Data Clearing House
About the project
This project will oversee development of the Data Clearing House (DCH),
a cloud based building data management and application enablement platform. The
DCH connects Internet of Things (IoT) systems from buildings and supports complex
data analytics.
The DCH will underpin the development of applications that improve renewable energy integration in buildings, and unlock new opportunities for delivering Buildings to Grid (B2G) services. This project will investigate features of the CSIRO Senaps data platform and their suitability for the DCH. It will combine these findings with results from the DCH2 Switch data platform sub-project to develop the Data Clearing House.
| Project title | CSIRO Senaps data platform demonstration and development of the Data Clearing House |
| Project number | DCH1 |
| Project location | Newcastle (primary) |
| Lead partner | CSIRO |
| Project participants | Other partners will use the DCH as the data platform (see other sub-projects in the i-Hub Data Clearing House Activity) |
| Start date | 07/2019 |
| End date | 06/2022 |
| ARENA/i-Hub funding | $986,000 |
| Total project cost | $1,932,500 |
Need
The built environment sector is undergoing digital transformation due to the availability of low cost IoT sensing solutions, IoT enabled building hardware systems and advanced Information Technology (IT) infrastructure.
However, the built environment sector is lagging other markets in deriving value through digital transformation, including the use of data driven approaches for providing flexible HVAC loads in support of onsite renewables. This is primarily due to lack of an ecosystem for linking heterogeneous sources of data, sharing of data and mechanisms to use building data in a secure and equitable way, limiting new innovations in this space.
Action
This project seeks to develop a data platform to host an ecosystem of applications (marketplace) that optimise the integration of HVAC and renewables in buildings. This will be achieved by:
- Adapting the CSIRO Senaps IoT platform for use in building services applications
- Development and hosting of semantic building models: These models map relationships between sensor data, equipment data and location data of buildings in a consistent, machine readable way so that it can be used with multiple buildings and various applications in a scalable way.
- Develop tools to streamline onboarding a building such that building data available from disparate sources can easily be linked to building models.
- Demonstrate operation of the Senaps IoT platform
- Supporting users wanting to onboard buildings and develop innovative software Applications
- Developing a best practice data governance framework for the DCH
- Develop and make available M&V application for platform users.
Additionally, an interactive national electricity consumption model will be used to determine the demand response potential available from HVAC systems across the Australian building stock and electricity networks (the National HVAC DR Atlas).
Outcome
Main project outcomes are:
- Building to grid Data Clearing House is developed and proven for scalable commercial deployment.
- Benefits of data platform demonstrated through federation of data from various buildings (≥50) and building types including office buildings, schools.
- Software-as-a-Service Application hosting capability and benefits demonstrated through reference applications for managing renewable energy use and building operations.
- National capacity of electricity Demand Response available from HVAC established.
The outcomes of this project will aid Australia’s transition to low emissions future by developing and demonstrating HVAC as a flexible load through digitalisation of building HVAC systems.
Additional impact
This project will help develop a marketplace around interoperable buildings data. This will trigger additional energy productivity innovation in the buildings space allowing new players to enter the market by lowering the barriers from data silos. Innovative solutions will accelerate transition to net zero energy buildings, self-controlled buildings and seamless integration with smart cities infrastructure.
Project reports
The HVAC Demand Response Atlas Visualisation tool
The HVAC Demand Response Atlas Visualisation tool has been developed as part of the i-Hub DCH Project. The tool allows users to explore estimates of residential and commercial building air-conditioning wholesale demand response by electricity network region or individual electricity zone substation across most of Australia.
Users can select the month, time of day and temperature range of interest, and then view either the estimated magnitude of air-conditioning demand response, the demand response proportion of the total electricity demand, or an estimate of the regional wholesale value of the demand response.
This information may be used to help understand the current potential of air-conditioning wholesale demand response in buildings, for example to assist high level planning of HVAC demand response initiatives.
Please click here to access the tool.
Evaluation Framework
All sub-projects within i-Hub are evaluated as part of the ongoing i-Hub project management process. Evaluation is completed by the project manager and reviewed by the Activity Leaders Group and i-Hub Steering Committee. Please click here to read the Evaluation Framework.
Created 06/04/20