Welcome to HEDGE-IoT, an ambitious EU-funded initiative within the Horizon Europe framework, dedicated to revolutionizing the energy landscape with innovative IoT solutions.
As Europe sets ambitious climate targets, the importance of sustainable energy solutions has never been clearer. HEDGE-IoT aims to lead the charge by deploying cutting-edge IoT assets and advanced AI/ML tools across energy systems, enhancing resilience and unlocking untapped flexibility potential.
With a consortium of 42 partners and 3 linked third parties from 13 European Countries comprising of large ICT companies, leading RTOs, SMEs, energy stakeholders, EU-level associations and legal & regulatory expers, HEDGE-IoT offers a comprehensive Digital Framework designed to bridge the cloud/edge continuum and introduce federated applications governed by advanced computational orchestration solutions.
Our mission is to create an ecosystem facilitating increased integration of renewable energy sources, promote inclusivity, and cultivate trust among stakeholders through ethical IoT practices. Together, we will drive scalability, replicability, and innovation, shaping a sustainable, decarbonized future. Join us as we embark on this transformative journey!
Objectives
The primary goal of HEDGE-IoT is to deploy an innovative Digital Framework that enhances the resilience and flexibility of energy systems by deploying IoT assets across different levels, adding intelligence to the edge and cloud layers through advanced AI/ML tools, and bridging the cloud/edge continuum with federated applications. This framework aims to upgrade the renewable energy source (RES) hosting capacity, create new market opportunities, promote IoT standardisation, and facilitate the integration of RES into the energy ecosystem, ultimately driving sustainability and inclusivity while fostering scalability and replicability through collaboration with stakeholders and SMEs.
1
Enhance energy systems by deploying IoT solutions across different layers (edge, fog, cloud), enabling local intelligence for grid monitoring, self-healing, and energy savings through computational orchestration, while ensuring privacy preservation and interoperability.
2
Develop AI/ML tools for edge, fog, and cloud services to enhance flexibility, resilience, and observability in energy systems, utilizing data-driven services and IoT devices to optimize asset operation, provide energy analytics, and enable coordinated flexibility management, while ensuring compliance with relevant regulations.
3
Establish interoperability among distributed platforms, systems, and edge devices through a decentralized IDS-compliant Interoperability Framework, facilitating seamless integration and communication within the energy ecosystem while ensuring security and trustworthiness
4
Validate HEDGE-IoT solutions in six European countries through large-scale demonstrators, fostering mutual learning and knowledge exchange among stakeholders.
5
Disseminate knowledge on grid digitalisation, particularly from TSOs to lower grid levels, by establishing a Stakeholders’ Consultation group involving TSOs, DSOs, and standardisation members.
6
Apply and expand open standards for IoT, interoperability, grid, and market data exchanges, aiming to establish commonly accepted standards while leveraging existing knowledge.
7
Facilitate the market adoption of project solutions, enhancing their commercial viability and supporting the Digitalization of Energy Action Plan.
8
Enrich the HEDGE-IoT Framework with additional data-driven services, particularly from SMEs and startups, through an Open Call campaign aligned with EU sustainability directives.
9
Ensure effective communication and dissemination of project outcomes, while aligning with European initiatives and projects.
HEDGE-IoT Pilots
Pilot #1 — Finland
Next-generation grid automation with IoT and edge/cloud data to improve distribution grid resiliency
Partners Involved:
ABB, ENER, JSE,
TAU, VTT
Pilot #2 — Greece
Leveraging IoT and Edge Computing to foster Local Flexibility Markets
Partners Involved:
PPC, IPTO, HEDNO, HENEX, ICCS, CluBE
Pilot #3 — Italy
Digitalize ECs and EV stations to Enhance Grid Resilience, RES Hosting and Socialize Local Production
Partners Involved:
Areti, ENG, APIO, AE, RWTH
Pilot #4 — Netherlands
Enhance local grid flexibility to diverse end users by digitizing energy assets and incorporating SAREFized interoperable grid monitoring and control
Partners Involved: AB, TNO, VUA
Pilot #5 — Portugal
Living Lab for Interoperable AI-based Energy Services
Partners Involved:
CEVE, SONAE, ELERG, INESC, NESTER, RENT
Pilot #6 — Slovenia
Enhanced Local Flexibility Services for Improved Asset Lifetime Extension Planning
Partners Involved:
ELES, EG, KONC, OPR, UNIZG, JSI
Work Plan
WP1
The objective is to ensure efficient and integrated project activities, meeting high expectations from research, scientific, technological, and stakeholder perspectives. As Project Coordinator, ED will leverage its experience from previous projects to ensure successful communication within the Consortium and with the EC.
WP2
WP2 gathers stakeholder requirements and develops system specifications for the IoT-Cloud/Edge Ecosystem, integrating interoperability early on. It identifies user barriers and proposes strategies to address them, informing the design of an interoperable reference architecture aligned with EDS standards.
WP3
WP3 aims to develop technological enablers for leveraging digital frameworks, generating models, algorithms, and decision-making tools aligned with WP2 requirements and WP4 interoperability standards. It utilizes modular and hybrid edge-cloud strategies to integrate machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) approaches synergistically in WP6 demonstrators.
WP4
WP4 will design an interoperable framework for HEDGE-IoT stakeholders, integrating input from requirements, technological enablers, and cybersecurity measures to ensure secure data exchange in the energy domain, prioritizing scalability for EU-wide implementation.
WP5
WP5 focuses on validating HEDGE-IoT solutions in 6 European pilot demonstrators, involving tasks such as defining evaluation criteria, conducting validation campaigns, demonstrating solutions, and analyzing feedback to draw conclusions.
