Drax Electric Insights, an interactive website which provides live data and analysis on the supply, demand, price and environmental impact of Britain’s electricity, has been upgraded to deliver the most accurate, up to date information yet.
The information used by the website now includes data from Sheffield Solar, the UK photovoltaic industry’s leading scientific data resource.
Their data complements the information supplied by National Grid and Elexon, who run the electricity and balancing markets respectively, which means Electric Insights can provide more accurate real time and historic information about solar power on the system.
Drax Electric Insights quarterly was launched in 2016, with reports delivered independently by a team of academics at Imperial College London – facilitated by the College’s consultancy company – Imperial Consultants.
Dr Iain Staffell, from Imperial College London said:
“The UK has around a million solar PV installations, but virtually none of them are metered on an hour-by-hour basis. Information on distributed renewable generation has been very difficult to access – until now.
“This new data feed from Sheffield Solar means the Electric Insights platform can deliver the most accurate near real-time information about what’s happening right across the power sector.”
Dr Alastair Buckley, who heads up the Sheffield Solar Group, at the University of Sheffield said:
“We’re delighted that Drax Electric Insights have chosen to source their solar PV data directly from us. We strive to make our solar PV data as accurate as possible to help National Grid operate as efficiently and as low carbon as possible and it’s great to see the data coming directly into Electric Insights – making visible the changes and challenges of the GB electricity sector”.
Ian Foy, Head of Ancillary Services at Drax, said:
“The energy sector is often criticised for being overly complex. Drax Electric Insights was born out of our desire to improve things by making the power sector more accessible to everyone.
“Since then it has become an important tool in helping organisations, as well as individuals, to better understand how the system works. These latest improvements will make it an even more relevant resource, delivering greater transparency.”
ENDS
Media contacts
Ali Lewis
Drax Group Head of News
E: [email protected]
T: 07712670888
Jessica Gorton
Drax Group Press Officer
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T: 0203 9434305
Editor’s Notes
About Electric Insights
- Electric Insights Quarterly reports analyse raw data that are made publicly available by National Grid and Elexon, which run the electricity and balancing market respectively, and Sheffield Solar. Released four times a year, it focuses on supply and demand, prices, emissions, the performance of the various generation technologies and the network that connects them.
- Along with Dr Iain Staffell, the team from Imperial included Professors Richard Green and Tim Green, experts in energy economics and electrical engineering, and Dr Rob Gross who contributed expertise in energy policy. The work to date has revealed scope for further research in this area, to inform both government and organisations within the energy industry.
- Guest authors have come from the National Farmers’ Union, National Grid and Renewable UK.
- The quarterly reports are backed by an interactive website electricinsights.co.uk which provides live data from 2009 until the present.
- New features:
Day ahead prices:
More accurate solar data:
About Drax
Drax Group plc plays a vital role in helping change the way energy is generated, supplied and used. Its 2,300-strong staff operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production.
The Group includes:
Drax Power Ltd, which operates the largest power station in the UK, based at Selby, North Yorkshire and supplies 7 percent of the country’s electricity needs. The energy firm converted from burning coal to become a predominantly biomass-fuelled electricity generator. Drax is the biggest single site renewable generator in the UK and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe.
Haven Power, based in Ipswich, supplies electricity to large Industrial and Commercial sector businesses.
Opus Energy, based in Oxford, Northampton and Cardiff, provides electricity and gas to small and medium sized (SME) businesses.
Drax Biomass, is based in the US and manufactures compressed wood pellets produced from sustainably managed working forests, supplying fuel used by Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire to generate flexible, renewable power for the UK’s homes and businesses.
For more information visit www.drax.com/us
