Glossary
Regulated monopoly
| Term | Description/Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Data and Communications Company | DCC - The 'central communications body appointed to manage communications and data transfer for smart metering. It is responsible for linking smart meters in homes and small businesses with the systems of energy suppliers, network operators and other companies.' | www.ofgem.gov.uk: 126045 |
| Distribution Network Operator | DNO - Responsible for regional electricity distribution (lower voltage). | |
| Distribution System Operator | DSO - In the UK, electricity DNOs are transitioning to become DSOs in response to electricity system changes (e.g. decentralisation, decarbonisation). The transition will change DNO responsibilities, broadening these from asset/network management. The term DSO is also commonly used outside of the UK. | |
| Electricity System Operator | ESO - Responsible for system operation and balancing. National 'control room'. Role carried out by National Grid ESO (a separate company within the National Grid Group - not connected to the electricity TSO). | |
| Gas Distribution Network | GDN - Responsible for regional gas distribution (lower pressure). | |
| Gas System Operator | GSO - Responsible for system operation and balancing. National 'control room'. Role carried out by National Grid Gas Plc (a separate company within the National Grid Group who also own the gas transmission network). | |
| Independent Distribution Network Operator | iDNO - IDNOs own and operate smaller networks located within the areas covered by the DNOs. IDNO networks are mainly extensions to the DNO networks serving new housing and commercial developments. | www.ofgem.gov.uk: independent-distribution-network-operators |
| Independent System Operator | ISO - There is currently a proposal, backed by Ofgem, to convert the ESO to an ISO. The proposal advocates this change in order to meet new requirements of system operation oriented towards achieving Net Zero. The change would involve some change in the ESO's structure, responsibilities and relationship to other bodies in the sector. | |
| Transmission System Owner | TSO - Owner of the national electricity and gas transmission networks (higher voltage/pressure). |
Security
| Term | Description/Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Base framework | The framework defines many of the roles and responsibilities necessary to grant authorisation but it does not specify to any great extent either operationally or technically how those roles need to be performed. One component of the broader trust framework. | |
| Credentials | Documentation of a particular player's status, identity, authorisation levels etc. | |
| Identity layer | Confirms who the participants are in the authorization chain, and the level of conidence in the claimed identities. | See above |
| Security Profile | The technical specifics of how security features are organised and enacted within an ecosystem. | See above |
| User management | The security process of managing users and their permissions on a platform. | |
| Validation | Ongoing processes confirming that information is true. | |
| Vector component values | Levels of vector components | |
| Authentication | AuthN - The process of proving that somthing is real or true. | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk: Dgen_and_BEIS_-Smart_Data-_Consent.pdf |
| Authorization | AuthZ - The act of giving someone permission to do something | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk: Dgen_and_BEIS_-Smart_Data-_Consent.pdf |
| Identification | ID - Proof of who someone or something is | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk: Raidiam_Authentication_Research_Response.pdf |
| Multi Factor Authorisation | MFA - Commonly used security feature - e.g. password and one-time passcode via text/email | |
| Open Authorization 2 | OAuth2 - Industry standard protocol for authorization | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk: Dgen_and_BEIS_-Smart_Data-_Consent.pdf |
| One time passcode | OTP - A mechanism for customer login / part of two-step authorisation | |
| Single sign-on | SSO - A mechanism allowing federated access and re-use of the same credentials to logon to different services/sites. | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk: Dgen_and_BEIS_-Smart_Data-_Consent.pdf |
Other
| Term | Description/Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Intermittency | Variability of renewable energy generation in line with weather conditions. | |
| Prosumer | An entity (e.g. household) that both produces and consumes electricity. | Prosumption may also be combined with flexibility technology (e.g. home battery) to maximise the amount of self-generated electricity that can be consumed by the entity. Prosumption behaviour is currently often associated with atypically active behaviour of households in the energy system, however this may change as distributed energy resources proliferate. |