WP6
This work package focuses on assessing the impact, replicability, and scalability of project results across technical, economic, and social dimensions. It manages open calls to engage third parties for additional tools and services, aligns development with EU policies, defines regulatory frameworks, and involves stakeholders to ensure effective outreach.
WP7
WP7 aims to define specific communication, dissemination, exploitation, and standardization tasks throughout the project. WP7 will focus on maximizing HEDGE-IoT's visibility, impact, and engagement with relevant stakeholders to ensure its success.
Consortium
Meet our Partners
EUROPEAN DYNAMICS is a leading Information Technologies service provider and software developer in the field of e-government, operating internationally as a group of companies, with offices and antennas in Athens, Berlin, Basel, Brussels, Copenhagen, London, Luxembourg, Nicosia, Stockholm, etc. The group designs, develops, supports and operates complex IT systems and commercialises a wide range of software products in the field of e-government, using state-of-the-art technologies. EUROPEAN DYNAMICS operates along the following lines:
- IT consulting services – outsourcing
- Design, marketing and support of software products in the field of e-government
- Outsourcing, SaaS (software as a service), cloud and managed services
ED is the Project Coordinator. ED brings its competence by leading the architecture design, leading the implementation of the Open Services Catalogue and App Store, the IoT Cloud/Edge Integration and the liaison with projects, initiatives and actions in EU and beyond.
At RWTH Aachen University, the Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems focuses on research for the automation, modernisation and restructuring of electrical energy systems implementing a multidisciplinary research approach able to capture the most recent advances in ICT to support the solution of the most challenging problems in the area of grid dynamics and automation.
Within HEDGE-IoT, RWTH will be acting as Technical Coordinator. This entails providing the overall technical, scientific management of the project, ensuring that the project technical and scientific objectives are monitored and eventually met. A key activity is the joint framing of all technologies, developments, and technical/scientific demonstrations. This allows for progress tracking within the project as well as providing a basis for integration of demonstrators’ findings.
The role as Technical Coordinator synergizes with RWTH’s other main responsibility, which is leading Work Package 2, “Stakeholder Requirements and System Specifications”. Here we aim to bring together use cases and requirements to build the base of the project’s technical development
DST is a leading creative technology company that has seamlessly integrated creativity and technology since 2008 to deliver impactful solutions in an ever-evolving world. Leveraging innovation, DST excels in providing cutting-edge solutions designed to meet the dynamic needs of today’s market. Research and development are at the core of DST’s approach, resulting in proprietary products that streamline operations and offer white-label solutions to other businesses.
The Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS) is a non-profit Academic Research Foundation, which was founded in 1989 by the Ministry of Education. Scientific research at ICCS is organized within many cross-cutting thematic research areas such as AI and Smart Systems, Hardware and Software, Computer networks, Mobile Communications, Control and Automation, Power Production, Transport and Distribution, Energy, Transport, Climate, Biomedical and Biomechanics, Information Systems, Management and Decision Support, Photonics. At the ICCS, we conduct interdisciplinary computing research that is advancing scientific discovery and driving engineering innovation.
ICCS will participate in HEDGE-IoT project through the Decision Support Systems Lab / Energy Policy Unit (EPU – NTUA). The Decision Support Systems Lab is a multidisciplinary scientific unit that provides academic training, carries out research and development projects, and provides management and decision support services across a wide range of complex business, socio-technical, and energy & climate policy/planning problems.The Laboratory operates within the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), the most competitive academic institute in Greece.
ICCS will be pilots’ coordinator, evaluating the created framework consisting of the proper KPIs and evaluation measures. ICCS will contribute through its expertise in AI-based edge and cloud services, designing tools and algorithms for energy monitoring and response to flexibility market signals.
Furthermore, within the HEDGE-IoT project’s scope, our team will collaborate with HEDNO (TSO) and PPC (DSO) to create an innovative system grounded in reinforcement learning environments and algorithms. The goal of this groundbreaking system is to leverage existing commercial platforms of PPC and extend their capabilities, providing prosumers with the opportunity to actively participate in the flexibility market—a prospect that has not been realized thus far in Greece.
INESC TEC is a private non-profit research association, with Public Interest status, dedicated to scientific research and technological development, technology transfer, advanced consulting and training, and pre-incubation of new technology-based companies.
As an institution operating at the interface of the academic and business worlds, bringing closer together academia, companies, public administration, and society, INESC TEC typically applies the knowledge and results generated as part of its research in technology transfer projects, seeking value creation and immediate social relevance.
The 13 R&D Centres of INESC TEC are structured in four thematic domains – Computer Science, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Networked Intelligent Systems, and Power and Energy.
INESC TEC hosts over 700 integrated researchers (about 350 PhDs), including staff researchers, researchers from Higher Education Institutions, grant holders and affiliated researchers. INESC TEC’s team also includes trainees, and technical and administrative support staff.
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek (TNO; English: Dutch Organization for Applied Scientific Research) is an independent statutory research organization in the Netherlands that focuses on applied science. TNO conducts contract research, offers specialist consulting services, and grants licenses for patents and specialist software.
TNO is one of the founding fathers of SAREF (The Smart Appliances REFerence ontology), a shared model of consensus that facilitates the matching of existing assets (standards/protocols/data models/etc.) in the smart appliances domain. TNO also has a long history in contributing to international standards development (W3C, IETF, ETSI, ITU, ISO, etc.), as well as sector-based initiatives.
In HEDGE-IoT, TNO’s involvement lies primarily with semantic interoperability across the project’s stakeholders. Semantic interoperability is essential when sharing data between systems within or between organizations occurs. Furthermore, TNO’s involvement lies with the support of the NL demonstrator which will be implemented in Arnhems Buiten.
