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Availability: Energy generation

The following indicator is under consideration for this pilot edition of the Barometer: To what extent is information about energy generation available as open data?

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You can share your feedback on the Availability: Energy generation indicator here, or make use of Hypothes.is annotations

Show/hide supporting questions

Existence

  • Is this data available online in any form?
    • Data is not available online
      Supporting questions: Are there other offline ways to access this data in the country? (e.g. attending an office to inspect it)
    • Data is available, but not as a result of government action
      Supporting questions: If government is not providing access to data, how is this data available? Please provide a URL for where this data can be found
    • Data is available from government, or because of government actions
      Supporting questions: Please provide a URL for where this data can be found

Elements

Part 1: Data structure and openness.

  • Data is timely and updated. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    When was the most recent update to this dataset?

  • Dataset is available free of charge. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data is openly licensed. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If No: If there are explicit restrictions placed on re-use of the dataset, briefly describe those here.

    If Partially or Yes: If the data is provided with an explicit open license, please provide the name of the license, or a link to it here.

  • Data is available in all the country’s official or national languages. If the country has no official or national languages, data is available in the major languages of the country. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially or Yes: Please briefly describe the language coverage available.

  • Data is provided in machine-readable format(s) (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide a URL where this machine-readable data can be found. (Additional URLs can be included in the justification and supporting evidence)

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide a comma separated list of the formats available? (E.g. csv, json)

    If Partially: What prevents you from assessing this data as fully machine-readable?

  • The machine-readable dataset is available as a whole (No, Partially, Yes) Answer no if it's only possible to access individual records; Answer partially if it's possible to export extracts of the data; Answer yes if there are bulk downloads or APIs providing access to the whole dataset without financial, technical or legal barriers.

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide a URL where bulk download access is available or described.

    If Partially or Yes: If bulk access is provided through an API, please provide a link to where the API is described.

Part 2: Data fields assessment.

  • The dataset details generation at the level of individual power plants. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data includes key characteristics of power plants, such as age, name, capacity, geolocation, and fuel type. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • The dataset includes a breakdown of energy generated by fuel type. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • The dataset includes the share of energy generated through renewable sources. (No, Partially, Yes)

Part 3: Barriers to data quality or availability.

  • This information is missing required data. (There is no evidence of data gaps., There is evidence that a portion of mandated data is missing., There is evidence of widespread omissions in mandated data.) In cases where a separate indicator has asked you to determine data requirements of a relevant governing framework, assess against that. In cases where there is no such related governance indicator, assess based on the parameters laid out in the publication of the information, your local knowledge, and any broader research you may have done for this theme.

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If There is evidence that a portion of mandated data is missing. or There is evidence of widespread omissions in mandated data.: Please briefly explain.

  • The availability of this data has been affected by government response to COVID-19. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially or Yes: Please briefly describe how COVID-19 affected the availability of this data.

Extent

  • How comprehensive is the data assessed for this question?
    • The data assessed covers one or more localities, but there are many other localities without available data, or with data of a lesser quality.
      Supporting questions: Which locality does this data cover?
    • The data assessed covers one or more localities, and is a representative example of the kind of data that can be found for all, or most, localities.
    • The data assessed provides national coverage.

Definitions and Identification

Data on energy generation should offer details at both a granular and a broader level. Datasets should provide a detailed overview of generation at the level of individual power plants, as well as key characteristics about those power plants, such as age, name, capacity, geolocation, and fuel type. At a broader level, datasets should include a breakdown of energy generated by fuel type, as well as the share of energy generated via renewable sources.

Among other functions, it should be possible to use data on energy generation:

  • to use generation data from individual units to improve modeling and planning for clean energy transitions;
  • to track progress toward renewable energy goals;
  • to evaluate potential climate impacts on power plants themselves.

Uses adapted from the Open Up Guide: Using Open Data To Advance Climate Action.

Note: Some countries may provide some of this data only at levels broader than individual power plants. Additionally, more granular data about power plants and production of energy may be located in separate datasets from overviews of energy generation by fuel type and the share generated via renewable sources.

Starting points

  • Sources:

    • The Global Power Plant Database (overview and GitHub) can help provide a quick sense of whether data is available in global datasets or perhaps published in detail by countries.
    • The International Renewable Energy Agency databases offer information about the share of energy generated from renewable sources in many countries.
    • Energydata.info offers a variety of tools and maps of open energy generation data around the world; the tools combine various sources to generate their datasets, but the underlying data sources can be useful for locating datasets relevant to your country if you cannot find them on websites of energy agencies or public utilities.

  • Search:

    • The website of your national or local energy agency.
    • The websites of relevant public utilities.

  • Consult:

    • Officials in your national or local energy agency or relevant public utilities.
    • Scholars or researchers at civil society organizations who research the energy sector, air pollution, renewable or alternative energy sources, energy efficiency, infrastructure vulnerability, climate change.
    • Community organizers or officers at civil society organizations who work on advocacy for or implementation of renewable energy systems.
    • Journalists who report on the energy sector, climate change, emissions, renewable energy.

What to look for?

To complete the assessment for this question you will need to access and explore the available data. This may involve running queries on datasets to check the variety of fields included.

Look for evidence that can answer the following questions:

  • How granular is the information that's available about energy generation? Can you easily find data at the level of specific power plants?
  • What kinds of information are readily available about individual power plants? For example, is it possible to easily identify an individual plant's capacity, fuel source(s), age, or location?
  • What kinds of fuels are being used to generate energy? Is there historical data available that would allow someone to trace how this mix has changed over time?
  • What share of the energy comes from renewable sources? Is there historical data available that would allow someone to track how that share has changed over time?

National and sub-national considerations

In some countries, data about energy generation may be generated and published at the sub-national level, ****carried out by individual states, regions, or cities.

Focus on national government first, and then assess whether:

  • National datasets also include data from sub-national or local government units;
  • Equivalent data exists for a selection of sub-national or local government units, but is not nationally aggregated;

To assess countries where data about energy generation is organized sub-nationally, researchers should select the strongest example of sub-national practice, and then indicate whether this is an outlier, or an example of widespread practice.

The UN's Sustainable Development Goal 7 calls for ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. As energy sectors consistently produce some of the largest shares of a country's emissions, data about the generation of energy is important both for improving access and empowering climate action (SDG 13).