Wednesday 17 August 2016

Open data could save energy market £400m

The use of open and transparent data could save the energy market £400 million in the next 10 years.

It could also help the sector reduce around 80,000 tonnes of CO2 during the same period, according to a report by Guru Systems.

It analysed consumption data across a number of heat networks in the country with the help of the Open Data Institute and the former Department of Energy and Climate Change.

The study aimed to identify hidden inefficiencies and carry out improvements to four existing heat networks.

These kind of networks, which currently account for 2% of the energy market, see heat produced at a central point and distributed to a number of buildings.

It uncovered issues spanning the networks’ lifecycles from oversizing in design, to problems in specification, commissioning and operation.

The study calculated developers of heat networks can save more than 30% on capital building costs, including expenditure on central boilers and pipework, if designs are created using real life data.

Residents could also benefit from the project, it added. One of the schemes involved residents and saw their energy tariff almost halved from 7.7p to 3.8p per kWh.