CELINE project launches for energy community digital empowerment

The Horizon Europe supported CELINE project has launched to develop digital services to empower energy communities.

CELINE (Cross-sectorial integrated digital services Enabling energy Localized InnovatioN and community Empowerment) is aimed to transform Europe’s energy sector through digitalisation and citizen participation in energy communities.

Through a participatory, cross-sectoral, and technology-driven approach, CELINE intends to addresses regulatory, technical and economic barriers to provide a harmonised framework for local energy production, consumption and market participation.

The basis for CELINE is that while the digitalisation of the energy system brings numerous benefits, realising these requires addressing challenges such as ensuring end users' adoption of the technologies, addressing societal acceptance issues, engaging communities effectively and ensuring decentralisation and data sovereignty.

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Additionally, an integrated framework allowing effective data integration across the energy value chain also including data from other sectors is required.

To address these challenges, the CELINE project intends to introduce a framework aimed to promote the widespread adoption of digital technologies within the energy sector, with a focus on the adoption of tailored localised community-based and digital driven energy innovations.

At the core of the project is an open source data driven ‘digital toolbox’, comprising a digital twin of community energy systems and AI assistant tools to enable the creation of tailored services aimed to support community-led self-consumption and production schemes, enhance end users' capabilities in managing energy resources and empower them by improving their digital and energy literacy.

The CELINE tools and services will be tested in three real-world demonstrators across a range of different condition in Valencia, Spain, Lappeenranta, Finland and Alpe Cimbra, Italy.

In addition to its own activities, CELINE also has joined the E-NERGY project consortium convened by the DECODIT, DIGITISE, ENERGENIUS and EU-DREAM projects to collaborate to democratise access to energy information and make the transition process more accessible and engaging for all.

The CELINE project, which began on 1 December 2024 and runs to the end of November 2027, is being managed by Italian innovation specialist Spindox Labs and the consortium is composed of 15 partners from six countries.