Hyperlocal and half-hourly carbon intensity data for 8000 regions across GB.
An Average Emission Factor is the carbon dioxide emissions associated with a unit of electricity in a grid system (tCO2eqv/MWh). The emission factor of a megawatt of power varies by location and time. That's because the relative mix of power sources at different locations in the grid at different times of the day is different. An emission factor is determined by the mix of generators supplying the grid, proximity to higher and lower carbon generation sources and the volume of power being emitted at any given time.
Using a live model of the electricity system, we calculate the regional half hourly emission factor of power for 8000 unique locations in Great Britain. The data is available historic, near real-time and forecast time periods. The data can be supplied at the resolution of Middle Layer Super Output Areas (MSOAs), Intermediate Zones, Primary Substations, City and (soon) down to secondary substation.
Project RESOP (Regional Energy System Optimisation Planning) aims to take a ‘whole system’ approach, by drawing together data from multiple sources into a single tool that can be used to plan retrofit and roll out of low carbon technologies (LCTs) like electric vehicle charge points.
In November 2021, following a public tender process, Advanced Infrastructure was appointed to provide an energy mapping tool for project LEO utilising Advanced Infrastructure’s LAEP+ software service. This provided an excellent opportunity to test and validate the value of geospatial solutions for local area energy planning.
In June 2021, Advanced Infrastructure and EB Charging were awarded funding from the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles to specify and build a cloud-based siting tool for EV charge points. The output was EV Site, an EV focussed instance of our planning tool LAEP+. Advanced Infrastructure’s Head of Product, Lily Cairns Haylor, discusses the challenges of siting EV charge points at scale and the ways digital approaches might accelerate the tricky process.
In collaboration with the Centre for Net Zero, Octopus Energy's not-for-profit spin out, we examined the impact of heat pump uptake between 2021 and 2031. For London Climate Action Week 2021 we visualised and compared a winter's peak in 2021, where Londoners are primarily kept warm by gas, to a winter's peak in 2031 where the rollout of 40,000 heat pumps shift heating demand from the gas network to the electricity network.
Yes! And potentially a very significant one. Carbon intensity is not about distance, but about grid connectivity, where power is being generated and when. A few miles or minutes can mean the difference between CO2-free and high carbon power, and you can’t know that until you have data like ours.
In Great Britain, we break the data down into MSOAs (a census unit of about 5000 households), which means we have carbon data for 8000 regions in GB. We calculate a carbon intensity for each of these units every half an hour of the day; that's over 140,000,000 carbon signals per year. A similar level of granularity will be coming to the EU over the next year. Currently we offer half-hourly national resolution data for EU.
This depends on what data you need and how you would like to interact with it, as no two projects are exactly the same. Please reach out to us and we will make sure you can get exactly what you need in a way that works for you!
Yes! In fact, many standards, such as the CDP’s GHG emissions, and the UK Government’s Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting Act specify you should use time specific and location specific emission factors if possible.
