MaStR4all – Improving access to data from the energy industry

Project description

In this project, scientists from the Reiner Lemoine Institute are improving the open-source tool open_mastr to facilitate access to energy industry data from the German Federal Network Agency’s (BNetzA) Market Master Data Register (MaStR). In this way, even more actors should be able to work with data from the energy transition and new target groups for knowledge transfer and cooperation should be addressed.

Facilitating access to energy data
The BNetzA’s MaStR contains key information on electricity and gas market players in Germany. With the open_mastr tool, users can download the data in bundles and use it for their own evaluations – without having to delve deep into complex data structures. RLI has been developing and maintaining this open source software since the start of the MaStR in 2019, with thousands of downloads and numerous inquiries from the energy modelling community showing that experts are using the tool. As part of the new project, scientists are improving usability and documentation and building an active developer and user community.

Knowledge transfer through workshops and tutorials
To enable even more people to work on the energy transition with the publicly available data of the MaStR, the project team implements measures for knowledge transfer. This includes video tutorials, workshops, a community mailing list and a targeted approach to new user groups – for example in municipalities, planning offices, civil society initiatives or in the field of data journalism. The use of open_mastr can help to implement energy transition projects more quickly.

Exemplary application: Analysing solar potential in the region
For example, open_mastr can be used to filter and analyze all photovoltaic systems registered in a region – including information on output, commissioning date and location. In this way, municipalities or energy consultants can find out specifically how strong the expansion of solar energy already is locally and where there is still potential. The data can be used quickly and easily for your own maps, scenarios or reports.

The processed and published data from open_mastr are already being used in various research projects and applications. For example, in the “Wind Energy Monitor Germany” by Goal100. To this end, the planned and ongoing wind turbines are analysed, aggregated and clearly visualised.

A list of examples of projects that have worked with open_mastr can be found here.

The open_mastr tool on github can be found here.

Project period: April 2025 – December 2025