Tampere University is one of the most multidisciplinary universities in Finland. We bring together research and education in technology, health and society. The University is known for its excellence in teaching and research and it collaborates with hundreds of universities and organisations worldwide. Our community consists of 21,000 students and over 4,000 staff members from more than 80 countries.
Within Hedge-IoT project we focus on electricity distribution grid congestion management and digital solutions enabling large-scale utilization of such services deep in the distribution grids. This means integrated congestion management solution based on both the technical and the commercial flexibility services combined with cloud-edge computing systems. The developed solution will be tested in Finland pilot site in Järvi-Suomen Energia Oy together with other pilot partners.
VTT is a visionary research, development and innovation partner and one of the leading research organisations in Europe. We are owned by the Finnish state. Our more than 2,000 professionals work to develop systemic and technological solutions that can bring about fundamental transformation. We advance the utilisation and commercialisation of research and technology in commerce and society. Through scientific and technological means, we turn large global challenges into sustainable growth for businesses and society. We bring together people, business, science and technology to solve the biggest challenges of our time. This is how we create sustainable growth, jobs and wellbeing and bring exponential hope. Our role in HEDGE-IoT is contributing on WP2, WP3, WP 4 and we are leading WP 6.
Trialog is an independent company with more than 30 years of experience in the strategy to offer technological innovations to clients in several domains. Trialog bases his offer on the integration of innovative technologies in industrial information systems, supporting the development of innovative cyber-physical systems including system specification, their validation, their interoperability, the Internet of Things and the key transversal technologies for the cyber security and privacy.
Trialog focuses its activities on four domains: Energy (from Smart metering to Smart Grids), Transports (from e-Mobility to Smart Charging), cybersecurity and privacy (from project engineering to institution practices), and Social & Health (Active Ageing Living and silver economy deployment solutions).
The Hedge-IoT project aims to provide a holistic approach to empower the digitalization of the energy ecosystem by adopting IoT cloud/fog/edge solutions.Trialog will contribute mainly to:
- Definition of the project’s functional specifications for interoperable and standardized data integration (task leader)
- Contribution to the digital Interoperability Framework including semantic interoperability
- Integration of cybersecurity considerations and AI safety into system development and pilots (task leader)
- Contribution to standards (task leader)
CyberSocial Lab. S.r.l. Impresa Sociale (CSL), a spin-off of the company CyberEthics Lab. S.r.l.s (CEL), is a small and medium-sized social enterprise with the aim of carrying out business activities of general interest on a non-profit basis, and to transfer results to other social enterprises and the society as a whole for civic, solidarity and social utility purposes. To pursue these purposes, CSL carries out, on a non-profit basis, the following activities: i) the research and development of methodologies and systems for the development and application of technologies and services aimed at promoting responsible technological innovation in compliance with ethical-social values and legal principles; ii) the promotion and transfer of ethical-social values and legal principles regarding the implementation and responsible use of technologies to public and private bodies, especially but not exclusively to other third sector bodies, in society in general and in the field of research.
CSL lays on its own multidisciplinary team of senior researchers with a longstanding experience and publications from R&I projects on topics such as 5G and 6G technology, Blockchain and Smart Contracts, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (ETHAI), Social Acceptance of Technology (SAT), Ethics and Regulatory Governance (ERGO), Digital Identity, Smart Contracts and Consent-based Data Exchange (SMAC).
The HEDGE-IOT consortium leans on the expertise of CSL to establish an ethical and regulatory compliance framework. This ensures alignment with existing and forthcoming EU frameworks, setting the stage for a transformative journey towards sustainable energy practices.
R&D NESTER (CENTRO DE INVESTIGAÇÃO EM ENERGIA REN – STATE GRID, S. A.) is an energy research centre co-owned by REN (the Portuguese TSO). R&D NESTER’s staff is composed in its majority by full-time researchers with MSc. and PhD. degrees. R&D NESTER is certified in innovation, quality and environment and recognised by government entities regarding R&D activities in the energy domain. R&D NESTER’s mission is to promote and implement applied research, development, demonstration and testing, innovating for a smarter energy system. R&D NESTER’s research areas includes: Renewable Energy Management; Smart Grid Technologies; Energy Markets & Economics; Power Systems Simulation; TSO/DSO coordination, AI/ML methods applied to the energy sector, among others. R&D NESTER currently participates in several EU Horizon Europe and INTERREG projects in the area of Energy, Power Systems, ICT and Infrastructure Security (see more in www.rdnester.com). R&D NESTER owns a Real-time Power System Simulation (RTPSS) Laboratory, with Hardware in the Loop (HiL) and Co-Simulation capabilities, which is listed in the JRC “Smart Grids Laboratories Inventory” since 2016. R&D NESTER is also an active member of the Research, Development and Innovation (RD&I) community, contributing for the RD&I agenda of the EU via both ETIP-SNET and BRIDGE participation.
Within HEDGE-IoT project, R&D NESTER’s responsibilities are mainly related to the technical activities of WP2 “Stakeholders Requirements and System Specification”, WP3 “Technological Enablers Specification, Design and Development” and WP5 “Demonstration across Technologies and Scenarios”, in the latter, more specifically in the Portuguese demo together with other Portuguese partners: CEVE (DSO), REN (TSO), INESCTEC, SONAE group and Elergone which will collaborate in the implementation and demonstration of the “Living lab for Interoperable AI-based Energy Services”. Additionally, R&D NESTER’s also collaborates in activities of WP6 “Impact Outreach and Replication/Scalability” and WP7 “Dissemination, Exploitation, Standardisation” related to the replication, exploitation and dissemination of the project’s results.
