacting with stakeholders and understanding their needs is a perfect example of how to build an intuitive experience for all."
About the Data leader
Paul Fitton
Director of Digital and Innovation, Northern Powergrid
Paul Fitton is Director of Digital and Innovation at Northern Powergrid, leading digital transformation, innovation, and cybersecurity with over 20 years of experience.
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