Operational digital platforms – Works

Expected Impact:The project is expected to deploy cross-border digital infrastructure that will accelerate the digitalisation of the energy/mobility sector by enhancing interoperability and standardisation and trigger a public-private partnership virtuous circle of investment. To the extent possible, this infrastructure will build on and integrate with existing and emerging European data, cloud and edge computing and connectivity infrastructures. The project should lead to a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) and improvement in the energy and environmental performance of the European energy, transport and digital infrastructures thus addressing and easing the current energy and climate crisis and avoiding blackouts.

The key performance indicators for the topic will include the number of connected operators supporting cross-border exchange of data and services, the number of interconnected cross border energy and/or transport systems, the amount of energy saved and the percentage of GHG emission decrease due to cross-border energy and/or transport exchange, as well as the degree of integration with the European data, computing, and connectivity infrastructure both for leveraging digital infrastructure and optimising its energy and environmental performance.

Objective:Operational Digital Platforms aim to support EU environmental and energy targets, improve the competitiveness of the EU industry and address the ongoing energy crisis, by providing both technologies and connectivity to enable a cyber-secure Internet of Energy and an optimised transport system along the major European paths.

They are dedicated to “retro-fitting” the existing energy and/or transpor tinfrastructures with the required cross-border digital infrastructure. ODPs will optimise energy use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and reduce the environmental impact, while increasing the benefits enabled by ICT.

ODPs will build on and integrate with existing and emerging European data, cloud and edge computing and connectivity infrastructures, in particular those supported in other parts of the CEF Digital programme, the Digital Europe Programme, and the Horizon Europe programme.

The ODPs will contribute to the achievement of EU technological sovereignty and to the security and resilience of energy supply and transports in the EU. This support contributes to the Digital Decade goals such as the deployment of 10,000 climate neutral highly secure edge nodes, etc.

Projects funded under this call should include specific deliverables, milestones and KPIs related to:

• Deploying fully functional, cross-border ODPs in line with the description in the scope section;
• Delivering quantifiable results in terms of CO₂ reduction, energy savings, and grid flexibility;
• Providing open, standards-based architectures suitable for replication in other Member States, also in line with the vision for an AI-enabled digital spine of the energy and e-mobility system and other EU initiatives;
• Strengthening collaboration across sectors (energy, transport, ICT) and across borders;
• Creating new business models for distributed energy resources, smart mobility, and sustainable infrastructure;
• Improving consumer empowerment, data transparency, and system efficiency.

Scope:The projects supported by this call are expected to deploy cross-border digital infrastructure implementing an AI-Driven Operational Digital Platform (ODP) for Electricity Consumers and Integration of electric vehicles (EV), electric trucks (ET), renewable energy sources (RES) into the Grid. Moreover, the proposed platform could help data centres, which are among the fastest growing energy consumers in Europe, to shift non-critical workloads to times or locations where energy is greener or cheaper and participate in grid services, acting as flexible loads that can ramp up or down to support balancing.

The platform must include the maximum number of the following key functionalities:

• Real-time monitoring and feedback for consumers on energy rate use, carbon footprint, and tariff optimisation;
• AI-based advisory services, helping users to adjust their behaviours or schedules to match renewable availability.
• Participation in virtual energy communities (VECs), allowing local prosumers to trade surplus energy or flexibility;
• Integration of controllable assets such as EV chargers, heat pumps, or batteries to provide demand response;
• AI-powered charging optimisation, based on traffic, weather, grid conditions, and fleet schedules;
• Dynamic pricing and congestion signals, ensuring grid-aware energy consumption and EV charging;
• Smart routing tools for logistics managers, integrating vehicle range, charging station status, and energy prices;
• Integration of renewable generation (e.g. solar, wind) into vehicle charging plans
• Support for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) operations, where EVs can return energy to the grid during peak demand.

Optional functionalities may include:

• Participation of data centres in flexibility markets, via dynamic load shifting or reserve services;
• Data centres workload migration tools, allowing computing tasks to be routed across borders to greener data centres.

The evaluation of proposals shall prioritise those offering the higher number of functionalities, as they will be considered as having a higher impact. Such impact will be taken into account when evaluating the proposals under the “Impact” award criterion.

The platform should follow a layered digital architecture.

The proposed ODP should push the boundaries of energy operations by providing private and industrial players with robust digital tools for cross-border trading, monitoring and ownership management. It should be designed to manage European transport in increasingly automated and sustainable way bringing digitalisation and electrification of the sector to a new level. Its strong focus on AI-driven charging and route planning will provide a transport domain benchmarking.

The ODP should follow the BEGONIA project’s guidelines related to the architecture, governance and implementation of ODPs, and other preparation materials for delivering the functionalities.

Please consult the call document for more information on the scope, including digital security requirements.