The International Data Spaces Association (IDSA) is a prominent partner in the HEDGE-IoT project, part of the Horizon Europe initiative aimed at revolutionizing the energy sector through digital innovation. With a strong foundation in creating frameworks for secure, sovereign data sharing, IDSA aims to contribute to the project’s success. The association’s contribution goes beyond technical solutions; it is instrumental in defining and implementing principles of data sovereignty, interoperability, and secure data exchange among diverse stakeholders.
IDSA leverages its extensive experience in developing standards for data spaces, which facilitates the integration of various technological components, such as IDS-compliant connectors and semantic models. This ensures seamless communication and collaboration across the project’s ecosystem, enabling the efficient management and utilization of data. The goal is to foster a digital environment where energy systems can operate more sustainably, efficiently, and responsively, in line with the European Green Deal and digital strategy objectives.
Through its involvement in HEDGE-IoT, IDSA aims to facilitate the transition towards a more digital, interoperable, and sustainable energy landscape, where data is shared in a secure and sovereign fashion
Elia Group is a key player in electricity transmission. We ensure that production and consumption are balanced around the clock, supplying 30 million end users with electricity. Through our subsidiaries in Belgium (Elia) and the north and east of Germany (50Hertz), we operate 19,349 km of high-voltage connections, meaning that we are one of Europe’s top 5 transmission system operators. With a reliability level of 99.99%, we provide society with a robust power grid, which is important for socioeconomic prosperity. We also aspire to be a catalyst for a successful energy transition, helping to establish a reliable, sustainable and affordable energy system.
HOPS d.d. is the sole electricity transmission system operator in the Republic of Croatia, and the owner of the entire Croatian transmission network (400 kV, 220kV and 110kV included voltage levels), and has a license to carry out the energy activity of electricity transmission as a regulated public service. HOPS’ mission is electric power system’s operation and maintenance, electricity transmission, as well as construction and development of electricity transmission network in order to maintain security of supply with minimal costs and environmental protection. HOPS is a part of ENTSO-E and has a lot of experience in data standardization, exchange and processing including AI/ML Algorithms. It was a partner in many similar HORIZON projects (FARCROSS, CROSSBOW, ATTEST, FLEXGRID, CyberSEAS ) and the knowledge gathered will be used in HEDGE-IoT.
The Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (https://www.utcluj.ro/en/), located in Transylvania, stands as the region’s largest technical institution and ranks among Romania’s top-tier universities, particularly excelling in Computer Science and Information Technology Research (classified as a Class A research university). Boasting nine faculties, our university accommodates approximately 12,000 students and employs over 600 academic professionals. The University mission is to offer exceptional higher education and to conduct advanced research across diverse engineering disciplines. Through a combination of robust technical and professional training programs and fruitful collaborations with industries and academia—frequently through research contracts—the university has successfully established itself as an institution poised for expansion and continual growth.
The Distributed Systems Research Laboratory – DSRL (https://dsrl.eu/) is part of the Computer Science Department. With a rich history of exploration and innovation, DSRL has expertise into an array of cutting-edge topics, including cloud-fog-edge computing infrastructure, distributed ledgers, multi-criteria optimization, and Artificial Intelligence. Our team’s extensive experience and dedication drive forward advancements in these fields having as main application domain the smart energy grid. DSRL has made significant contributions to the academic community, with a track record of publishing over 50 papers in esteemed journals and presenting at prestigious international conferences in recent years. Additionally, the laboratory has taken a leadership role in over 10 European projects, serving as coordinators and/or leading specific work packages or tasks.
TUC brings in HEDGE-IoT its distributed energy systems research knowledge for developing swarm-based edge offloading and computing orchestration techniques tailored to smart grid scenarios addressing critical aspects influencing the processes, from network performance (latency, bandwidth, locality) to energy and computational efficient data processing. Also it will provide insights on decision-making strategies for offloading in the smart grid, for the efficient rollup next-gen AI applications at the edge.
The Cluster of Bioeconomy and Environment of Western Macedonia (CluBE) is a non-profit company established among local actors and stakeholders of the Region of Western Macedonia in Greece. CluBE emerged from the continuous collaboration of regional players during previous projects, analysing regional bioenergy and biomass potentials, the core cluster structures, and the regional innovation systems devoted to the energy sector. The mission of CluBE is to enhance collaboration and increase regional knowledge by promoting innovation and synergies between regional stakeholders in the fields of bioeconomy and environment. CluBE is developing R&D and business activities in the fields of bioeconomy, bioenergy, environment, green hydrogen, digital transition and climate policies in order to reinforce green, smart and circular economy in the region and the neighbouring areas, namely through:
- Energetic exploitation of biomass for household and industrial use, and especially for district heating systems for small, medium or large cities.
- Mobilisation of regional biomass supply chains.
- Development of the green hydrogen economy.
- Increase of the share of biofuels in the energy mix of transportation fuels.
- Co-firing biomass with lignite in existing power stations and/or future heating plants.
- Optimisation of heating systems.
- Improvement of energy efficiency for households, public and private buildings.
- Promotion of the concepts of smart cities and villages.
- Support of the entrepreneurship in the field of circular bioeconomy.
In the HEDGE-IoT Project, CluBE is responsible for activities concerning the Exploitation Plan, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), and Market Uptake. Additionally, the Greek demo case which will be firstly developed in Athens, is going to be a collaborative effort involving PPC, IPTO, HEDNO, HENEX, and ICCS. CluBE is the scalability demonstrator and pilot replicator in the Region of Western Macedonia. Moreover, CluBE will organize citizen engagement workshops and serve as the primary liaison with the region’s citizens, ensuring effective communication and involvement.
