AIOTI Workshop: Accelerating Standardisation in the nexus of mobility, buildings and energy

The rising number of electric cars and heat pumps carries important implications for the electricity system. Charging all these millions of electric devices at the same time would put the stability of the electricity grid at risk and would be highly inefficient. Such a scenario is quite possible. The need to unlock consumer-side flexibility is therefore becoming urgent. Digital technologies play a key role for orchestrating energy flexibility, e.g. using IoT for connecting energy assets, by enabling data exchange through data space agreements and/or by triggering actions on the energy demand side when there is a surplus of solar or wind energy. 

The widespread adoption of digital technologies across key sectors like energy, e-mobility and home/buildings, as well as the creation of new business models, are instrumental for massive integration of renewables, feeding charging stations for electric vehicles with green energy, and managing volatility and flexibility in the distribution grid. The urgency originates from the energy grid, which must cope with fluctuations from renewable generation and/or consumption from EV charging. 

As a part of the Commission’s strategy on IoT and Edge Computing, the workshop explored opportunities for foster collaboration across the above-mentioned sectors, looking for concrete suggestions and support in the implementation of upcoming Pilots on emerging Smart IoT Platforms and decentralised intelligence.  

Experts from the industry, standardisation organisation and academia have addressed policy aspects, standardisation and stakeholders’ solutions. Discussions focused on the status and use of existing and emerging standards, which are pivotal for driving the twin transition and accelerating the green transformation in mobility and energy, and opening for a vibrant ecosystem. Interoperability aspects remain central in smart grids, and energy systems represents an essential element for guaranteeing the stability of the grid, but also the major challenge in the energy transition. 

Solutions were brought forward for flexibility management across EV and charging, grids operations, buildings, the easy on-boarding of electric vehicles into the energy system through identification (e.g. self-sovereign identity concepts), the relevance of protocols like EEBUS for connecting home/building appliances and the context of current legacy standards in the energy systems. Although examples of standards are under way like the CEN/CENELEC S2 – more engagement of the diverse players of the ecosystems would be required for broad adoption.  

Controversially discussed, how would the future system architecture look like – whether based on known communication, protocol and data infrastructure, or whether a new internet-based, open service architecture might evolve – as seen with the adoption of the Directive on Payment Services (PSD2) in the finance sector, breaking up the silos of the past. 

Further discussions touched on the integration of standards within the acceleration of decentralised energy sources, as well as the challenges that come with it, both in terms of monitoring and optimisation. The debates converged on the need to strengthening existing digital partnerships to promote constructive collaboration within the standard creation process. Standards can indeed be interpreted as a tool to accelerate the pace of evolution of the energy grid, as well as to support seamless integration of new approaches concerning the production of energy.  

The Way Forward 

By integrating advanced digital technologies and data-driven solutions into traditional energy infrastructure and into intelligence home/building solutions, smart charging infrastructure can provide a positive user experience, higher efficiency of renewable energy usage, and as such, accelerate the transition towards a decarbonisation of key industrial sectors. However, harmonising the landscape of existing norms and standards could evolve in a myriad of complex integration effort, as a precondition to develop cross-sector services.  

Pilots like those called under Horizon Europe Cluster 4 on emerging Smart IoT Platforms and decentralized intelligence could demonstrate and validate emerging standardisation specs, support the stakeholder dialogue and make those accessible to SMEs or start-ups at an early stage.  

Data is an essential resource connecting energy and mobility services – the Commission support adoption of key building blocks like identification, authentication, data access and data exchange through a deployment action under the Digital Europe Programme for Common Energy Data Spaces in 2024. 

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