Deadline: February 17, 2026
The European Commission announces a call for proposals under Horizon Europe to develop innovative tools and services aimed at managing and empowering energy communities, strengthening their role and integration in the clean energy transition to achieve climate neutrality and greater energy democracy.
The focus areas are to develop innovative and open-source tools for managing shared energy community assets such as energy storage facilities and optimising community management activities including selection and switching of aggregators, preparation and trading of smart contracts, peer-to-peer energy sharing, and self-consumption. The project aims to improve digitalisation and data exchange technologies to support energy communities and active consumers. It prioritises seamless integration of hardware and software components across energy carriers and advocates the use of relevant European and international standards and technical specifications to ensure interoperability.
Projects should demonstrate the capacity to embed these tools and services within existing legacy systems used by distribution system operators (DSOs), system operators, aggregators, and market operators, following the Smart Grid Architecture Model (SGAM) principles. The integration mechanism must support plug-and-play components of the energy community ecosystem. Scope also includes the design of tailored cybersecurity solutions for private and public communication networks used by smart appliances and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Projects are encouraged to leverage advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI Factories to develop prototypes of automated, AI-powered digital solutions aimed at energy system optimisation at local and system levels.
The outcome is expected to increase the preparedness of electricity systems to support the EU’s net-zero targets by 2030, enhance the operational capacity of grid operators through innovative energy management systems, and foster transparent and market-based sharing and cost allocation mechanisms within energy communities. The proposals will increase the security and efficiency of data exchange among prosumers, community aggregators, DSOs, and other stakeholders, thereby empowering local governments and intermediaries to strengthen community energy policies.
The Commission estimates that an EU contribution of around EUR 10.00 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of a proposal requesting different amounts.
The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 20.00 million.
This initiative contributes directly to a decentralised and co-owned energy transition, enabling energy communities to actively participate in the European energy market while improving renewable energy uptake and grid flexibility. The project results will also support institutional allies at local and regional levels by providing access to digital planning tools and by identifying and overcoming barriers—such as legal, economic, and regulatory challenges—faced by network operators to introduce smart consumption options for their customers.
For more information, visit EC.
