Building models that show the impact of low carbon technology adoption on energy consumption

Our relationship with Octopus Energy means we have access to smart meter data. Ten of thousands of Octopus Energy customers own some form of low carbon technology, including electric vehicles, heat pumps, solar PV and home batteries. How these customers currently behave can provide important insights for those interested in the energy system of the future. We’re building the utility of these insights into a tool called Faraday. 

Partners we’ve worked with in the past have highlighted how this dataset in advancing research, helping policymakers and shaping the Distribution Network Operator (DNO) to Distribution System Operator (DSO) transition. We therefore wanted to unlock its utility for the energy community, whilst strictly protecting customer data and privacy.

Faraday: Simulating Load Profiles at a Household Level

Faraday is a tool that models daily load “profiles” consisting of half-hourly kWh consumption for a given set of user-specified inputs (e.g. Low carbon technology, property type, season etc) which specify a consumer archetype and day type.

The goal is to let end-users select from a variety of consumer archetypes. This allows the Faraday tool to simulate the entire distribution of load profiles of that population (e.g. at different quantite levels) instead of a point estimate.

Household smart meter data is a type of personal data, and thus protected by GDPR. Our modelling approach means that we’re able to generate realistic profiles for each consumer archetype that can’t be attributed to individuals.

HELPING RESEARCHERS ANSWER
THE BIG "WHAT-IF' QUESTIONS

By modelling at a household level, we can capture the variability of how each household uses energy differently. Allowing end-users like researchers, policy makers and DNOs to select from a variety of user-inputs enables researchers to simulate how households consume energy and model many ‘what-if’ scenarios, such as:

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What if...

We designed a new innovative tariff

How would this impact energy consumption and the grid?

X% of households in the UK now have electric vehicles

How would it affect energy demand and the grid?

We build more properties of a given type in an area

Could the grid handle it?

Extreme weather conditions like heat waves and cold snaps become more common and severe

What needs to happen to our grid to manage these demand spikes?

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Progress to date

Alpha & our testers

We began development in June 2022 and have now built an alpha version of our web app and an API. We have selected a small number of alpha testers from academic institutions. They are currently help us  develop the tool, for the benefit of the wider research community.

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What's next?

Currently, we are working hard to train and improve our model of electricity consumption by archetype. With an improved model, we will build interactive demos that show the power of Faraday for different use cases.

In 2023, we’ll move into Beta and invite more testers to help us develop Faraday.

Get in touch

Interested in finding out more about Faraday or becoming an alpha tester?  Please contact us on faraday@centrefornetzero.org