| Minimum Viable Product | MVP - An early version of a product for initial release, potentially with limited features or space for future development. | |
| Third Party Intermediary | TPI - A defined form of TPP recognised and operating in the energy sector. | www.ofgem.gov.uk: third-party-intermediaries-tpi-programme |
| Third party provider | TPP - A third party providing services - generic term used across sectors. |
Technology
| Term | Description/Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Data 'walled garden' | Data held by a proprietory organisation, often behind closed doors (e.g. without open metadata) | |
| Data ecosystem | A data ecosystem consists of data infrastructure, and the people, communities and organisations that benefit from the value created by it. | |
| Data institution | Data institutions are organisations that steward data on behalf of others, often towards public, educational or charitable aims. | theodi.org: what-are-data-institutions-and-why-are-they-important/ |
| Data lake | A significant quantity of unstructured data. | |
| Data standard | A standardised agreement determining how data is categorised, described, and recorded (e.g. format, definitions, structure etc.) | |
| Data triage | The process used by organisations to determine whether data can be made open, shared, or closed. | Detailed guidance on triage is available in point 12 of the MED data best practice guidance here: modernisingenergydata.atlassian.net: Data+Best+Practice+v0.21 |
| Data warehouse | A significant quantity of structured data. | |
| Dataset | A collection of related sets of data (data elements) which can be treated as a single unit. This collection of data however will together provide a meaningful grouping as defined by a subject of interest. | Definition submitted by SSE |
| Digital twin | A digital model of a 'real world' object or system. | |
| Information management framework | Part of the National Digital Twin Programme | |
| Metadata | Data that gives information about what is contained in the dataset. | Icebreaker One advocates that metadata should be open, except for extremely sensitive cases (e.g. matters of national security). Metadata is a contested term, with different organisations in the sector currently using different standards. The IB1 Trust Framework is designed to support a range of metadata formats - it is beyond the scope of the project to standardise metadata requirements in the sector. |
| Multi-directional flow | The flow of electricity in multiple directions within a network, due to the increased adoption of flexibility technologies and distributed generation (leading to mixed consumption/export). | Big contrast to traditional grid operation built around linear electricity flows. |
| Peer-to-peer (P2P) trading | Energy trading directly between users/consumers, removing the 'middle man'. | Not currently permitted in the UK due to regulatory arrangements regarding the 'supplier hub model' and single supplier. |
| Relational data model | A specific model for database management, used to construct relational databases. | |
| Semantic data model | A high-level visual-conceptual tool used to define and describe data in the context of its relationships with other data. | |
| Transport certificate | A cryptographic certificate used to authenticate a client in a MTLS connection | |
| Application programming interface | API - A computing interface determining how different software intermediaries interact (e.g. how requests can be made, data formats etc.). | |
| Amazon Web Services | AWS - Clound computing services provided by Amazon | |
| Comma Separated Value | CSV - A comma-separated values (CSV) file is a delimited text file that uses a comma to separate values. | en.wikipedia.org: Comma-separated_values |
| Data Catalogue Vocabulary | DCAT - DCAT is an RDF vocabulary designed to facilitate interoperability between data catalogs published on the Web. | www.w3.org: vocab-dcat-2/ |
| Enterprise Asset Management System | EASM - Technological system used to manage an entity's assets (data, physical, human) and processes. | |
| Amazon Elastic Cloud Compute | EC2 - A platform provided by Amazon used to deploy arbitrary server code into the cloud | |
| Financial Grade API | FAPI - The Financial Grade API extends OIDC and Oauth2, adding extra mitigations against an assortment of potential attacks. | openid.net: fapi/ |
| Geographical Information System | GIS - Framework for capturing, recording and displaying spatial data. | |
| Half hourly meter | HH - Consumer electricity meter capable of reporting usage at a 30 minute resolution | |
| HypterText Transfer Protocol | HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application-layer protocol for transmitting hypermedia documents, such as HTML | developer.mozilla.org: HTTP |
| Secure HTTP | HTTPS - Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is an extension of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). It is used for secure communication over a computer network, and is widely used on the Internet. | en.wikipedia.org: HTTPS |
