Accessibility HomeNews & eventsNews Back to news & events We're launching a new data science competition 08/11/2021 We have become the first distribution network operator (DNO) to launch a series of data science competitions open to everyone. The Data Science Challenge is being run in collaboration with Energy Systems Catapult (ESC) and builds on the success of a science challenge that formed part of our NIA-funded innovation project Presumed Open Data. WPD Data and Digitalisation Manager Jonathan Berry said: “The level of interest in our first data science challenge was so incredible we knew we had to keep them going and make them a regular feature as part of our data and digitalisation programme. “Making our data open is all about using it to add value and benefit to our customers and stakeholders and we know this is a great way to get people involved from all over the world to test the ‘art of the possible’ with our data at the centre.” The Data Science Challenge series will identify industry-wide problems and use collaboration to deliver tangible insights and solutions to support the net zero transition. This first challenge will investigate the loss of estimation accuracy when reducing the temporal resolution of collected demand data. The problem it is trying to resolve is that collecting and analysing high resolution data means larger storage needs and more computational processing requirements, which increase costs. The challenge asks whether certain high-resolution features – in this case extremes of demand – can be estimated using lower resolution data, weather data, and limited historical high-resolution (one minute) data. This supports the view of using multiple data streams, such as smart meter data, and machine learning to minimise the level of physical monitoring on the network to drive the same level of insight, thereby reducing costs to customers. Jonathan added: “This and all our challenges will be open to everyone, whether an experienced data scientist, a student, someone who is just interested in picking up data science and using the challenge to target their development – we’re keen to create an enthusiastic and inclusive energy data community. “We have already made lots of our data open, through our Connected Data Portal, and we will continue to increase this. We’re looking forward to seeing how a collaborative community of data scientists and energy enthusiasts will use our data to answer some of the toughest questions the industry faces as we move to delivering net zero effectively.” The challenge begins on November 11 and ends on December 1, with the winners being announced on December 8. The Digitalisation and Data team will be holding a kick-off webinar on November 11 to give further information. Register here Tagged under DSO/Smart Networks Press office enquiries For all press office enquiries please call: Midlands: 01332 827172 South West: 0117 933 2005 South Wales: 01633 628108 Western Power Distribution Companies → WPD Telecoms → Helicopter Unit → Contracting → Smart Metering → Training → WPD Glossary → Electricity Historical Society WESTERN POWER DISTRIBUTION Site map|Terms and conditions|Privacy policy|PSR Privacy policy|Accessible information|Cookie details|Modern Slavery Act Western Power Distribution Plc 09223384; Western Power Distribution (East Midlands) Plc (company number 02366923); Western Power Distribution (West Midlands) Plc (company number 03600574); Western Power Distribution (South West) Plc (company number 02366894); Western Power Distribution (South Wales) Plc (company number 02366985); WPD Smart Metering Limited ( company number 07139151); South Western Helicopters Limited (company number 02439215); WPD Property Investments Limited (company number 02373239) and WPD Telecoms Limited (company number 02386327) All are registered to Avonbank, Feeder Road, Bristol BS2 0TB Website developed by Enigma Interactive In order to provide complete functionality, this website stores browser cookies. If you don’t allow cookies, you may not be able to use certain features of the website. For example, you may not be able to use certain features relating to log-in or order certain services. In addition, you may not be able to see personalised content or switch between languages. We recommend that you allow cookies. If you continue to use our website, we will assume that you are ok with us using cookies. If you want to reject cookies, or find out more about them, click here. Functional Cookies Tracking Cookies X