iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

💡 With simple incentives, we can actively match demand to abundant renewable supply - a potential win-win for reducing curtailment and bringing down bills. 👀 Watch this space for the final analysis and get in touch if you have insights to share. 🔗 www.centrefornetzero.org/papers/mobil...

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

🔄 In Great Britain there was some evidence of load shifting from periods before and after the event. 💰 And survey responses showed financial incentives far outweigh environmental or civic motivations for taking part.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

🏠 Flexibility comes from electrification. Customers with low carbon technologies - EVs, heat pumps and solar & batteries - exhibited larger responses. A similar pattern was found for customers on time-of-use tariffs.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

💸 Households increased demand when incentivised. Demand increased significantly when electricity was discounted or free in both Great Britain and Spain. Doubling the discount from 50% to 100% resulted in roughly double demand turn-up.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

⚡🌬️☀️ What happens if households get free electricity when renewables are abundant? We tested this with 120,000 Octopus Energy consumers in 🇬🇧 & 🇪🇸 - the results are pretty striking 🧵

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

👐 If you just want to get your hands on a ready-made dataset, explore 10 million synthetic smart meter profiles through our @linuxfoundationeu.bsky.social OpenSynth repository: lfenergy.org/projects/ope...

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

👩‍💻 To help users get the most from the model and dataset, we’ve also released a new user guide within the Faraday App, covering best practices, model assumptions, and highlights of Faraday in action to inspire your own experiments. faraday.centrefornetzero.org

faraday.centrefornetzero.org

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

🌏 In our latest tech blog, we explain how Faraday V5 generates locationally aware electricity demand profiles, enabling analysis of how energy use changes across different regions and household characteristics. medium.com/the-centre-f...

medium.com

Generating Locationally Aware Synthetic Energy Demand: Inside Faraday V5

Building a green, flexible power grid is a massive challenge that requires us to understand how energy demand can shift over time, and how…

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

🕵️ Ever wondered what goes on under the hood of our generative AI model? ⚡ Our model, Faraday, generates synthetic, half-hourly, household-level smart meter data that helps researchers and policymakers understand electricity demand - without compromising consumer privacy.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

⚡ As electrification increases and extreme weather events become more frequent, understanding how household demand responds, and how flexibility can be deployed across time and location, will be essential to winter resilience. 🔗 Read the full analysis here: www.centrefornetzero.org/news/powerin...

centrefornetzero.org

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Using @octopusenergyus.bsky.social household data, we found: 1️⃣ An increase in household electricity consumption that was notable, but not unseasonable 2️⃣Smaller and shorter-lived impacts vs. Winter Storm Uri in 2021 3️⃣Flexibility, including pre-heating, could help manage peak system stress

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

🥶 How does household electricity demand respond to extreme winter temperatures? 🌨️ In our latest piece, we analysed how electricity use in Texas responded during Winter Storm Fern in January 2026 — and what that tells us about managing winter stress in ERCOT.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

👉 Our @centrefornetzero.bsky.social and @energysyscat.bsky.social proposal for net zero building metrics can be found on our website: www.centrefornetzero.org/papers/net-z... 👀 Find out more about what government has said here: www.gov.uk/government/c...

centrefornetzero.org

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

💡 Time to rethink building performance. 📣 UK gov has confirmed that reformed Energy Performance Certificates will include a new smart metric to capture microgeneration and flexibility. 💪 Great to see following our campaign with @energysyscat.bsky.social and our cross-industry coalition

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

🇬🇧 The Warm Homes Plan is a welcome step towards smart, low-carbon tech playing a central role in home upgrades. ⚡🏠 As empirical backing for that shift, our research shows that heat pumps cut carbon ~70%, while solar + batteries can slash bills for fuel-poor households (even below zero in summer).