| Industrial Control System | ICS - Industrial control system (ICS) is a general term that encompasses several types of control systems and associated instrumentation used for industrial process control. | en.wikipedia.org: Industrial_control_system |
| Internet of Things | IoT - A catch-all term used to refer to connected devices - e.g. fridges, washing machines, speakers etc. | |
| Javascript Object Notation | JSON - JavaScript Object Notation is an open standard file format and data interchange format that uses human-readable text to store and transmit data objects consisting of attribute–value pairs and arrays (or other serializable values) | |
| JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data | JSON-LD - JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) is a method of encoding linked data using JSON | |
| JSON Web Token | JWT - A proposed Internet standard for creating data with optional signature and/or optional encryption whose payload holds JSON that asserts some number of claims | en.wikipedia.org: JSON_Web_Token |
| Machine to machine | M2M - Machine to machine (M2M) is direct communication between devices using any communications channel, including wired and wireless | |
| Mutual TLS authentication | MTLS - Mutual authentication between the client and the server in a TLS enabled connection, requires a Transport Certificate to be configured on the client side of the connection | en.wikipedia.org: Mutual_authentication |
| Open ID Connect | OIDC - An identity layer on top of OAuth2.0 protocol | openid.net: connect/ |
| Ordanance Survey | OS - Repository of geospatial data | |
| Peer to peer | P2P - Communications and energy supply. A mechanism for organising trade/exchange of goods or services directly between peers, without an intermediary body. Can be, but is not always, supported by a technology platform. | |
| Photovoltaic (cells/panels) | PV - Mechanism of generating renewable electricity - solar power. | |
| Request for Comments | RFC - A Request for Comments (RFC) is a publication from the Internet Society (ISOC) and its associated bodies, most prominently the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the principal technical development and standards-setting bodies for the Internet | en.wikipedia.org: Request_for_Comments |
| The OAuth 2.0 Authorization Framework | RFC6749 - The OAuth 2.0 authorization framework enables a third-party application to obtain limited access to an HTTP service, either on behalf of a resource owner by orchestrating an approval interaction between the resource owner and the HTTP service, or by allowing the third-party application to obtain access on its own behalf | datatracker.ietf.org: rfc6749 |
| The OAuth 2.0 Authorization Framework: Bearer Token Usage | RFC6750 - Describes how to use bearer tokens in HTTP requests to access OAuth 2.0 protected resources | datatracker.ietf.org: rfc6750 |
| OAuth 2.0 Mutual-TLS Client Authentication and Certificate-Bound Access Tokens | RFC8705 - Describes OAuth client authentication and certificate-bound access and refresh tokens using mutual Transport Layer Security (TLS) authentication with X.509 certificates | datatracker.ietf.org: rfc8705 |
| Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition | SCADA - A software and hardware system enabling remote monitoring and control, usually of industrial-scale equipment | |
| Secure Hash Algorithm (256 bit) | SHA256 - SHA-2 (Secure Hash Algorithm 2) is a set of cryptographic hash functions designed by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) and first published in 2001 | en.wikipedia.org: SHA-2 |
| Transport Layer Security | TLS - A cryptographic protocol designed to provide communications security over a computer network | en.wikipedia.org: Transport_Layer_Security |
| Uniform Resource Locator | URL - A Uniform Resource Locator (URL), colloquially termed a web address,[1] is a reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it | en.wikipedia.org: URL |
| Universally unique identififer v4 | UUID4 - A version 4 UUID is randomly generated | en.wikipedia.org: Universally_unique_identifier |
| X as as Service | XaaS - Generic term used to refer to various items (e.g. software, platforms, heat, mobility etc) that are being offered via 'as a service' business models. | |
| YAML Ain't Markup Language | YAML - YAML (a recursive acronym for "YAML Ain't Markup Language") is a human-readable data-serialization language. It is commonly used for configuration files and in applications where data is being stored or transmitted. | en.wikipedia.org: YAML |
Regulatory
| Term | Description/Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Regulated entity | An organisation or company subject to regulation by Ofgem (e.g. a licensed company) | Not all organisations/companies operating in the energy sector are regulated. A significant proportion of data/digitally-focussed new entrants operate in an unregulated space vis a vis Ofgem (though they may interact with other regulators). |
