The National Energy System Operator (NESO) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Met Office, which outlines the ways in which the two organisations will work together and outlines ‘principles of cooperation’ on potential future risks. The result should be better data sharing between the organisations, the ability to incorporate AI and digitalisation into existing working practices and collaboration on providing coherent and consistent advice to the UK Government.
BESO said it will be leveraging the Met Office’s meteorological and climate knowledge when it considers whole-system impacts and plans for the future resilience of the energy system.
To build on existing work, two Met Office experts will be seconded to NESO.
The MoU will streamline work between NESO and the Met Office, with specialised weather forecasting capability crucial for determining the future mix of the energy network, where changes in the weather can result in big changes in how the grid works. NESO said climate change is already influencing the UK’s weather, with more frequent severe weather expected in the coming decades.
Steve Calder, Director of Government and Industry Relationships at the Met Office said: “Weather is the ‘fuel’ behind Britain’s clean energy superpower. Partnering with NESO, our trusted weather and climate intelligence will support the UK’s journey to clean, secure, and resilient energy. By fully realising the opportunities of weather as energy, we can help enable a more efficient infrastructure that not only provides clean power, but also protects consumers.”
Meanwhile, an AI-powered solar forecasting tool has gone live in NESO control room. Open Climate Fix said its Quartz Solar tool, which predicts solar photovoltaic (PV) output was initially developed in collaboration with NESO’s Energy Forecasting team as an innovation project.
Traditional forecasting methods rely on numerical weather predictions that update only every few hours, which often miss rapid shifts in cloud cover and solar output. Quartz Solar combines machine learning, live satellite imagery and weather data to generate forecasts up to days ahead.
Open Climate Fix claimed better accuracy would help avoid at least £30 million in imbalance costs each year