The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) in conjunction with chief information officers from across the energy industry have developed an Energy Industry Conceptual Data Model (EICDM).
The EICDM is part of a broader strategy to ensure energy IT investment across the eastern seaboard is coherent, timely and unified.
The model describes energy industry data entities and interactions, which AEMO chief information officer Chris Ford said will provide a foundation for the identification of information needs and opportunities.
“Our vision is for IT investment in the energy market to be undertaken in a coherent, timely, and unified manner for the benefit of the industry as a whole. This will ultimately save everyone time and money,” he said.
Mr Ford said the energy industry is being impacted by changes in the broader business environment such as global financial problems, carbon price and regulatory changes, as well a changing technology landscape with the emergence of smart grids, cloud computing and big data.
“Changes in the business landscape require higher levels of cooperation between market participants and this initiative assists the energy industry with managing that heightened level of interaction,” he said.
An industry working group has been established to review the energy market participant workshop output, and this group will continue to accept comments and approve changes to the model in the future.
The strategy aims to set consistent taxonomy and languages for describing data entities used by all Australian energy industry businesses and provide a basis for understanding the attributes and inter-relationships between these data entities. It will leverage industry knowledge and expertise through collaborative development activities, and encourage cross-industry take-up and use of the models.