| RIIO Framework | Ofgem's framework for energy network regulation. Also called 'price controls'. Negotiated on a 5 year planning and investment cycle. | RIIO-T2 (all transmission) and RIIO-GD2 (gas distribution) period: 2021-2026. RIIO-ED2 (electricity distribution) period: 2023-2028. |
| Competition and Markets Authority | CMA - Competition policy and regulation, includes digital markets | |
| Data Governance Act | DGA - European regulatory proposal. 'The proposal is the first of a set of measures announced in the 2020 European strategy for data. The instrument aims to foster the availability of data for use by increasing trust in data intermediaries and by strengthening data-sharing mechanisms across the EU.' ec.europa.eu: proposal-regulation-european-data-governance-data-governance-act | |
| Energy Performance Certificate | EPC - An EPC includes the energy performance of a building and the reference values, as well as the recommendations for the cost-optimal or cost-effective improvements of the energy performance of a building or building unit | ec.europa.eu: energy-performance-certificates_en |
| Information Commissioner's Office | ICO - Data protection regulator | |
| Office for Gas and Electricity Markets | Ofgem - Energy sector regulator. OE3 co-funder. | |
| Office for National Statistics | ONS - The UK’s largest independent producer of official statistics and its recognised national statistical institute. | www.ons.gov.uk: / |
| Revenues = Incentives + Innovation + Outputs | RIIO - Ofgem's regulatory framework for network companies, negotiated every 5 years. |
Commercial
| Term | Description/Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Heat as a service | A business model providing heat and cooling services based on units or measurements of 'comfort' or 'warm/cold hours' rather than traditional measures of energy supply. | |
| Infrastructure as a service | An ICT infrastructure development, licensing and delivery model than is often subscription-based. | Increasingly used by organisations needing to increase technological capacity, but who do not have the skills/resources to develop bespoke products internally. |
| Mobility as a service | A business model providing mobility services based on vehicle access rather than traditional models of vehicle ownership. | |
| Platform as a service | A platform development, licensing and delivery model than is often subscription-based. | Increasingly used by organisations needing to increase technological capacity, but who do not have the skills/resources to develop bespoke products internally. |
| Software as a service | A software development, licensing and delivery model than is often subscription-based. | Increasingly used by organisations needing to increase technological capacity, but who do not have the skills/resources to develop bespoke products internally. |
| Industrial and commercial | I&C - Accronym commonly used in the energy sector to refer to non-domestic actors - particularly heavy industry and other high-consumption actors. | |
| Know Your Customer | KYC - Borrowed from banking/fraud - common among businesses to describe all aspects of licensing / permissions management for data consumers. (Definition provided by AG member) | |
| Pay As You Go | PAYG - Payment as a resource is used, rather than up-front | |
| Purchase Power Agreement | PPA - An electricity supply agreement between two parties - e.g. generator and trader. | |
| Time of use | TOU - Energy supply tariff offering variable pricing depending on the time of day energy is used and the demand on the grid at that point in time. |
Research
| Term | Description/Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Centre for Digital Built Britain | CDBB - The Centre for Digital Built Britain is a partnership between the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and the University of Cambridge to understand how the construction and infrastructure sectors could use a digital approach to better design, build, operate, and integrate the built environment. | www.cdbb.cam.ac.uk: / |
| Energy Systems Capatult | ESC - Energy Systems Catapult was set up to accelerate the transformation of the UK’s energy system and ensure UK businesses and consumers capture the opportunities of clean growth. The Catapult is an independent, not-for-profit centre of excellence that bridges the gap between industry, government, academia and research. We take a whole-systems view of the energy sector, helping us to identify and address innovation priorities and market barriers, in order to decarbonise the energy system at the lowest cost. | es.catapult.org.uk: / |
Unit of measurement
| Term | Description/Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Gigawatt | GW - Unit of power equal to 1 billion watts. | |
| Kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (per unit of fuel) | kgCO2e - A measure of greenhouse gas conversion from energy sources. | |