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

🚪 How can you get access to Faraday? Our model is open access. You can sign up directly by visiting faraday.centrefornetzero.org/sign_up

faraday.centrefornetzero.org

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

4️⃣ See seasonality. See how power consumption varies across the year - spring, summer, autumn and winter.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

3️⃣ Map regional variation. Visualise our synthetic version of how typical daily household electricity consumption varies across Great Britain.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

2️⃣ Explore household variation. Quickly explore the data and gain insights into how different types of households consume electricity.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

What can you expect from the latest update to the app? 1️⃣ Build your own dataset. Define custom household types - detached homes with EVs, or terraced homes with solar PV - and generate data for your population.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

🚨 We’ve updated the app for Faraday, our open-access generative AI model for synthetic smart meter data. ❓ The latest version includes a dataset builder and a dataset explorer, leveraging the @lfenergy.bsky.social OpenSynth repository 🚪 Want access? Sign up directly - see details & 🔗 in 🧵

huggingface.co

OpenSynth (OpenSynth-Energy)

Synthetic Smart Meter Data

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Reposted by Centre for Net Zero

Robert Metcalfe @rmetcalfe.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

New @nber.org paper by myself, @the-scheining.bsky.social, Yixin Sun from @centrefornetzero.bsky.social, & Cohen Simpson. We study the largest field experiment on AI-managed EV charging, showing that it can reduce peak demand, lower costs, and cut emissions without disrupting household routines.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

💼 New year, new job? 📢 CNZ is hiring for a new Director of External Affairs to work with our CEO Lucy Yu and the rest of our talented team 👀 We're looking for highly motivated candidates with strong energy, comms & policy creds 📅 Deadline - 12pm, 18th Jan 2026 jobs.lever.co/octoenergy/f...

jobs.lever.co

Octopus Energy Group - Director of External Affairs

Closing date: Noon on Sunday 18th January 2026. Early applications are encouraged. Interviews expected: 2nd - 6th February 2026, central London. We’re looking for a Director of External Affairs at Cen...

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Reposted by Centre for Net Zero

Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

NEW ANALYSIS: Electric vehicles are entering the mid-transition space starting to replace ICE vehicles. History shows that shifts like this can happen faster than expected: in the early 20th-century US, horses and mules virtually vanished from roads in under 30 years. cdn.sanity.io/files/lrxd4j...

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Reposted by Centre for Net Zero

Jaap Burger @jaapburger.eu · 18/12/2025

Excellent recommendations to make public charging cheaper (for users and the overall system):

To realise the full potential of smart public charging for both infrastructure efficiency
and equitable access, governments can:
• Incentivise pass-through pricing: market structures should encourage operators to
reflect low marginal costs of renewables in retail prices.
• Mandate real-time pricing and metering: require charge points to support dynamic
tariffs and data visibility.
• Enable open data platforms: provide consumers with real-time pricing information
to support choice and transparency.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Check out CNZ’s detailed research into EV charging demand 👉 www.centrefornetzero.org/research

centrefornetzero.org

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

👏 Congratulations to all those who contributed: @janrosenow.bsky.social, Laurens Speelman, Yuki Numata, Will Atkinson, Andy Hackett, Izzy Woolgar.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

🔎 Drawing on research from each organisation, we identify three interlinked priorities for policy-makers: 1️⃣ Accelerating adoption & ensuring affordability 2️⃣ Smart integration into clean electricity systems 3️⃣ Ensuring sustainability across supply chains & new types of mobility

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

📈 One in five new cars sold last year were electric, with rates accelerating year-on-year. The exponential phase of EV adoption is within reach, but it is not inevitable.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

🚗 NEW report from CNZ + @rockymtninst.bsky.social + @ecioxford.bsky.social answers a critical Q for policy-makers: how can we scale the EV S-Curve - and tip into the phase of mass adoption❓ 🔗 centrefornetzero.org/papers/doc/s... Details in 🧵 Thanks to @carbonbrief.org for featuring!

