Digital Energy

Digital twins (DT) foster business and operational coordination for energy system operators and market participants. To maximize the potential of DTs, it is essential to establish a European-level agreement that promotes a federated ecosystem of DT solutions rather than isolated implementations. TwinEU is developing a federated ecosystem of interoperable DTs, allowing individual operators to make their own implementation choices while ensuring interoperability and seamless exchange within the broader ecosystem.

Digital Twins (virtual replicas of physical infrastructure continuously updated with sensor data, physics-based models, and AI) are increasingly recognized as a key enabling technology for operating modern energy networks. While individual grid operators already deploy their own digital twins, a coordinated, interoperable approach at European scale has been lacking. Isolated implementations hinder cross-border data exchange and prevent coordinated system management.

TwinEU addresses precisely this gap. Funded under Horizon Europe, the project brings together over 70 partners from 15 European countries, including 15 transmission system operators, 15 distribution system operators, market participants, technology providers, and research institutions. With EU funding of around 20 million euros, TwinEU is one of the most ambitious European initiatives in the field of digital energy infrastructure.

The technical foundation of the project is the federation principle: rather than a centralized system, TwinEU creates a network of local, regional, and cross-border Digital Twins connected via standardized interfaces and data sovereignty mechanisms. Combined with AI methods and physics-informed models, this enables real-time monitoring, simulation, and coordinated decision support at European scale.

Fraunhofer FIT leads the overall coordination of TwinEU and is responsible for developing the IT reference architecture and the federated infrastructure. In the German demonstrator (developed in collaboration with transmission system operator Amprion, distribution system operator Westnetz, technology provider envelio, and RWTH Aachen University) Fraunhofer FIT contributes solutions for live grid monitoring, integrated flexibility management at the TSO-DSO interface, and data-driven grid planning. The solutions are validated in eight large-scale demonstrators across Europe, contributing to the implementation of key EU regulations including the Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) and the EU Action for Grids package.