EnergyOS: The Concept of a National Energy Operating System

The concept of EnergyOS draws on an analogy from the world of computing. Just as an operating system provides a common platform that abstracts the complexity of hardware and enables a diverse ecosystem of applications to run on top of it, EnergyOS would provide a common digital platform that abstracts the complexity of the physical energy system and enables a diverse ecosystem of energy services and market participants to interact with it.

4.1 What EnergyOS Is Not

It is important to be clear about what EnergyOS is not. It is not a single, monolithic platform owned and operated by a single organisation. It is not a replacement for the existing systems of individual market participants. It is not a proprietary technology solution. And it is emphatically not another pilot programme.

4.2 What EnergyOS Is

EnergyOS is a digital architecture specification — a set of open standards, protocols, and governance arrangements that define how all participants in the UK energy system can communicate, share data, and coordinate their actions. It is analogous to the TCP/IP protocol suite that underpins the internet: a foundational layer of agreed standards that enables a vast and diverse ecosystem of applications and services to be built on top of it.

The core components of EnergyOS are:

A Digital Spine. A secure, resilient, and scalable data-sharing infrastructure that provides the backbone for communication between all market participants. NESO's Data Sharing Infrastructure (DSI) programme and Virtual Energy System initiative represent important early steps towards this digital spine.

Open Standards. A mandated set of open standards for data models, communication protocols, and APIs. The IEC Common Information Model (CIM) is the natural foundation for the information layer. The BSI has already been appointed to facilitate a new governance arrangement for CIM and related standards in the UK energy sector.

A Trust Framework. A set of rules and mechanisms for establishing trust between participants in the digital energy system, including identity management, access control, and data governance. This is analogous to the PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) that underpins secure communications on the internet.

A Regulatory Sandbox. A safe environment for testing new digital services and business models before they are deployed at scale, analogous to the financial sector's regulatory sandbox model.

Consumer Empowerment. A set of standards and mechanisms that give consumers control over their energy data and enable them to participate in new energy markets, analogous to the Open Banking model in the financial sector.

4.3 The EnergyOS Stack

Drawing on the SGAM framework and the lessons from the internet and mobile telecommunications, the EnergyOS stack is conceptualised as five distinct but interoperable layers. Each layer must be governed by open, mandated standards that ensure interoperability both within and between layers. The key insight is that innovation can flourish at every layer, but only if the interfaces between layers are standardised and open.