EU Publishes Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in Energy
On 3 June 2026, the European Commission published its Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence in the Energy Sector (COM/2026/501), as part of the broader European Technological Sovereignty Package. The Roadmap sets out a clear pathway for a digitally-enabled, secure, clean and competitive energy system and signals a significant step-up in EU ambition on the role of AI and digital tools in the energy transition.
The Roadmap targets three priority areas:
- accelerating AI deployment for electricity grid optimisation,
- improving energy efficiency in buildings and industry,
- enabling demand-side flexibility.
It also addresses the growing energy footprint of data centres and introduces safeguards for the large-scale deployment of AI in critical energy infrastructure.
A key flagship initiative launched alongside the Roadmap is AI.grids a Community of Practice bringing together 48 partners including grid operators and research institutes to develop pan-European AI foundation models for grid management and planning.
On the funding side, the Horizon Europe 2026–2027 Work Programme allocates approximately €100 million for advanced smart grid solutions, €75 million for AI energy applications, and a further €190 million for digital solutions in renewable technologies, smart buildings and energy efficiency.
ESEIA’s 2026 proposal pipeline includes HORIZON-CL5-2026-09-D4-01 on the energy performance of smart buildings (Built4People Partnership, RIA, €5M total budget).
Read the Roadmap: energy.ec.europa.eu
Roadmap document (PDF): Publications Office