| Kilowatt | kW - Unit of power equal to 1 thousand watts. | www.ofgem.gov.uk: ofgem_-_review_of_gb_energy_system_operation_0.pdf |
| Kilowatt hour | kWh - A unit of measurement (3,500 Joules) equivalent to using a 1,000 Watt appliance for 1 hour. | |
| Megawatt | MW - Unit of power equal to 1 million watts. |
Energy Technology
| Term | Description/Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Battery storage | Battery technology used in vehicles, buildings, or a grid-scale. | Grid-scale batteries can also provide ancilliary services such as frequency response in addition to power dispatch. |
| Clip size | The size of generation or flexibility resource required to participate in certain markets - usually 1MW | |
| Flexibility resouces | The assets, services and behaviours that can be used to shift energy demand in order to meet supply, where required. | |
| Forecast model | Model on which energy forecasting is based. | www.ibm.com: relational-databases |
| Heat pump | A device that can transfer heat from a source of thermal energy into a building. There are air-source, ground-source and water-source heat pumps. | |
| Microgeneration | Forms of small-scale generation (e.g. solar PV) that can be installed on domestic properties or small organisations (e.g. community centre) | |
| Smart meter | A type of electricity and gas meter installed in domestic or SME properties that feeds information regarding energy consumption back to the consumer. Smart meters also track energy export to the grid. | |
| Combined Heat and Power | CHP - CHP generates electricity whilst also capturing usable heat that is produced in this process. As a result, CHP operates at much higher efficiency than traditional power generation methods. | |
| Distributed energy resources | DER - A term used to describe a combination of distributed generation and flexibility resources in the electricity system (e.g. solar PV, EVs, biogas, heat pumpts, batteries). | |
| Demand-side response | DSR - The act of shifting energy demand in order to relieve pressure on the grid, or consume excess power. e.g. industrial processes may be slowed down or turned off at times of peak demand to reduce grid constraints. | |
| Electric charging station | ECS - Charging station for electric vehicles | |
| Electric vehicle | EV - Vehicle powered primarily or exclusively by electricity | |
| Electric vehicle supply equipment | EVSE - Another term for electric vehicle charging stations and related equipment | |
| Home Energy Management System | HEMS - A combination of sensors, metering, and data analytics designed to optimise energy usage within a building to maximise factors such as bills-reduction or comfort. Often used to optimise microgeneration, home battery, EV, domestic consumption and grid export. | |
| Smart Export Guarantee | SEG - "an obligation set by the government for licensed electricity suppliers to offer a tariff and make payment to small-scale low-carbon generators for electricity exported to the National Grid, providing certain criteria are met." | www.ofgem.gov.uk: about-smart-export-guarantee-seg |
| Smart Metering Equipment Technical Specifications | SMETS - SMETS describe the specifications of UK smart meters. Two generations of smart meters have been released to date - SMETS1 and SMETS2. | www.ovoenergy.com: smets-1-and-2-new-smart-meter-generation.html |
| Vehicle to grid | V2G - Bidirectional power flow between the grid and an EV battery. Enables EV owners to discharge power stored in batteries to the grid at times of need. | |
| Virtual power plant | VPP - A digitally-connected set of distributed energy resources that can be aggregated to provide services (e.g. trading, generation) |
Operational
| Term | Description/Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Business case | The commercial justification for a particular product or service. | |
| Case study | An empirical description of a particular situation in which a product, service, technology, method (etc.) has been used, and the results of its use. | |
| Use-case | An outline of a specific situation in which a product or service could be used (can be theoretical or empirical) | Main use-case for OE3: local authority retrofit |
| User story/journey | A user story is an informal, general explanation of a software feature written from the perspective of the end user. Its purpose is to articulate how a software feature will provide value to the customer.' | User journey for OE3: Leah. Source for definition: www.atlassian.com: user-stories |
Policy and governance
| Term | Description/Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Closed data | Data that either cannot be shared or requires a per-use, custom licence negotiated on a case-by-case basis. | IB1 definition - icebreakerone.org: understanding-data-sharing/ |
| Codes | A form of industry self-governance that establishes the terms under which industry participants can access the electricity and gas networks, and related assets or infrastructure. | There are 11 main electricity codes and 5 gas codes. Each is managed by a 'code administrator' (e.g. Elexon, Gemserv, DCode etc.) |
