Empowering energy communities through data-driven innovation

The EU-funded DATA CELLAR project aims to create an energy dataspace that will support the creation, development and management of local energy communities in Europe.

As the energy transition accelerates, Europe faces the urgent need for more efficient, secure, and sustainable energy systems. A critical piece of this puzzle is the development of Local Energy Communities (LECs), which empower citizens, local businesses, and stakeholders to generate, manage, and trade energy. However, for LECs to thrive, they require access to reliable, interoperable data platforms that can support their activities. This is where DATA CELLAR project steps in.

Supporting the development of Local Energy Communities

The European energy transition is underpinned by decentralisation and the rise of LECs, which play a crucial role in making energy systems more flexible, resilient, and inclusive. However, a major obstacle for these communities is the lack of a unified data infrastructure that can securely collect, share, and manage the vast amounts of data necessary for their operations. From energy consumption and generation to grid flexibility and environmental data, LECs require access to real-time, high-quality data to function effectively.

Yet, existing data-sharing initiatives face multiple challenges: how to protect sensitive data under GDPR, how to ensure interoperability across various platforms, and how to incentivise stakeholders to share their data in the first place. DATA CELLAR was created to address these gaps and provide a dynamic, secure, interoperable, and modular solution for the energy sector.

A dynamic and interoperable Data Space

DATA CELLAR offers a robust, innovative solution to these challenges. By creating a collaborative data platform, the project facilitates a secure and interoperable energy data space designed to support the creation and management of LECs across Europe.

The dynamic platform is powered by advanced technologies, including blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI), to enhance data sharing, ensure privacy, and provide valuable services to stakeholders.

Key features of DATA CELLAR include privacy and security by design, AI-driven services and blockchain-based tokenisation. The project adheres to GDPR requirements and national data-handling regulations, ensuring the protection of sensitive information.

Also, the platform provides access to AI models and data-driven services to allow LECs to optimise energy management, improve forecasting, and create new business models. This innovative approach enables the creation of a data marketplace where stakeholders can trade data and pretrained AI models, ensuring data-sharing incentives are aligned.

Through these features, DATA CELLAR aims to overcome the current barriers to data sharing while enabling LECs to access the tools they need for effective energy management and community growth.

Find out more about:
EU-funded energy projects
Simplifying customer energy manager solutions
Project ENERSHARE & energy dataspaces

Transforming energy communities and accelerating decarbonisation

DATA CELLAR has the potential to create a positive impact on the European energy transition. By providing a decentralised data space that is easy to access and navigate, even for non-ICT experts, the project ensures that LECs of all sizes and stages of maturity can benefit from high-quality data and innovative services.

The platform is validated through nine validation cases representing a variety of energy communities across Europe. These validation cases provide a wide range of energy and non-energy data- such as electricity and thermal consumption, renewable energy production, and user behaviour- that populate the data space.

As a result, DATA CELLAR will enable energy communities to improve energy management systems with real-time, localised data, and develop new business models based on data-driven services, increasing profitability for LEC members.

It will also enhance renewable energy integration and forecast future energy needs with greater accuracy, support grid flexibility by allowing communities to trade excess energy or provide ancillary services and evaluate the impact of electrifying transport and heating on local energy grids, paving the way for future infrastructure investments.

Driving interoperability in energy data spaces

DATA CELLAR is part of the Energy Data Space cluster (EDSCP), a collaborative initiative managed by int:net, that includes other projects funded under the same call, as ENERSHARE, OMEGA-X, EDDIE and SYNERGIES.

Together, these projects are working through use cases toward ensuring the interoperability of various energy data solutions developed within the cluster. The EDSCP focuses on identifying key building blocks, governance schemes, and critical data sets that are essential for seamless data exchange across platforms.

Authors:

• Janire Garcia
• Arantxa Iborra