F6S is a leading global founder and startup network that helps public sector entities around the world to promote, communicate and disseminate technical and research projects. F6S stands for F-ounder-S. Our mission is to help founders and startups grow to solve the world’s pressing social, economic, environmental, sustainability and innovation problems. In addition to F6S’ work with governmental entities, we also work with corporates, investors, research institutions, programs, universities and others in the global startup ecosystem. F6S tools deliver company growth through grants, funding, investment, pilot contracts, partnerships, jobs & talent recruitment, company services and more. In the HEDGE-IoT project F6S will lead the dissemination and communication work package and will offer its platform for Open Call facilitation.
SOCIAL OPEN AND INCLUSIVE INNOVATION NON PROFIT CIVIL COMPANY (INCLUSINN) vision is to promote research and innovation in the context of achieving the vision of the green deal and the circular economy and to highlight and utilize innovative techniques, technologies, practices along with companies that seek systemic change and progress in society.
INCLUSINN plays a crucial role within the HEDGE project consortium, focusing on two key tasks: T2.5 and T6.1. In T2.5, its primary responsibility lies in identifying and addressing user engagement, awareness, and inclusiveness requirements. This involves ensuring that the project’s outcomes are accessible, usable, and relevant to a diverse range of stakeholders, thus fostering greater inclusivity and participation. Additionally, in T6.1, INCLUSINN leads the management of the Open Call initiative, providing opportunities for external stakeholders to contribute ideas, expertise, and resources to the project. Through these efforts, INCLUSINN significantly enhances the effectiveness and relevance of the HEDGE project in addressing contemporary challenges.
ABB is a global electrification and automation company. ABB Distribution Solutions Finland develops and manufactures products for protection and control of distribution networks. In HEDGE-IoT project, ABB concentrates especially on automation platform and algorithm development and leads the demo Finland activities.
Enerva is a service company that offers 24/7 operation and monitoring for DSO’s and renewable energy production sites in Finland. Our customers combined makes us one of the largest electricity network operators in Finland. Our unique selection of services combined with state-of-the-art systems enables effective operation and monitoring. We also offer our customers expertise on substations and grid maintenance.
Enerva has a crucial part in Hedge-IoT as part of the Finnish pilot. As a grid operator we work closely together with other partners in commissioning the new IoT-systems. Our role is to develop the practicality of the newly developed technologies and their adoption as part of daily network monitoring.
Enerva aims to gain new technological tools for improving grid resilience with IoT-solutions. Many end users already have smart meters in Finland and in the future the masses will grow even more. Better improving the data gained by smart meters is one big aspect we really look forward to improving. Enerva has previous experience in developing grid resilience which will be put to good use during the project.
Järvi-Suomen Energia is a DSO based in Finland. Our company operates in rural areas in southeast Finland. The landscape presents challenges due to Arctic forests, lakes, and hills. We manage a network spanning 27,000km and provide electricity to approximately 100,000 customers. Our primary challenge currently is ensuring grid resilience in response to disturbances. We recognize the opportunity to predict defects and react more quickly with high technology solutions. Additionally, we need to prepare for future congestion management challenges caused by society’s electrification. With Hedge-IoT, we bring 75 years of operational experience and use cases based on experience in electricity distribution in our region. Furthermore, we offer our network as a demonstration platform for the project.
The Public Power Corporation Group is the largest electricity production and supply organization in Greece, with activities in the generation, distribution and sale of electricity. Since its establishment and for more than 70 years, PPC has been a driving force for the development of the national economy. It is a leader in maintaining Greece’s energy security and providing electricity to millions of consumers, as one of the most important organizations in the country’s energy sector.
During the last five years, new activities have been initiated, including e-mobility (CPO), enlargement of RES assets with simultaneous decarbonisation (coal generation phase-out), expansion in the Balkans (acquisition of ENEL Romania), digital transformation of the entire chain of activities, entry in the telecommunications market.
PPCs main role in HEDGE-IoT is participating in the Greek Demo 2: Leveraging IoT and Edge Computing to foster Local Flexibility Markets. This demo will showcase the necessary IoT Edge-Cloud data exchange activities for flexibility services and PPC acts as an aggregator: 100 buildings with regulatory billing energy meters ensuring accuracy in the measurement and billing process, as well as sub-metering IoT-Edge equipment and PV installations. Utilization of IoT edge devices as well as AI-based edge and cloud services in building assets (appliances, V2G, demand side management) will be demonstrated in Greece (Attica region).
HEDNO operates the electricity distribution network in Greece, with its primary business activities centered on the operation, maintenance, and development of the power distribution network across the mainland and non-interconnected islands. Our focus is on ensuring the transparent and impartial access of consumers and all network users. As part of the HEDGE-IoT project, HEDNO is actively engaged in the Greek pilot and serves as a user of the tools developed within the project.
IPTO is the owner and operator of the Hellenic Electricity Transmission System (HETS). IPTO’s role is crucial for the operation, maintenance, and development of HETS ensuring reliable and efficient electricity supply, particularly as it transitions towards greater digitalization and integration of renewable energy sources. It has a pivotal role in market dynamics, operating the Balancing Market and managing cross border congestion.
IPTO’s contribution to HEDGE-IoT is multifaceted, encompassing the oversight of grid stability and security, the facilitation of efficient energy transmission, and the provision of critical insights from simulation-driven approaches for the congestion management and voltage control in response to grid disturbances, as demonstrated in the Greek Demo. By integrating advanced IoT and cloud-edge solutions, IPTO aims to improve the grid’s responsiveness, stability and flexibility, enabling more effective management of supply and demand, enhancing the integration of distributed energy resources, and fostering the development of local flexibility markets.
Moreover, IPTO plays a key role in the project’s efforts to standardize data exchange and communication within the energy sector, promoting interoperability and ensuring seamless interaction between various platforms and systems, thus laying the groundwork for a more connected and intelligent energy infrastructure.