| Data Custodian | MED Data Best Practice definition: An organisation or individual that holds data which it has a legal right to process and publish. | Industry feedback has suggested that the following element should be added to the definition: In some cases, a Data Custodian may also refer to an organisation or individual that holds data which it has a legal right to process (ie use) but not to publish. For example, suppliers or networks may hold customer smart meter data which they are not permitted to publish without prior consent. |
| Horizontal integration | When a company operates across different energy vectors (e.g. supplier electricity and gas) | |
| Licence | A set of requirements which companies must comply with in order to perform certain 'licensable activities' in the energy sector. | 5 standard licenses: generation, transmission, interconnection, distribution, supply. Non-standard licesnes are also issued for a small range of bodies with specific duties - e.g. smart metering infrastructure (Smart DCC). |
| Open data | Data that anyone can use, for any purpose, for free and is available under an Open data licence. | IB1 definition - icebreakerone.org: understanding-data-sharing/ |
| Presumed Open | A principle developed by the EDTF (2019). Presumed open applies to data relating to common assets, stating that this should be open unless there are legitimate issues which would prevent this. Legitimate issues include Privacy, Security, Negative Consumer Impact, Commercial and Legislation and Regulation. Presumed Open data should go through a robust Open Data Triage process, conducted by the data custodian. | |
| Data that is neither open nor closed, but can be shared under specific terms and conditions. | ||
| Vertical integration | When a company operates across several different parts of the energy supply chain (e.g. generation, distribution and supply) | |
| Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy | BEIS - Former UK government department, also responsible for the Smart Data programme of work. OE3 co-funder. | |
| Committee on Climate Change | CCC - The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) advises the government on emissions targets and reports to Parliament on progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. | www.gov.uk: committee-on-climate-change |
| Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation | CDEI - We’re tasked by the Government to connect policymakers, industry, civil society, and the public to develop the right governance regime for data-driven technologies. | www.gov.uk: centre-for-data-ethics-and-innovation |
| Distribution Future Energy Scenarios | DFES - Planning tools used by DNOs and GDNs, containing a range of possible views of the future. | Also an ODI Leeds project: odileeds.org: dfes/ |
| Energy Data Best Practice | EDBP - Guidance laid out by the Modernising Energy Data consortium. | modernisingenergydata.atlassian.net: Data+Best+Practice+latest+release+v0.21 |
| Energy Data Taskforce | EDTF - Comissioned by the ESC and chaired by Laura Sandys. Reported in 2019 - source of Presumed Open and data triage. The report's 5 recommendations provided a significant steer to sector data policy. | |
| Future Energy Scenarios | FES - Planning tools used by National Grid ESO, containing a range of future scenarios. | www.nationalgrideso.com: future-energy-scenarios |
| Feed-in tariff | FIT - Tariff previously offered to small-scale and microgeneration for export of electricity to the grid. No longer taking new customers in the UK (new microgeneration is now offered an export tariff through the building's electricity supplier) | |
| Lower Layer Super Output Areas | LSOA - A geographic hierarchy designed to improve the reporting of small area statistics in England and Wales | |
| Modernising Energy Data | MED - Consists of Ofgem, BEIS and Innovate UK. OE3 funders. | |
| National Cyber Security Centre | NCSC - "The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) provides cyber security guidance and support helping to make the UK the safest place to live and work online." | www.ncsc.gov.uk: / |
| National Infrastructure Commission | NIC - The Commission carries out in-depth studies into the UK’s major infrastructure needs and makes recommendations to the government. Our work covers all sectors of economic infrastructure. | nic.org.uk: / |
| Open Data Institute | ODI - Non-profit organisation aiming to build a trustworthy open data ecosystem | theodi.org: / |
| Open Energy | OE - Open Energy is a non-profit initiative developed by Icebreaker One to deliver part of our national data infrastructure and accelerate delivery of our Net Zero targets. | |
