Paving the way toward a smarter, more sustainable energy future with new energy services roadmaps and guides for Europe
Amsterdam, 09/05/2025 - Cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain have an increasingly important role to play in a secure and resilient energy sector. Greater integration of smart services offers significant opportunities to optimise energy management, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve consumer engagement. The InEExS project comes into play with the release of a package of results that aim to break down barriers for the advancement of smart energy services in Europe. These resources aim to accelerate the transition to a sustainable energy system, providing clear recommendations to overcome obstacles and encourage the adoption of smart solutions with business cases and models offering real-world applicability.
During a time of geopolitical instability and insecurity about global energy supplies, the transition to clean and efficient sector is critical. For Europe to ensure its resilience and competitiveness, it must have a future proof energy system backed up by smart services and innovative digital technologies. The European Green Deal maps out a growth strategy to transition the economy to a decarbonized and sustainable model. The Green Deal sets three key principles for ensuring a secure and affordable energy supply; developing a fully integrated, interconnected and digitalised EU energy market, prioritising energy efficiency, improving the energy performance of buildings and developing a power sector based largely on renewable sources. Adopting smart energy services and technologies can fulfill the priorities of the Green Deal by enabling energy efficiency, optimising resource use, and integrating renewable energy.
Blockchain technology has provided a new set of opportunities in the energy sector and has the potential to meet energy efficiency goals to enable a speedier energy transition. Applications like peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading in smart grids and energy management systems with high contribution of renewable sources can be supported and enhanced by blockchain models. The LIFE EU project InEExS is leveraging knowledge and experience already in place to help introduce smart services and technologies to key energy stakeholders to support future digitalisation and decentralisation.
Business and Policy Roadmaps – putting Europe in the driving seat of an innovative energy system.
The roadmaps support stakeholders across sectors in overcoming barriers (regulation, finance, and market design) to realise the benefits of smart services and technologies. The roadmaps provide proactive solutions for the successful integration of smart energy technologies. They also identify and prioritise the smart services and technologies crucial to supporting energy efficiency goals. A prioritisation matrix shows a ranking of smart services and technologies based on different criteria such as sustainability, ROI, scalability, and cross-sector compatibility.
InEExS prioritisation matrix for smart energy services
The Policy Roadmaps - a guide to empower national policymakers with smart energy service integration.
The roadmaps are aimed at national policymakers and cover and clarify the relevant EU directions and regulations that impact the adoption of smart services and technologies, available in English, Greek, German and Spanish . They serve as a starting point to develop more detailed national strategies, that are aligned with EU directives and support the clean energy transition.
Action plan for a digital and clean energy transition
Business Models for Smart Services and Sector Integration – applying smart energy services in real world conditions.
The business cases deployed in Germany, Greece, Spain and Sweden build upon existing models and offer practical insights and real-world applicability by demonstrating further sector integration. Each of the InEExS business models demonstrates straightforwardly the strategic view and key components of how the smart energy service will be viable in the country where it is developed. Connecting all business models is the use of a unique blockchain platform with each focusing on smart energy service optimisation.
‘These results contribute to the development of a flexible and resilient energy system, when Europe needs urgently to increase the deployment of innovative energy services. The InEExS recommendations, studies and business models offer practical and concrete solutions to get Europe on the fast and competitive track to an interconnected energy system where buildings participate in the regulation of demand through smart energy services’, Filippos Anagnostopoulos, Senior Expert at IEECP.
Find the InEExS Business Models here.
More information can be found on the project webpage: https://ieecp.org/projects/ineexs/
About the project
InEExS stands for Innovative Energy (Efficiency) Service Models for Sector Integration via Blockchain Partners: IEECP - Institute For European Energy And Climate Policy (the Netherlands), HERON - Iron Thermoilektriki Anonymi Etaireia (Greece), NTUA - National Technical University of Athens (Greece), ESCAN (Spain), ENERCOOP- Cooperativa Electrica Benefica San Francisco De Asis Sociedad Cooperativa Valenciana (Spain), DOMX (Greece), VL - Verdia Legal (Spain), BEA - Berliner Energieagentur (Germany), OFFIS (Germany), Inlecom Group (Belgium), HIVEN (Finland), Energy Web Foundation (Switzerland)
Co-funded by the European Union under project ID101077033. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.