Meet Rachel Hassall, Head of Data & Analytics

1. How long have you been working at SSE Energy Solutions and what the experience and your role been like for you?

I joined SSE in October 2021 from National Grid. I joined as a Senior Data Scientist and the dream at the outset was to build a small team of data and analytics experts to develop SSE Energy Solutions’ energy optimisation strategy and toolkit. I’m now approaching two and half years with SSE and a lot has changed (for the better!). My role has grown along with the Data & Analytics team, I’m now leading a team of 10 data specialists, all responsible for delivering advanced analytics and data governance for the teams within SSE Energy Solutions.

Looking back, it’s been an incredible period of personal growth for me and for the business as we embed a digital and data first mindset into everything we do.

3. Can you tell us a little more about how Digitising Net Zero is important to businesses in their journey to net zero?

The use of technology and data is essential to helping decarbonisation. The past two winters have seen the introduction of the demand flexibility service (DFS) for homes and businesses in the UK, this service encourages users to cut their demand at peak times to reduce the strain on the grid. Accessible energy data and our ability to benchmark a customer’s energy usage is essential to delivering this and incentivising energy reduction. While the bigger picture at grid level is stopping our reliance on coal fired, carbon intensive, and expensive energy generation when renewable energy is scarce, anything we can do on the demand side to impact this has to be a good thing.

This is relatively simple example. The next steps for digitising net zero are in more complex solutions to unlock flexibility through building optimisation and delivering digitised microgrids.

4. Tell us about a project that you've worked on incorporating decarbonisation at its core?

Decarbonisation is not only about shiny new green energy infrastructure. That’s super important of course, but the most satisfying project for me to date is the digital optimisation of our own existing SSE Heat Networks. We’ve developed digital twin and optimisation capabilities using machine learning and applied them in the real world. It’s one of the most satisfying feelings to apply what we as Data Scientists read, discuss, and learn behind the scenes and then see it in action in the real world. There’s nothing better than seeing two lines on a graph perfectly in sync, one representing our modelled view of the world and the other a real life signal from site.

So, the project we affectionately call ‘CHOP’ - combined heat and power optimisation – has led us to where we are today: digitally optimising ten SSE Heat Networks. They’re gas fired CHPs generating heat for business and domestic homes and electricity - the optimisation project is lowering the carbon intensity of their operation and reducing energy costs. I think this is a key part of decarbonisation as we need to optimise existing energy assets while also building new green energy infrastructure.

We are currently in a pilot phase exploring how Heat Networks can operate their systems delivering AI generated optimisation schedules for the next seven days based on predicted energy demand and prices (gratefully received from our colleagues in SSE Energy Markets).

I think this is a glimpse into the future for all energy generation assets.