| Office for Zero Emissions Vehicles | OZEV - The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) is a team working across government to support the transition to zero emission vehicles (ZEVs). We are providing support for the take-up of plug in vehicles, as well as funding to support chargepoint infrastructure across the UK. This will contribute to economic growth and will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution on our roads. | www.gov.uk: office-for-zero-emission-vehicles |
| Renewable Heat Incentive | RHI - Government-funded financial incentive to support uptake of renewable heat. | www.ofgem.gov.uk: about-domestic-rhi |
| Smart Energy Code | SEC - "The Smart Energy Code (SEC) is a multi-Party agreement which defines the rights and obligations of energy suppliers, network operators and other relevant parties involved in the end to end management of smart metering in Great Britain." | smartenergycodecompany.co.uk: / |
Term - multiple uses
| Term | Description/Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aggregator | Energy: a digital intermediary connecting smaller distributed energy generation so it can participate in energy markets as a group. Data: an entity that searches, accesses and collates different datasets - may be offered as a commercial service also providing value-add such as data standardisation. | |
| Code | Variable uses including: writing development code, code of practice, industry codes, codes that are unique alphanumerics etc. Care should be taken to specify the kind of code implied when this term is used in documentation. | |
| Ontology | In the IB1 Trust Framework, ontology is used to describe the core concepts, categories, subjects, properties and relationships making up the Trust Framework data ecosystem. | |
| Policy | Variable uses describing how something is run - e.g. privacy policy - public policy, regulatory policys. Care should be taken to specify the kind of policy implied when this term is used in documentation. | |
| Stakeholder | In a Trust Framework, stakeholder is a term used broadly to describe any actor who may interested in, or impacted by, the Trust Framework | |
| Value | Variable uses including: unit of measurement, economic, social, environmental. Care should be taken to specify the kind of value implied when this term is used in documentation. |
Energy - Technology
| Term | Description/Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Asset register | Propsed by the EDTF. A list of physical energy assets (generation and storage), designed to improve the visibility of different assets on the network |
Trust Framework
| Term | Description/Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Data sensitivity class | OE members can self-allocate dataset into ‘classes’ depending on its sensitivity profile. Access and security requirements differ across classes. | |
| Icebreaker One Trust Framework | The governance, standards and technical specifications for the Trust Framework operated by Icebreaker One | |
| Preemptive licence | A pre-determined set of rules governing data sharing and use. | |
| Rule | An articulation of a dataset’s sensitivity class, access conditions, and license that is publishing in the metadata file. A dataset may either have a single, or multiple, rules. | |
| Trust framework | A set of governance measures ensuring that data is shared in a trustworthy manner (e.g. participant authorisation, access, data tiers etc.) | |
| Advisory Group | AG - Trust Frameworks operate under a Steering Group and up to five Advisory groups, covering User needs, materiality and impact; Technical infrastructure; Data licensing and legal; Engagement and communications; Policy | |
| Data Consumer | DC - A consumer of data operating as a member within the Icebreaker One Trust Framework. Data Consumers serve needs that are internal to their own organisation. | |
| Data Provider | DP - Organisation providing data into the Icebreaker One Trust Framework | |
| Data sensitivity class - closed | IB1-C - Closed data - datasets which must not be shared within Open Energy | |
| Data sensitivity class - open | IB1-O - Open Data - full open access, under an open data licence. Free to use, by anyone, for any purpose. | |
| IB1-SA - Shared data - datasets which can/could be shared, but which require the user to agree to standard T&Cs to access. May include some openly licensed materials (e.g. CC BY-SA or GNU AGPLv3). | ||
| IB1-SB - Shared data - datasets which can/could be shared, but currently require some bilateral contract negotiation. May include data currently shared on the basis of group-based access. May include aggregated, anonymised or pseudonymised data about individuals. | ||
| Data sensitivity class - personal | IB1-SP - Datasets which include personal data, requiring appropriate consent to share, or other legal bases to data processing, as defined by the UK DPA 2018. | |
| Steering Group | SG - Each Trust Framework has a high-level steering group that supports consultation and guidance of activities. | |
| Service Provider | SP - A Service Provider is a type of Data Consumer and third party provider of data services operating as a member within the Trust Framework. Service Providers operate within a competitive market and serve customers that are external to their own organisation. | |
