Australians are continuing to lead the world when it comes to rates of rooftop solar installations and it is predicted that batteries, electric vehicles, and other demand response technologies will follow in their wake.
However, this technology-fuelled energy transition is as much about data management and intelligence as it is about renewable sources of generation.
The transition to a two-sided energy market has been a boon for smart meter technology and it is creating massive increases in data volumes across energy markets.
The recent move from 30 minute to five-minute settlements across Australia’s National Energy Market (NEM) is another factor – adding up to six times the level of energy data that must be collected, processed and analysed each day.
This rapid transition has been challenging for legacy metering data management systems, with increasing levels of investment needed to meet demand and without a cost-effective alternative solution.
Intellihub took this challenge into the lab and with the assistance of state-of-the-art Amazon Web Services (AWS) platforms and developed a new cloud-based data gateway called ‘Oncor’.
AWS and Intellihub – a customer focused collaboration
Intellihub has more than 1.2 million electricity smart meters under management across Australia and New Zealand which are managed on behalf of more than 40 electricity retailers.
We’re installing an extra 1,000 meters each day, so a scalable data delivery solution is needed to meet this increasing demand.
Due to rigid rules about when energy data must be delivered across energy markets and to retail customers, reliability and security of data delivery is essential.
The resulting Oncor solution is a purpose-built gateway that uses AWS serverless technology and elasticity offered by the cloud so it can scale up and continue to provide an accurate, reliable and compliant services to retail customers.
It’s now reliably processing millions of data records each day in Australia and work is underway to introduce Oncor to Intellihub’s New Zealand customers.
Fast, reliable and timely management of energy data is vital for the multiple retailers and distributors operating across the New Zealand electricity market.
Thirty minute interval data must be delivered directly to scores of electricity retailers and distributors each day.
The AWS hosted Oncor gateway was conceived with an eye to operating across this complex environment, along with several targeted infrastructure investments, to continually enhance our data performance.
AWS Data Lab innovation
Oncor was conceived during a special data lab pilot session hosted by AWS – one of the first sessions that was held for its energy partners in the Australian and New Zealand markets.
The sessions were held over several months to help understand the data constraints and challenges that needed to be overcome and explore potential design solutions. Training days were also a key part of the sessions as well as access to AWS international solution architects.
On the back of this successful collaboration, AWS has since launched its permanent Data Lab in Australia and New Zealand to solve complex data challenges.
Intellihub has also established its own internal Centre of Excellence involving more than a dozen software engineers to continue to push the boundaries to develop the next generation of Intellihub products.