By harnessing the potential of IoT and cloud-edge computing, IPTO aims to drive the energy transition, enhance grid resilience, and support the shift towards a more sustainable and efficient energy system.
HEnEx is the Nominated Electricity Market Operator (NEMO) for the Greek Bidding Zone and provides the marketplace, trading venues and platforms and delivers efficient price formation, for a secure and reliable energy trading in the South-East Europe. HEnEx operates the Energy Trading Spot System (ETSS) and Natural Gas Trading Platform, offering web-based state-of-the art environments and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for customized individual trading management. ETSS supports all the standard Single Day-Ahead Coupling and Single Intraday Coupling products. In HEDGE-IOT, HEnEx will design a trading cloud-based Local Flexibility Market (LFM) platform to procure the residential and EV flexibility available in the project pilots. The LFM platform will integrate new market products which will be codesigned with the Greek TSO and DSO. For an efficient LFM operation, HEnEx will propose TSO/DSO/NEMO market-based data exchange coordination mechanisms.
Hardware and Software Engineering Ltd is an Athens-based Information Technology Company founded in 1999. HSE provides technology, applications, and services to a wide variety of organisations in both private and government sectors.
We are active in design and development of core business applications, analytics and collaboration tools, using cloud computing as a reliable path for business innovation. The company provides organizations the ability to scale and adapt their business model to market conditions and opportunities. Cloud computing has created the foundation for a flexible innovation infrastructure for company’s’growth strategy. HSE’s ability to provide cutting-edge technology solutions to meet the needs of uncompromising clients is attested by its long and successful track record in the banking sector.
In recent years the company has made a strategic decision to build on its existing know-how and network of partnerships with industry and academia in order to become more actively involved on collaborative research projects in areas of interest to the company.
Founded in 2019 in Athens, Greece, QUE Technologies specializes in providing data-driven solutions that promote circularity, improve energy efficiency, streamline integration with utility networks, and actively address human needs and well-being. QUE Technologies is composed of a dedicated and diverse team of experts with backgrounds in the technology industry, business, and academia. Since its founding, a series of innovative products and services have been successfully delivered that converge at the intersection of the built environment, digital technologies, and energy infrastructure.
Within HEDGE-IoT, QUE will play an active role in exploring state-of-the-art IoT and Cloud/Edge technologies, as well as contemporary user-engagement practices relevant to the project’s framework. Building upon these findings, QUE will contribute to designing Business Use Cases that define how users interact with the HEDGE-IoT system. Furthermore, QUE will be involved in developing the system’s functional specifications, aimed at enabling interoperability and standardized data integration based on the meticulously crafted BUCs. In addition to shaping stakeholder requirements and system specifications, QUE’s expertise will be leveraged to provide federated learning algorithms, tools, and services at the edge level, alongside AI/ML algorithms and tools governing infrastructure operations at the cloud level. Finally, QUE will participate in efforts to seamlessly integrate and coordinate operations across the cloud-edge continuum, ensuring efficiency and optimal performance throughout the ecosystem.
Areti plays a pivotal role in managing the electrical grid of the municipalities of Rome and Formello, responsible for the maintenance and modernization of electrical infrastructure across a vast territory exceeding 1,300 km². Within the framework of the Italian pilot demo, areti assumes a central role in optimizing the management of the DSO grid by involving Energy Communities in the local flexibility market. This involves promoting the establishment of Energy Communities, simplifying customer access to the market through standardized devices, and initiatives aimed at alleviating energy poverty by redistributing excess energy among vulnerable consumers. areti also facilitates the implementation of a blockchain-based peer-to-peer market and the testing of aggregated flexibility from Distributed Energy Resources, such as storage systems, heat pumps, and electric vehicles. Through strategic partnerships, areti endeavours to maximize benefits for all stakeholders, identifying critical phases including definition, design, installation, customer engagement, and performance validation through KPI analysis. In summary, areti plays a crucial role in ensuring efficient and reliable energy supply, embracing innovations to ensure sustainable and inclusive management of the local electrical grid.
Apio is an Energy Platform provider with more than 10 years of experience on foundational technologies such as Internet of Things, Cloud Computing and Machine Learning. We help energy sector companies and stakeholders, providing custom-tailored digital innovation to assist them in driving the energy transition.
We provide both vertical and horizontal energy management solutions to help our customers with energy monitoring, optimization, forecasting, and every tool they need to succeed in the sector.
As members of the Italian Demo, Apio will provide the IoT Data Platform that aggregates bidirectional data flows from and to PGUI (Power Grid User Interface) devices, used to interface with all the DERs of the Energy Communities. Thanks to blockchain technologies data exchanges will be continuously notarized for enhanced trust and transparency.
Acea Energia S.p.A. is the frontend with the Acea Group’s electricity clients (the Group is one of the major energy players in Italy with reference to the sale and distribution of energy) in charge for all the commercial processes towards Acea’s customers. The Society manage between 5 and 6,5 TWh of consumption and 1 TWh of production on the Italian electricity market.
Acea Energia is responsible for performing the “Energy Management” necessary to the Group operations, particularly with regard to sales and production. In the project Acea Energia S.p.A. will act as Aggregator or FSP in the Italian Demo (WP5). For this reason, it will be in charge of the management of the flexibility assets, aggregates and sells the flexibility, and it will optimize the customer experience of the clients involved in the trial. The FSP is the entry point of customers into market.
The team is lead by Gianluca Nori, head of Short Term & Middle office, and other senior energy manager which will make know how and expertise in asset optimization and software requirements available for the development of the use cases and for all the project in general.