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

🤖 The review will assess opportunities, risks and enablers for safe, effective AI deployment, supported by experts from @energysyscat.bsky.social, Digital Catapult and @theturing.bsky.social.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

🔌 AI could positively transform electricity networks - facilitating flex, improving resilience and supporting the 2030 clean power mission. But deployment is hampered by data access, testing tools, and regulatory gaps that make it difficult to verify systems safely.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

📢 DESNZ & DSIT’s Lord Vallance have launched an Independent Review of AI for Electricity Networks, led by @centrefornetzero.bsky.social CEO, Lucy Yu. The review will explore opportunities, risks and enablers for deploying AI across the grid.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

🔋 What the Government decides to do next with its ~£15b budget is key. Focusing on helping fuel poor households install tech like solar PV and batteries can deliver major bill savings. Find out more info on our ongoing trial in this space: www.centrefornetzero.org/news/evaluat...

centrefornetzero.org

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

💷 The @thecccuk.bsky.social estimated the UK should be spending £23.5bn this Parliament on upgrading homes. Pre-Budget, planned investment from the Government looked roughly in line with this - but it now sits at less than two-thirds of that figure.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

⚡ We welcome the decision to address levies on electricity bills. Making electricity cheaper is critical - and our research evidences the benefits of electrification to consumers and the grid. But achieving this bill reduction involves a cut to the Government's plan to upgrade homes.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

💬 CNZ features in @theguardian.com on the implications of the UK #Budget for the #WarmHomesPlan: “Cutting levies on electricity is welcome and overdue, but it can’t come at the cost of cutting the very investments in homes that help make bills fall for good – especially for those in fuel poverty”

theguardian.com

North Sea plan allows drilling while enabling Labour to keep ‘no new licences’ pledge

‘Tiebacks’ will permit small amount of new fossil fuel extraction, but campaigners want bolder strategy

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

⚡The data shows managed charging works everywhere, but tariff structures, automation strategies, and market design need to reflect local contexts to unlock the full benefits for grids and consumers. Check out the full analysis and more on our website: centrefornetzero.org

centrefornetzero.org

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

3️⃣ Intelligent managed charging provides significant provides significant load shifting across all markets, with EV charging demand spiking by an average of 0.4 kWh overnight.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

2️⃣ Customers quickly get used to automated charging, with charging overrides decreasing over time – indicating that automation strategies are successful in meeting customer needs.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

1️⃣ AI-managed charging works everywhere, with customers regularly plugging in in the evening, and plugging out in the morning, to take advantage of cheap periods of electricity.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

🚗 AI-managed charging is a key strategy to balance the grid and keep things simple and affordable for drivers. We analysed data from @octopus.energy to see how customer behaviours compare. The short answer: they’re more alike than different. See below for 3 quick takes 🧵👇

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

🌍 Do EV drivers charge in the same way across the world? At @centrefornetzero.bsky.social, we analysed anonymised data from @octopus.energy ’s Intelligent Octopus tariff in the 🇬🇧UK, 🇪🇸Spain, 🇩🇪Germany & 🇺🇸Texas to find out. 🔗 Explore the analysis & 10 charts: www.centrefornetzero.org/news/watts-t...

centrefornetzero.org

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

👐 As part of our efforts to build an open, synthetic energy data community with @lfenergy.bsky.social - OpenSynth - we have also released an updated dataset that contains 10 million synthetic smart meter profiles which you can find on the OS data repository: huggingface.co/OpenSynth/da...

huggingface.co

OpenSynth (OpenSynth-Energy)

Synthetic Smart Meter Data

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

🚪 How can you get access to Faraday? Our model is open access. You can sign up directly by visiting faraday.centrefornetzero.org/sign_up

faraday.centrefornetzero.org

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

4️⃣ In the previous version of Faraday, we ensured training data was nationally representative for England and Wales. This now also includes Scotland.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

3️⃣ As a result of these updates, our model captures low carbon technology profiles more accurately e.g. heat pump loads.

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Centre for Net Zero @centrefornetzero.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

2️⃣ We’ve trained the model on more and updated data, spanning March 2024 to March 2025. This version is trained on data from over one million households.

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