Regional Pilot & Governance Partner for Horizon Missions: Community Energy, Municipal Energy Management & Digital Platforms

Context & challenge

Across Europe, regions and municipalities face fragmented energy data, disconnected digital tools and weak governance structures for community energy, municipal energy management and citizen engagement.

While EU policy strongly promotes energy communities, flexibility and climate-neutral territories, local and regional actors still lack interoperable digital backbones and governance models that translate policy ambition into daily territorial operation and scalable implementation.

Our approach: Platform + Ecosystem

SW is a modular digital energy platform combined with a territorial governance model, developed and operated in real-life conditions in Central Bohemia (CZ).

The model is designed from the outset for long-term operation, scaling and replication, not only pilot demonstrations. We deliberately separate:

• The Platform – a neutral, interoperable digital backbone

• The Ecosystem (ENERKOM) – governance, rules, coordination and replication

This separation enables structured replication across EU regions and alignment with European regulatory and data frameworks, regardless of national legal or institutional specifics.

What makes the platform different

The platform is not a single-purpose tool and not a conceptual pilot. It is a regional energy data infrastructure, designed to grow step-by-step with local capacity, maturity and governance readiness.

Core characteristics:

• Operational in a real territory (57 municipalities, ~56 000 inhabitants in pilot stage, with a pathway to 230 municipalities and ~220 000 inhabitants),

• Modular by design – regions activate only what they need, when they are ready,

• Governance-first approach (data ownership, rules and trust before technology),

• Open APIs and standards to avoid vendor lock-in and ensure interoperability.

Platform core (shared backbone)

The platform provides a common interoperable backbone including:

• User and role management (citizens, municipalities, DSOs, aggregators),

• Metering and Energy Data Hub (EMS, smart meters, EDC inputs),

• Billing and settlement engine adaptable to national frameworks,

• Asset registry (PV, batteries, EV chargers, flexibility assets),

• API gateway for third-party integration.

The architecture follows microservices principles and European reference data models and architectures (SGAM, SAREF), enabling integration with national systems and future European energy data spaces.

Modular functional blocks

On top of the core platform, regions can activate selected modules depending on priorities, and legal context, such as:

• Community Energy Sharing (signature module),

• Municipal Energy Management (public buildings and assets),

• One-Stop-Shop (OSS) for renovation and RES deployment,

• Flexibility and storage management (future phases),

• E-mobility integration,

• Citizen engagement and social impact.

Modules are combined differently by each region within a coherent governance and data framework.

Governance, capacity & EU integration

SW remains a neutral digital platform. Governance is defined locally (e.g. by ENERKOM or similar entities), including data ownership, sharing rules, pricing logic and long-term community operation.

The governance and scaling approach is informed by European implementation practice for local and regional energy transition. In particular, the ENERKOM team has participated in European Commission–supported ManagEnergy Master Classes, focused on governance, replication and scaling of local and regional energy initiatives.

The platform aligns with and operationalises key EU frameworks, including RED III, EPBD, emerging ETS2 and Social Climate mechanisms, and principles of European Energy Data Spaces. ENERKOM contributes to EU-level knowledge exchange through panel participation in the Citizen Energy Advisory Hub, membership in REScoop.eu, and engagement in European practitioner forums (e.g. WSED – Wels).

This positions ENERKOM as a regional implementation node within the European energy transition, capable of supporting Mission-oriented experimentation, learning and replication.

Why this fits Horizon Missions

The model directly supports climate-neutral and smart territories, energy communities and citizen engagement, flexibility and grid integration, interoperable digital infrastructure, and replication across rural and semi-rural regions. ENERKOM bridges the gap between EU policy ambition and local implementation capacity.

What we offer

• A real, operational platform (not a demo)

• A modular, replicable and standards-based architecture,

• Strong territorial anchoring and governance experience,

• Readiness to act as pilot, demonstrator or replication case in Horizon Europe projects