Arnhems Buiten B.V. is a public-private partnership of OostNL and City Developer-S. The joint focus is to further strengthen a high-quality and knowledge-intensive environment with a key position in the current energy transition. The site Arnhems Buiten is founded early 1930’s as a base for designing and developing the high-, medium- and low voltage grid in the Netherlands. The “Kema quality mark” found its origin on Arnhems Buiten. Now we focus on the future of the (decentralized) grid, with the Electricity and Innovation Campus at the heart of the site.
Arnhems Buiten B.V. is owner of the Electricity Innovation Park, which includes the park, buildings and energy grid and has a focus on stimulating and driving the regional sustainable economy, which is done by strengthening cooperation in a high-quality, unique, green environment. During the Hedge IoT project Arnhems Buiten B.V. will upgrade and transform buildings and upgrade the energy infrastructure to facilitate this sustainable growth. Arnhems Buiten B.V. has expertise in project/real estate development and project management and will be responsible for the implementation of the Dutch pilot in the Hedge IoT consortium.
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUA) is a unique university with faculties in the humanities, STEM, social sciences and medical sciences. We combine our top position in research with a strong social orientation, which has resulted in an excellent international reputation, focusing on four profile themes: Connected World, Governance for Society, Human Health and Life Sciences, and Science for Sustainability.
VUA hosts one of the leading Semantic Web research groups worldwide. VUA researchers have delivered key contributions to internationally renowned methodologies, frameworks and languages for knowledge engineering and Semantic Web technologies. This includes chairing W3C working groups for RDF 1.1, PROV, SKOS, and OWL. VUA researchers have been active over the years in a wide range of European efforts (from FP2 to H2020)
In the context of WP4 and WP5 (in close collaboration with VWICI, AB, TNO), VUA will investigate how to develop and evaluate data models (SAREF extensions) and interoperable services including data conversion solutions and explainable Machine Learning for SAREFized IoT knowledge graphs.
CEVE is a Portuguese energy cooperative, founded on the 18th of December 1930, and played a very important role in the socioeconomic development of the region by providing access to electricity to all residents. CEVE is headquartered in Louro, Vila Nova de Famalicão operating as a DSO and retailer in its concession area: 14 parishes – 9 in Famalicão and 5 in Barcelos. It’s a public utility company, whose main activity is to provide an effective and quality service in in the supply of electricity to the final consumer, benefiting from the proximity to its customers. We guarantee the involvement and mobilization of all our resources in the search for the best solutions for the increasing satisfaction of our customers, and we are above all concerned with the impact of our activity on the community and, to this end, we commit ourselves to continuous improvement, to achieve the desired sustainable development.
CEVE is a 93-year-old company that has never stopped looking for the best technologies and solutions to achieve a level of organizational quality capable of providing comfortable expectations regarding the demanding future ahead, always guaranteeing a proximity to the community it serves.
We are proud to say that our operational performance indicators rank in the best of the country, making CEVE the perfect sandbox for the HEDGE-IoT developments to be tried in a real environment. We can swiftly implement solutions, extract data, provide it to partners and collaborate in its analysis.
REN – Rede Eléctrica Nacional, S.A., mission is to guarantee the continuous supply of electricity at the lowest cost while satisfying all quality and safety criteria, maintaining the balance between supply and demand in real time, defending the legitimate interests of market agents and reconciling its roles as a transmission system operator (TSO) and network operator. As concessionaire of the national electricity transmission grid, REN – Rede Eléctrica Nacional, S.A. holds the mission of the following main activities:
- technical and overall management of the national electricity system;
- transmission of electricity at very-high voltage (400, 220 and 150kV);
- operation of the national electricity transmission grid and the construction, maintenance and planning of its infrastructures.
REN’s main Role in the Project:
- WP2 (5 PM) – Stakeholders Requirements and System Specifications
- WP5 (6 PM) – Demonstration Across Technologies and Scenarios
- Portuguese Pilot – Living Lab for Interoperable AI-based Energy Services
Sonae MC – Serviços Partilhados, S.A., MCH – Modelo Continente Hipermercados, S.A. and Elergone Energia, Lda are all part of the same group of companies, all held and controlled directly/indirectly by the group holding company.
MC is the leading food retailer in Portugal with more than 350 retail stores spread across the country. In Hedge-IoT, MC will participate in the definition of requirements and constraints for the implementation of the Portuguese Commercial Pilot, will ensure the overall coordination between internal teams within MC, MCH and Elergone while guaranteeing financial execution and compliance.
MCH manages the demonstration buildings that will be part of the Portuguese Commercial Pilot, in which different digital solutions developed in the project will be installed and tested to support different energy management strategies articulated with the existing devices and systems.
Elergone is an energy retailing company / flexibility aggregator part of the top 10 retailers in Portugal, that provides several services to MC and MCH related to energy retail, PV installation, EV charging and flexible assets management. In Hedge-IoT, Elergone will provide support to the implementation of the technical solutions for the Portuguese Commercial Pilot, while participating in energy management policies and energy strategies definitions.
Eles is a Slovene combined transmission and distribution system operator and is responsible for a safe and reliable operations of the electric power system. It is also a part of a modern electric power network, developer of smart networks and integration of battery storage.
Eles’s team will participate in the development and testing of the Dynamic thermal rating (DTR) system at the transformer station level, which will be led by our daughter company Operato. Additionally, Eles will ensure the capability of demonstrating the system
Elektro Gorenjska (EG) is a Slovenian distribution system operator (DSO) providing electricity to approximately 10% of Slovenian territory. EG operates 2.091 km2 in the North-Eastern part of Slovenia and supplies approximately 90.000 customers. Elektro Gorenjska’s distribution network consists of 13 HV/MV primary substations, 8 MV substations, nearly 1500 MV/LV secondary substations and approximately 5.000 km of different 110 kV to 0.4 kV networks, with a total yearly distribution of approximately 1.000.000 MWh of electricity. In addition to continuously ranking as Slovenia’s top energy supplier with regards to power quality, evident from the highest Slovenian quality system indexes, EG is strongly committed to R/D activities, being involved as a partner in numerous national and international projects.
