Securing smarter energy systems

Open Energi is a British smart grid company whose ‘Dynamic Demand’ technology allows National Grid to balance the UK’s electricity supply and demand in real-time. This patented demand response technology uses the power of the internet to harness flexibility in our demand for energy, making invisible adjustments to the timing of equipment’s electricity consumption. This is helping to deliver a cleaner, cheaper, more efficient and more secure energy future. By 2030, National Grid aims to meet over 50% of grid balancing requirements by adjusting energy demand to meet supply in this manner.

Open Energi partners with companies that manage commercial, stored-energy equipment, such as refrigeration systems, air-conditioning units, water pumps, ovens and boilers. Flexible demand from this equipment is aggregated to create a ‘virtual power station’ that replaces some of the grid balancing work performed by traditional power plants, thereby reducing carbon emissions and lowering costs.

As the Internet of Things (IOT) gathers pace, Darktrace is uniquely positioned to help energy systems become smarter and more efficient, and ultimately cut costs and carbon. Darktrace’s unique Enterprise Immune System, powered by new machine learning and mathematics, is capable of identifying emerging cyber-threats within networks, by understanding the ‘pattern of life’ of every device, user and network. This self-learning approach allows Open Energi to protect itself in the context of constantly-evolving threats, and mitigate any potential problems before they arise.

“Open Energi takes security extremely seriously and we are constantly striving to stay at the forefront of development and best practice in cyber security. We chose Darktrace because it recognizes the realities of today’s threat landscape. Rather than putting rules in place to prevent specific actions, it focuses its technology on recognizing the abnormal and providing intelligence on what is going on throughout the entire network,” said Mike Somers, Information Systems and Security Manager, Open Energi. “Darktrace is the only company that uses mathematical analysis and machine learning to detect potential threats, allowing us to stay ahead of evolving risks.”

“We are delighted to be working with a company as forward-thinking as Open Energi,” said Nick Trim, Managing Director EMEA, Darktrace. “The Enterprise Immune System delivers the self-learning threat detection that enables major critical infrastructure providers to defend themselves, while nurturing the innovation that Open Energi is bringing to the industry.”