Data is a central raw material for solving some of the major and complex challenges of the green transition of the energy and supply sector. Data and digitalisation can give us more energy-efficient buildings, more flexible energy consumption, and create synergies across electricity, district heating, and water supply.
With the agreement on Denmark's Digitalisation Strategy for 2024, a Supply Digitalisation Programme was established to promote a coherent ecosystem for supply data to exploit the full potential of digitalisation, including better use of resources and infrastructure across value chains and supply types. The project is anchored in the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities, and the Danish Energy Agency is responsible for driving the programme in close cooperation with the Danish Agency for Climate Data.
A public-private partnership to ensure robust and future-proof solutions
Central to the Supply Digitalisation Programme is the establishment of a public-private partnership, where utility companies and users of supply data will jointly identify ways to achieve better data and better access to data.
The partnership will therefore contribute to the development of common standards and rules for supply data, support accessibility, and identify new data opportunities by continuously:
- Providing recommendations to the government on concrete digitalisation initiatives to the extent that these require changes to the relevant sector regulation or otherwise presuppose political decisions.
- Developing voluntary industry standards where existing regulation is not an obstacle, for example, data models.
- Conducting pilot and test projects that contribute to further insights where existing regulations are not an obstacle and where funding can be secured without political decisions.
There are untapped potentials in the increased use of data – also in the district heating, electricity, and water sectors, and not least across these sectors. The key is, among other things, uniformity, common approaches, and standards. This uniformity makes it possible to exploit synergies across sectors and thus create the framework for the energy system of the future for the green transition.
Role of The Danish Agency for Climate Data
A coherent and green supply sector requires data sharing.
If we are to ensure a future supply sector that is both green, efficient, and secure, it is crucial that the necessary data foundation is in place, where data can be shared and interconnected across sectors. In The Danish Agency for Climate Data, we therefore have the role as chairperson of the Cross-Sectoral Architecture and Development Committee, and its secretariat.
Cross-Sectoral Architecture and Development
The committee actively works to promote the Supply Digitalisation Programme's objective of a data ecosystem for supply data, with a focus on coherence across supply sectors. The committee's primary task is to lay the groundwork to ensure cross-sectoral coherence and uniformity in data in the supply sector. This is done by supporting a robust and integrated data and data infrastructure across sectors.
The committee's work is not only crucial for the digitalisation of the supply sector but also for ensuring that digital development takes place in a uniform manner that promotes collaboration and cross-sectoral coherence – both within each sector and between the sectors for electricity, water, and heat, which can pave the way for a more coherent supply sector in Denmark.
Facts about the Supply Digitalisation Programme
The Supply Digitalisation Programme is funded with DKK 71.5 million in the period 2024-2027.