| Trust Framework Governance Service | TFGS - The technical and governance architecture backing the Icebreaker One Trust Framework in which data is shared. |
Open Energy
| Term | Description/Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Open Energy Phase 3 | OE3 - Phase 3 of Open Energy's development running from February - July 2021. |
Standard
| Term | Description/Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Open ADR | Open Automated Demand-Side Response. A research and standards-development programme, led by organisations in North America, aiming to standardise automated signals for power-consuming devices to lower consumption or switch off completely during periods of high demand. | |
| Open Charge Alliance | An international consortium of public and private electric vehicle infrastructure organisations that have come together to promote open standards through the adoption of the Open Charge Point Protocol and the Open Smart Charging Protocol. | www.openchargealliance.org: / |
| Open Standard | Open standards give users permission to copy, distribute and use technology freely or at low cost. | |
| Common Information Model | CIM - An open, standardised method of representing computing devices and energy network asset types, and the relationships between them. | www.theade.co.uk: what-is-combined-heat-and-power |
| EEBUS | EEBUS - A standard-development project aiming to define a standardised language for the energy Internet of Things | www.eebus.org: what-is-eebus/ |
| European Union | EU - no definition | |
| Frequently Asked Question | FAQ - A list of questions and answers relating to a particular subject, especially one giving basic information for users of a website. | |
| International Standards Organisation standard regarding date time data | ISO 8601 - ISO 8601 Data elements and interchange formats – Information interchange – Representation of dates and times is an international standard covering the exchange of date- and time-related data | en.wikipedia.org: ISO_8601 |
| Small / Medium Enterprise | SME - Small and medium-sized enterprises or small and medium-sized businesses are businesses whose personnel numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank, the European Union, the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. | |
| United Kingdom | UK - no definition | |
| Universal Coordinated Time | UTC - 24 hour time standard at a high level of precision. | www.timeanddate.com: aboututc.html |
Legal
| Term | Description/Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Derivative | A derivative of a dataset is a product, service, or other word that is either wholly or in part produced from the original dataset. | |
| Liability chain | Definitions of the roles and responsibilities of each player in a data flow, including who is liable for accident or misuse at each stage in the data flow. | |
| Processor | Data processor (DPA 2018): 'in relation to personal data, means any person (other than an employee of the data controller) who processes the data on behalf of the data controller.' | ico.org.uk: data-controllers-and-data-processors-dp-guidance.pdf |
| Creative Commons + Attribution | CC-BY - A license requiring attribution | creativecommons.org: by/ |
| Creative Commons + Attribution + Non-commercial | CC-BY-NC - A license requiring attribution and restricted to non-commercial use | creativecommons.org: by-nc/ |
| Creative Commons + Attribution + No derivatives | CC-BY-ND - A license requiring attribution and prohibiting distribution of derived products | creativecommons.org: by-nd/ |
| Data Protection Act | DPA - The Data Protection Act 2018 is the UK’s implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). | www.gov.uk: data-protection |
| Data subject | DS - As defined by GDPR | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk: Dgen_and_BEIS_-Smart_Data-_Consent.pdf |
| General Data Protection Regulation | GDPR - Incorporated in UK law under the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) | |
| Lawful basis | LB - As defined by GDPR | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk: Dgen_and_BEIS_-Smart_Data-_Consent.pdf |
| Legitimate interest | LI - As defined by GDPR | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk: Dgen_and_BEIS_-Smart_Data-_Consent.pdf |
Data
| Term | Description/Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Consent | Processes for ensuring that appropriate permissions are given for certain actions to occur (e.g. certain uses of data). | Consent to access personal data has a specific meaning under the UK Data Protection Act. However, this is not the only type of consent to share data. |
| Controller | Data controller (DPA 2018): 'means a person who (either alone or jointly or in common with other persons) determines the purposes for which and the manner in which any personal data are, or are to be processed' | ico.org.uk: data-controllers-and-data-processors-dp-guidance.pdf |