Overview

OpenSynth is an open data community, originated by Centre for Net Zero (CNZ) and sourced under The Linux Foundation (LF Energy). It is designed to democratise access to AI-generated synthetic data and accelerate the decarbonisation of global energy systems.

Initially, OpenSynth focused on synthetic demand data, given CNZ’s unique expertise in using AI to generate extensive and valuable datasets with diverse use cases for unlocking smart energy systems. The community empowered both holders of raw smart meter data around the world to be able to generate and share synthetic data, and for community members to generate, improve and share algorithms.

Integrating grid data

As OpenSynth has grown, we’ve been approached by partner organisations offering other forms of synthetic and real energy-adjacent data from different international markets for potential inclusion. To build sophisticated models of the energy system, data that is accurate at all levels of the grid hierarchy - real or synthetic - is highly valuable. We have therefore decided to expand the scope of the open data community to maximise its value for current and future users.

The first candidate for non-demand data inclusion was D-GITT & RTE7000. D-GITT (Detailed Grid Inner Topology Timeseries) is a centralised, open dataset hub with its first major contribution, RTE7000, representing the 7000 nodes of the French transmission grid. It contains a series of snapshots in node-breaker topology with a temporal granularity of five-minutes covering a three-year period (2021-2023).

The graphic above shows RTE’s transmission grid – 400kV level (in red) and 225kV level (in green). 150, 90 and 63 kV substations are not displayed for readability but are included in the dataset.

RTE7000 combines a mixture of non-synthetic data (grid topology), all network components, and synthetic data (injection time-series created by reconstructing using open-source aggregated data). A natural fit for OpenSynth, this data is now available on Hugging Face. This was made possible by the non-profit association CRESYM, who are supporting RTE with this work. CRESYM fosters R&D collaboration to deliver open-source energy system simulation tools.

With access to transmission level grid topology data for the full French network, along with time-series load data for 2021-’23, researchers, software developers, and energy systems modellers can now initiate large-scale system studies and AI model development via this open data platform.

CRESYM, with the help of eRoots, offers technical support and tutorials around the dataset and will shortly be organising a challenge on a specific case.

What's next?

The RTE dataset is intended to be the first of many transmission grid topologies made available via OpenSynth. Our vision is for the community to become the place for both (i) AI-generated synthetic datasets for energy research and modelling, and (ii) real or synthetic system data to train advanced AI models.

We will continue to work with LF Energy and the members of the OpenSynth Technical Steering Committee, including Alliander, TU Delft and HydroQuebec, to add more datasets - demand and otherwise, synthetic and real - from international stakeholders with unique access. We also have several data drops in the pipeline from existing committee members - so watch this space for updates.