With the publication of Digitalising the Energy System – EU Action Plan in October 2022, the European Commission remarked on the importance of consumer empowerment in the context of the energy transition and urged the introduction of digital tools to foster engagement and informed decision-making related to energy consumption. As part of this effort, the Commission set forth to develop a Common European Reference Framework (CERF) for energy-saving applications, allowing consumers to voluntarily improve their consumption management, reduce their energy costs and contribute to the overall stability of the energy system.
Following the adoption of the Plan, the InterConnect project delivered the first-generation blueprint of the CERF and deployed it in three of its large-scale pilots and nine additional third-party demonstrators. At the closing of the project, E.DSO led the assessment of the results of InterConnect energy application implementations which identified challenges, lessons learnt and success stories related to customer engagement, data exchange, grid stability, and energy efficiency. Based on these findings, a set of recommendations was formulated to pave the way for the second-generation blueprint of the CERF, which will be conducted by the upcoming Digital Europe project ECLIPSE.
DSOs will play a central role in the deployment of energy-saving applications as facilitators of consumer participation in demand response mechanisms and access to information about the impact of their energy consumption on the grid status. The InterConnect project demonstrated how the developed semantically interoperable services and digital platforms align with the CERF and contribute to the stability and resilience of distribution networks by leveraging on transparent bi-directional exchange of information with consumers.
Download Deliverable 13.5 “Results from Pilots and Final Contributions to CERF” to discover all of the InterConnect findings and recommendations.
