IceBreakerOne - Open Energy Platform

The Role

As New Product Development lead at IceBreakerOne (May 2021 - June 2022), I was responsible for service and product design, reinforced by business strategy, to create and take to market the Open Energy platform.

The Problem

The UK energy sector faces a critical data infrastructure challenge. Decarbonization and grid modernization require coordination across hundreds of organizations (generators, network operators, retailers, aggregators, regulators), but energy data is fragmented, siloed, and difficult to share securely.

Existing approaches failed because they either:

• Created centralized data lakes (raising privacy concerns and regulatory complexity)
• Relied on bilateral integrations (unscalable as ecosystem grows)
• Lacked governance frameworks for data sharing permissions and usage rights

What I Built

Open Energy is a data sharing and governance platform designed as infrastructure for the energy transition:

Distributed Data Architecture

• Data stays with owners (no centralized storage)
• Federated query system enables discovery without data movement
• Privacy-preserving computation for aggregated insights without exposing individual records

Governance Layer

• Granular permissions management (who can access what data, for what purpose, until when)
• Audit trails for all data requests and usage
• Regulatory compliance built into platform design (GDPR, energy sector regulations)

Developer Ecosystem

• APIs and SDKs for third-party application developers
• Marketplace for energy data products and services
• Standardized schemas for common energy datasets (smart meter data, generation forecasts, grid constraints)

Business Strategy

Beyond product design, I developed go-to-market strategy:

• Target segments: Network operators (DSOs), energy retailers, flexibility service providers
• Value proposition: “Build once, connect everywhere” - avoid bespoke integrations for each data partnership
• Business model: Platform fees + transaction-based pricing for data exchanges
• Partnership strategy: Engaged Ofgem (UK energy regulator) early to align on governance framework

Lessons Learned

Governance Before Technology Early focus on technical architecture (APIs, data formats) missed the point. Energy companies needed clarity on data rights, liability, and compliance before they’d share anything. We pivoted to co-designing governance frameworks with regulators and industry participants before finalizing platform specs. Lesson: for infrastructure plays, governance design is product design.

Trust Through Neutrality IceBreakerOne’s independence (not owned by incumbents) was core to platform adoption. Energy retailers trusted the platform specifically because it wasn’t run by network operators and vice versa. This positioned IceBreakerOne as a neutral facilitator rather than a competitor. Lesson: platform credibility depends on incentive alignment.

Sandbox > Big Bang Rather than launching a complete platform, we created sandbox environments where early adopters could experiment with data sharing in low-stakes scenarios. This generated user feedback and real-world validation before full-scale investment. Lesson: infrastructure platforms need safe spaces for trial and error.

Standardization Is Negotiation, Not Specification Creating “standard schemas” for energy data required brokering between competing organizational interests, legacy systems, and future needs. The technical output (JSON schemas) was less valuable than the consensus-building process that produced them. Lesson: standards work is stakeholder management, not technical writing.

Impact

While IceBreakerOne was an early-stage venture, the Open Energy platform helped validate key hypotheses about energy data infrastructure:

• Demonstrated feasibility of distributed data sharing in regulated industries
• Established governance frameworks now referenced in UK energy sector policy discussions
• Created blueprints for similar platforms in other sectors (water, transport)

The work contributed to broader recognition that decarbonization requires new data infrastructure, not just renewable energy generation.