Empowering the Green Energy Revolution: OakTree Power Partners with Industry Leaders in Artificial Forecasting

OakTree Power Ltd is proud to announce that it is joining forces with Northern Powergrid , Faculty AI, and ev.energy for the "Artificial Forecasting" innovation project, contributing as leading demand-response and "green" flexibility experts.  

The project's Alpha Phase, designated for the purpose of a feasibility study, is funded by energy network users and consumers through Ofgem 's Strategic Innovation Fund, a program from the UK’s independent energy regulator Ofgem managed in partnership with Innovate UK . 

What is the challenge addressed through this initiative? 

Northern Powergrid and the other DNOs must improve their distribution system operator functions, which currently rely on annual load forecasts for their extra-high/high voltage networks and on limited information for their low voltage network.  

  The challenge is to augment the existing forecasting capabilities by aggregating diverse data sources and achieving more granularity down to the monthly, weekly, daily, and hourly level, which will support new functions to optimise the system's operation. 

What is the role fulfilled by OakTree Power? 

OakTree Power implements cloud-based solutions to reduce energy use and wastage in industrial and commercial buildings, while unlocking their previously untapped flexibility potential and transforming them into "green" demand response assets. Together, we accelerate our client's and the UK's ambitious transition to Net-Zero.  

Through its cutting-edge AI solutions for energy forecasting and optimisation, OakTree Power provides Northern Powergrid and the other DNOs with enhanced visibility of the amount of flexibility embedded in their distribution networks.  

Why are forecasting capabilities mission-critical?  

Artificial Forecasting aims at designing and developing novel AI-driven techniques for power flow modelling, which will support the expansion of load forecasting capabilities. 

These enhanced load forecasting capabilities are not only required for primary (EHV-HV) and secondary (HV-LV) substations, but also because of the increasing prevalence of LV monitoring data, which enables new use cases to support optimal network planning and the extension of flexibility markets at RIIO-ED3.  

This will provide Northern Powergrid and other DNOs with longer-term, laser-accurate visibility of their network load, which drives better system planning and local flexibility market design, therefore maximising the participation of flexibility providers such as OakTree Power.  

What are the expected benefits from this initiative? 

These novel and granular load forecasting capabilities will play a pivotal role in supporting and optimising flexibility dispatch to defer or even avoid network reinforcement. 

This represents yearly network upgrade savings of up to €29 billion and yearly cost savings for consumers of up to €300 billion from lower wholesale prices and system costs as the DNOs throughout the U.K. and the EU pass on the operational savings.  

What will be the broader impact of “Artificial Forecasting”? 

Artificial Forecasting aims at developing a smart, flexible, and clean energy system with flexibility embedded across all networks at the lowest cost, and carbon-free solutions for maximising value for money for electricity consumers.  

This will be achieved by deploying optimal AI techniques to accurately forecast network load, further expand the DNOs' forecasting capabilities, stimulate and grow local flexibility markets, and demonstrate the value of LV monitoring data and develop the tools necessary to extend the fully establish flexibility markets at the low voltage level during ED3. The vision is to continually unlock new sources of decentralised flexibility and to make consumer transformation the very cornerstone of the Net-Zero transition.  

Are you interested in learning more about OakTree Power and its ongoing activities? 

You can learn more about OakTree Power, its novel digital solutions and our involvement with flexibility markets in the U.K. and across Europe by contacting us on info@oaktreepower.com.

About ev.energy:  

ev.energy is a Certified B Corporation® that makes EV charging greener, cheaper, and smarter for utilities and their customers. Its platform connects to electric vehicles and chargers to manage EV charging and works with utilities to give customers cash back for charging at grid-friendly times.

About Faculty AI:   

Faculty is Europe's largest applied AI and Decision Intelligence company that designs, builds, and implements decision systems for critical national infrastructure. They have built and deployed over 400 decision intelligence systems for over 250 organisations across both public and private sectors.