European Commission logo
Horizon Europe Cluster 5 — Climate, Energy and Mobility

Horizon AI Digital Energy System

Funds two €10M innovation projects that bring secure, frugal AI from the lab into real-time grid operations and consumer energy tools.

ScheduledEuropean CommissionEU

Distributed energy systems need fast, secure and efficient intelligence for grid monitoring, balancing, forecasting and consumer decisions. This scheduled Horizon Europe Innovation Action funds two €10 million projects to validate state-of-the-art and generative AI tools in operational grids and scale them into a next-generation digital energy system.

Projects should deploy frugal, open-source an

Validate and scale secure, open-source, frugal AI tools and models for real-time grid and relevant market operations and consumer empowerment in distributed energy systems. Projects demonstrate an AI development environment and digital twin integrated with the upgraded digital spine, edge-node and federated swarm learning in agent-based architectures, and compatibility with the Common European Energy Data Space and Common Reference Framework for energy-saving applications. The work reaches TRL 7–8, uses European AI infrastructure where relevant, contributes to standards, open-source communities and BRIDGE, and defines governance for a Gen(AI)-powered digital spine.

CycleiHow often this grant runs — e.g. annually, on a rolling basis, or a one-off call.Annual
Next deadlineiThe next date applications are due. Rolling means you can apply any time.31 Mar 2027
Decision timeiTypical time from the deadline to the funder's decision.22 weeks
Project durationiHow long the funded work is expected to run.
Award typeiThe form of funding — grant, equity, loan, tax credit, etc.Grant
Match fundingiThe share of project costs you must cover yourself. 0% = fully funded.30%
Funding pooliThe total budget available across all awards in this round.€20M

Sign up free to see the funding breakdown

Sign up free to see the industries in scope

Sign up free to see the full eligibility

Sign up free to see how to apply

Sign up free to see what you submit

Sign up free to see how they score you

Sign up free to see the timeline

Sign up free to see where teams trip up

Last verified: 25 Aug 2026Funder reference: HORIZON-CL5-2027-02-D3-24Source: ec.europa.eu