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A national energy data platform, YODA


  • Siemens, together with partners Energy Systems Catapult and National Innovation Centre for Data, is creating Your Online Digital Architecture (YODA), a national energy data platform for Innovate UK’s Modernising Energy Data Access project
  • YODA will enable better local energy management and support the drive to decarbonisation by providing a central energy data catalogue, an energy map of generation and demand, and an asset register for all new energy assets such as wind and solar farms, electric vehicle charging points etc.
  • Energy innovators, generators and users can tell Siemens how they want to use the energy data platform through a series of on-line workshops early in June

If you are an energy app developer or energy innovator; a local authority energy manager or an electric vehicle (EV) charging provider; a grid or micro-grid operator;  an academic or one of the many other energy-interested individuals or organisations, Siemens would like to hear from you. You can have your say on what you need from a national energy data platform and how you want to access it.

Siemens have won a project with the UK Government’s innovation-agency, Innovate UK, to develop an energy data platform. The platform, Your Online Digital Architecture (YODA), will integrate sources of information throughout the energy system and curate a central energy data catalogue, an energy map of generation and demand, and an asset register for all new energy assets, such as electric vehicle charging points, wind and solar farms.

Siemens will run a series of workshops throughout early June to understand key stakeholders’ needs and ensure these are reflected in the future platform design and fully support projects being carried out by energy producers, distributors and consumers. A concept design for the data platform will be shared openly toward the end of the initial discovery phase in mid-July. This work will build on Energy Data Best Practice and the Energy Data Taskforce to establish an industry baseline of research which could be practically utilised by businesses and organisations throughout the UK to expedite digitalisation and develop products and services to improve energy efficiency in generation and usage.

2030, the UK’s target date for Net Zero is less than a decade away. Most of the assets and technologies that make up the energy system of today will be present in the future decarbonised system, albeit facing increasing strategic and operational challenges with the continued rise of distributed energy, electrification and digitalisation. The Modernising Energy Data Access (MEDA.) project was established by Innovate UK in autumn 2019 and invited competitive bids for projects to solve the fundamental problem of exchanging digital energy information between disparate stakeholders to enable the development and testing of products and services which can be commercialised and scaled. Siemens, with its partners Energy Systems Catapult (ESC) and National Innovation Centre for Data (NICD), is one of three successful entrants through the first round and going forward with developing their project concepts.

Andrew Smyth, Head of Customer Success, Software at Siemens, explains “We are very excited to be working on the MEDA project and are passionate about creating a platform to enable both visibility of the national energy system and to support the drive to decarbonisation. The workshops will explore how energy users are challenged and constrained by the current energy system and how a central data platform could aid their future aspirations. The workshops are planned to allow all participants an opportunity to express their views”.

Dr. Richard Dobson of Energy Data Taskforce adds “Energy Systems Catapult’s mission is to unleash innovation and open new markets to capture the clean growth opportunity. The ability to seamlessly share and access data is absolutely fundamental to this. We’re excited to be working with Siemens on Your Online Digital Architecture to deliver a critical part of the modern, digitalised energy system we need.”

Details of the workshops, which all run between 1st June and 9th June at 9.30am and 1.30pm on the 3rd, 4th, 8th and 9th June plus 9.30 on Friday 5th June, are available on the project website www.siemens.co.uk/yoda.

For further information on Siemens Intelligent Infrastructure, please see https://new.siemens.com/uk/en/company/topic-areas/intelligent-infrastructure.html

Siemens Smart Infrastructure (SI) is shaping the market for intelligent, adaptive infrastructure for today and the future. It addresses the pressing challenges of urbanization and climate change by connecting energy systems, buildings and industries. SI provides customers with a comprehensive end-to-end portfolio from a single source – with products, systems, solutions and services from the point of power generation all the way to consumption. With an increasingly digitalized ecosystem, it helps customers thrive and communities progress while contributing toward protecting the planet. SI creates environments that care. Siemens Smart Infrastructure has its global headquarters in Zug, Switzerland, and has around 71,000 employees worldwide.