Digitalisation has an impact across the energy value chain, from generation to transport, distribution, supply and consumption. A system-wide approach and EU countries' support to promote cooperation between digital and energy stakeholders are needed for digitalisation of energy to better contribute to the EU’s political priorities, including the European Green Deal and making the EU fit for the digital age.
Strategic roadmap for digitalisation and AI in energy
Due for publication in early 2026, the Strategic roadmap for digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) in the energy sector is mentioned under Action 5 of the Affordable Energy Action Plan, published in February 2025. It aims to accelerate the rollout of digital solutions, including European AI solutions, in important areas for the decarbonisation process, such as electricity grid optimisation, energy efficiency in buildings and industry and demand-side flexibility.
It will also consider the increasingly heavy energy consumption of data centres and how they can be more sustainably integrated into the energy system, as well as the need to implement safeguards to mitigate potential challenges linked to the large-scale deployment of AI solutions in the energy sector.
The roadmap complements other initiatives announced in the AI field such as the AI Act and the AI Continent Action Plan.
Preparing the roadmap
To support the preparation of the roadmap, the Commission launched an open public consultation and a call for evidence, running between 5 August and 5 November 2025. More than 300 contributions were received and analysed.
Additionally, online workshops on AI in the energy sector were held on 15 and 25 September 2025 and a third workshop Exploring opportunities of AI for renewables and buildings on 6 November 2025.
- 8 December 2025
The Commission organised a workshop in Brussels which brought together energy and digital stakeholders to define the next steps towards establishing a common framework for AI model development and data sharing for the energy sector.
The workshop was organised in response to the results of the public consultation and a series of earlier workshops organised by the Commission which converged on a clear call for action: to connect data owners, AI developers, and computing infrastructures under a coordinated European framework capable of driving joint development of trustworthy and high-impact AI solutions for the energy sector.
The meeting conclusions will serve as input for the roadmap.
- 19 November 2025
- 6 November 2025
- 4-5 November 2025
The Commission and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, co-chaired a meeting in Berlin with 3 expert groups: Data for Energy, Sustainable Transport Forum and Coalition of the willing on smart and bidirectional charging.
More than 100 experts discussed data exchange in the electricity and transport system. They agreed on the need to establish an operational entity at EU level, to effectively enable data exchange for demand-side flexibility and smart and bi-directional charging of electric vehicles (EVs).
The meeting conclusions and the experts' joint recommendations will serve as input for the roadmap, notably on the governance of the Common European Energy Data Space.
- 15 and 25 September
EU action plan for digitalising energy
In October 2022, in addition to the emergency interventions to tackle high energy prices, the Commission adopted the Digitalising the energy system - EU action plan (COM/2022/552). Implementation of the key actions for digitalising energy have been ongoing since.
The system-wide digitalisation energy action plan aims to contribute to the EU energy policy objectives by supporting the development of a sustainable, (cyber)secure, transparent and competitive market for digital energy services, ensuring data privacy and sovereignty, and supporting investment in digital energy infrastructure.
The digitalising energy action plan highlights how new technologies can help improve the efficient use of energy resources, facilitate the deployment of renewables and optimise the energy system integration while saving energy and costs for EU consumers and companies.
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Its key actions include
- helping consumers increase control over their energy use and bills by using new digital tools and services
- controlling the energy consumption of the ICT sector, including through an environmental labelling scheme for data centres, an energy label for computers and measures to increase transparency on the energy consumption of telecommunication services
- strengthening the cybersecurity of energy networks with new legislation, including a network code for cybersecurity aspects of cross-border electricity flows
The plan is accompanied by a Staff Working Document (SWD/2022/341), explaining the different actions and the lessons that can be learnt from best practices, national initiatives and successful projects.
Smart Energy Expert Group
The creation of the Smart Energy Expert Group (SEEG) was outlined in the Digitalisation action plan and it was formally established by Decision C/2023/6121, adopted on 18 September 2023.
The SEEG assists the Commission on issues regarding the sustainable digital transformation of the energy system and in the development and deployment of smart energy solutions that support - and are strategically aligned with - the goals of the twin green and digital transition.
The Commission has established 3 subgroups under the SEEG to cover
- Data for Energy
- Consumer Empowerment and Protection
- Cybersecurity
The relevant documents of the 3 SEEG subgroups are available in a dedicated library.
Energy digitalisation projects
The Commission promotes the digitalisation of the energy system through research and innovation projects under Horizon Europe and in synergy with other programmes, such as the Digital Europe Programme, the LIFE Clean Energy Transition sub-programme, Connecting Europe Facility and Cohesion Funds.
A thematic collection of innovative EU-funded research results can be found in the CORDIS Results Pack on the digitalisation of the energy system. The key areas covered include the development of a Europe-wide data sharing infrastructure for new energy services, empowering consumers by increasing control over their energy use and bills through new digital tools. The research projects also address the uptake of new digital technologies for the energy system and strengthening of cyber security and resilience throughout the energy system to meet real-time requirements.
Related links
- 6 August 2025: Strategic Roadmap for digitalisation and AI in the energy sector – consultations opened
- 2 December 2024: Digitalisation and data exchange are key enablers for a modern and resilient energy system
- 20 December 2022: Commission welcomes cooperation between ENTSO-E and EU DSO Entity on the digital electricity grid twin
- 18 October 2022: EU action plan on digitalising the energy system Press release, Questions and Answers, Factsheet
- Implementing Regulation for access to metering and consumption data (C/2023/3477)
- Study: Assessment of the energy footprint of digital actions and services (June 2023)
- Digitalising the energy system - EU action plan (COM/2022/552/2) | Staff Working Document (SWD/2022/341)
- Report: Leveraging digital technology to facilitate voluntary energy reductions (17 March 2023)
- Factsheet: Research & innovation to support the digitalisation of the energy system (October 2022)
- Study: Digitalisation of energy flexibility (March 2022)
- Report: Digitalisation in urban energy systems Outlook 2025, 2030 and 2040 (May 2022)
- EU initiatives for smart energy systems