🚨 We’ve made some updates to OpenSynth - an open data community founded by CNZ, now sourced under The Linux Foundation's LF Energy. The community democratises access to synthetic energy demand data, for the broad purposes of unlocking research, modelling and innovation to accelerate the decarbonisation of global energy systems.

What’s new?

1️⃣ New algorithm addition
Delft University of Technology has contributed their EnergyDiff model: a diffusion-based algorithm that can generate synthetic smart meter data. Read more about their paper here: https://lnkd.in/eVQictgu

2️⃣ Faster compute for Faraday
The Gaussian Mixture module in Faraday has been reimplemented in PyTorch, instead of using scikit-learn, to allow users to use GPU-accelerated compute to speed up training.

3️⃣ Train on big datasets
OpenSynth has also incorporated Lightning AI (https://lnkd.in/emG-DgFW) to make it easy to train on large datasets that cannot be read into memory.

Check out the latest release of OpenSynth v0.0.6 on github and PyPI:
🔗 https://lnkd.in/e-XuYQ72
🔗 https://lnkd.in/eAFmwyDJ

🙏 With thanks to Pedro P. Vergara & Nan Lin from Delft University of Technology, Jacco Heres from Alliander and Philipp Gruenewald from University of Oxford for their ongoing support.

Find out more 👉 https://lnkd.in/e7e2VqQJ
#OpenSource #GenAI #EnergyTransition

#EnergyUnplugged is back with episode 234! This week we're excited to welcome Lucy Yu, CEO of the Centre for Net Zero (Octopus Energy Group) and Jon Norman, President of Hydrostor to the podcast. They join our Head of Research for Western Europe & India, Marc Hedin to discuss how flexibility plays a crucial role in enabling a clean power grid. 🍃💡

🎧Listen here: https://lnkd.in/diQq5kZ

The Centre for Net Zero is an independent research unit within Octopus Energy, focused on providing data-driven insights into the future of demand flexibility. Hydrostor, based in Toronto, specialises in the development and operation of Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage technology, offering energy storage solutions ranging from 8 hours to multiple days. 🔋

Main topics of discussion include the following:

🔹Challenges in achieving a net-zero energy system
🔹The importance of flexibility in a clean power system
🔹Potential risks of lacking sufficient flexibility in the system

#EnergyPodcast #NetZero #EnergyTransition #EnergyStorage #CleanEnergy #EnergySystems

Flexibility isn’t optional - it’s essential for a future powered by clean energy ⚡

I spoke to Martina Lees at The Times about the importance of demand flexibility as we decarbonise energy systems. Key points:

1️⃣ Consumer flex is key to lowering costs in future energy systems
2️⃣ Even if you're not directly participating, you'll benefit
3️⃣ AI can automate energy use, without households having to think about it
4️⃣ We've got immediate work to do: we need to increase flex by 4-5x by 2030
5️⃣ This is an opportunity to pay people, rather than power plants, to support the energy system

Check it out 🔗 https://lnkd.in/e42Yt7qh
Centre for Net Zero (Octopus Energy Group)

🏠 Despite the potential benefits, there is limited research on how solar PV and batteries impact fuel-poor households in the UK.

☀️ Existing studies on the adoption of solar panels, in particular, are inconsistent: some papers estimate a net reduction in consumption imported from the grid, while others differ on the extent to which the reduction is dampened by a rebound effect.

📊 Using real-world evidence from Octopus Energy customers, CNZ has done some early analysis evaluating the impact of solar PV and battery installations on vulnerable households.

What did we find?

⚡ A significant reduction in electricity consumption from the grid – from 25kWh to 10kWh each week, cutting energy bills.

🔋 Net electricity generation during the summer - this was either stored in a battery or sold to the grid, making ‘grid interactive buildings’ a lived reality.

🌍 Carbon savings – each installation saved 179kg CO2 per year per household, equivalent to planting roughly 8 trees.

Check out our blog for more info 👉 https://lnkd.in/e7MTNRQ3

🔎 To establish causality and provide further, robust evidence, we are currently conducting a randomised control trial. We’ll be publishing final results later this year. Get in touch to find out more.

🇺🇸 Last month, our COO Gareth Jones and Data Lead Gus Chadney were invited to join EPRI's Artificial Intelligence & Digital Transformation in Electric Power Summit in California, to examine one of the key barriers and enablers that shape AI development in the energy sector: access to data.

📣 We presented our work to develop and openly share synthetic smart meter data, speaking alongside François Mirallès (Hydro Québec), Abder Elandaloussi ,PE, MSEE, MBA (Southern California Edison (SCE) and Alexandre Parisot (LF Energy).

⚡ There are material barriers to accessing energy demand data. While adoption of smart meters increases, privacy issues limit access to half-hourly consumption data. At Centre for Net Zero (Octopus Energy Group) we’ve trained our model, Faraday, on 1.8 billion smart meter readings to generate household-level synthetic load profiles — modifiable by time, property type, LCT ownership, EPC rating, and more.

👐 We’re open sourcing our synthetic data, and are working with LF Energy to grow OpenSynth, an open-data community designed to democratise access to synthetic smart meter data and accelerate energy modelling innovations.

💡 If you would like access to our Faraday model, or want to get involved with OpenSynth, please get in touch.

#AI #EnergyTransition #SmartMeterData