Through active participation in international research and development projects, EG persistently builds the reputation of an innovative and reliable partner. Participation in projects also enables us to successfully integrate state-of-the-art technology systems that provide appropriate demonstration environments, important for the implementation and evaluation of new concepts of managing and operating distribution networks.
Operato is a company active in the sector of Electrical Grid Enhancement Solutions, particularly in the domain of The Dynamic Thermal Rating (DTR) technology.
As a company coming from the Slovenian TSO parent company ELES, we fully understand the power system and we know how to develop solutions that would solve problems every TSO faces. This sector is very complex and through years of experience we observed that all system operators usually face the same problems. To deliver the best smart solution for the grid is our aim, to change power grid management forever is our goal.
We plan to make meaningful contributions to HEDGE-IoT as well. Concretely, we’ll provide our ready-to-deploy grid enhancement software product called SUMO DLR/DTR, which is a software solution that can increase the loading capabilities of power lines and transformers. This extra capacity is of crucial importance as it increases the transmission and distribution networks capability to keep up with the ever-increasing power demand due to the electrification of transport and heating.
In the scope of HEDGE-IoT we’ll not only test this already mature technology as a cloud-edge solution, but also for a use case in which it hasn’t been utilized before, mainly in connection with the protective relay system. Through this project, we aim to successfully extend and deploy DTR on the edge, providing much faster calculation of the actual ampacity for power lines and power transformer.
University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (UNIZG-FER) is the largest technical faculty and the leading educational and R&D institution in the field of engineering in Croatia. It consists of 12 departments and offers studies in bachelor, master, and postgraduate programs. FER has around 700 employees, including 300 academic staff. To date, around 25,000 engineers have graduated from UNIZG-FER. Each year, UNIZG-FER enrolls approximately 650 first-year students, with about 500 of them ranking among the top 1000 high school graduates in the state examination for higher-level mathematics and physics. FER is currently engaged in more than 150 active research, development, and innovation projects, with a total value for FER of around 44 million euros. The projects cover a broad array of fields, including artificial intelligence, robotics, IoT, smart buildings, renewable energy, smart grids, sustainable food, environment, space, HPC, semiconductor technologies, and the blue economy.
The main role of the UNIZG FER team in the HEDGE-IoT project is participation in the Slovenian demo site in WP6 and the development of AI/ML solutions that improve the accuracy of the transformer’s dynamic thermal rating forecast and increase the flexibility potential of distribution networks for mitigating planning and operational problems. UNIZG-FER team also contributes to other work packages by supporting WP leaders in conducting the defined tasks.
The Jožef Stefan Institute (JSI) is the leading Slovenian scientific research institute, covering a broad spectrum of basic and applied research. The staff of more than 1170 specializes, working in 28 research departments and several centres covers a broad range of expertise in natural sciences, life sciences and engineering. The subjects concern production and control technologies, communication and computer technologies, knowledge technologies, biotechnologies, new materials, environmental technologies, nanotechnologies, and nuclear engineering. Currently, JSI is cooperating on or leading in 38 projects within H2020 programme, in 73 projects within HE and HE – EURATOM programmes. JSI is engaged in the following H2020 programme with 7 MSCA projects: 2 MSCA-ITN (as coordinator), 2 MSCA-RISE, 2 MSCA-IF (as coordinator) and 1 MSCA-WF (as coordinator), as well as 4 ERC projects and in HE programme with 14 MSCA projects (7 as coordinator): 1 MSCA-Citiziens, 3 MSCA-Doctoral Networks, 7 MSCA-Postdoctoral Fellowship (as coordinator), 3 MSCA-Staff Exchanges, as well as 3 ERC projects (1 StG, 1 CoG and 1 PoC).
JSI will contribute to the development of AI/ML tools for the Slovenian Pilot (T3.2-3.4, T5.7) Based on the data collected by the partners in the Slovenian Pilot and the understanding of the physical reality behind the DTR, JSI will develop algorithms for real-time assessment and prediction of the thermal state of the assets, including local AI based weather forecast needed for DTR. To achieve real-time response, the algorithms will be developed for hierarchical execution using edge computing.
KONČAR Digital, a member of KONČAR Group, is an IT company focused on the digital transformation in the energy sector. At KONČAR Digital, we unite a century of excellence with cutting-edge talent, focusing on the development of digital solutions and software platforms for smart energy management, critical and urban infrastructure, as well as smart cities. For over 40 years, we have been at the forefront of developing digital solutions and software platforms for effective management of power systems and urban infrastructure.
At the forefront of our offerings is the KONČAR PowerCIM tool, meticulously designed to adhere to IEC CIM standards for data harmonization, orchestration, and semantic integration. This tool
excels in managing electricity grid information through its multi-branch, bitemporal versioned handling and referencing capabilities. As a part of the HEDGE IoT project, we are engaged in a Slovenian pilot alongside system operators. Our primary objective is to enhance PowerCIM’s capabilities, ensuring a sustainable approach to handling extensive data that proves beneficial for both TSOs and DSOs. This enhancement will enable more flexible handling of data from external entities, tested on real-world-sized datasets. In doing so, we contribute to elevating the operational efficiency and decision-making capabilities of the energy sector, with a commitment to basing decisions on the most relevant and up-to-date data. Our work aligns with broader goals of the HEDGE-IoT project in advancing sustainable digital energy solutions, fostering innovation, and contributing to the development of smarter and more resilient societies. Through collaborative efforts and cutting-edge technology, we actively drive the digital transformation of the energy sector, paving the way for a sustainable and prosperous future.
