UBITECH has joined AI.grids, a project set up under the aegis of, and chaired by, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy (DG ENER). At the signature ceremony held in Brussels, representatives from all 48 consortium members formally confirmed their participation: CRESYM, E.DSO, ENTSO-E, and T&D Europe, alongside 18 grid operators (6 DSOs and 12 TSOs), 21 research organisations, and 5 other industry players. UBITECH joins this consortium to contribute to the design, training, and deployment of EU sovereign AI foundation models engineered to revolutionize energy grid management and long-term infrastructure planning.
AI.grids aims to develop foundation models for European grids, kick-starting the effort anticipated in the European Commission’s Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in Energy, and complying with every required safety and cybersecurity rule. It is a key development to make European grids more efficient, and a cornerstone of European sustainability and sovereignty. The project is privately funded by its parties, with a current budget of approximately €2.5 million, leveraging European means such as the Testing & Experimentation Facilities (TEF) projects and AI factories. As a gateway to the joint European development of AI tools for the power sector, AI.grids is also intended as a foundation for further “commons” for grid operation, with its key results expected to underpin subsequent actions supported by additional Horizon Europe or IPCEI-AI funding.
A Direct Response to the EU’s Tech Sovereignty Agenda
The launch of AI.grids directly coincides with the European Commission’s recently unveiled Tech Sovereignty Package and its Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in the Energy Sector, published as a significant step to address the impact of digital technologies on the energy sector. The roadmap addresses the increasing energy demand of digital infrastructure and outlines how AI can support a clean, competitive, and secure EU energy system, at a time when energy systems are growing more dependent on digitalisation just as rising prices and geopolitical challenges put pressure on both industrial competitiveness and the purchasing power of businesses and households.
The Commission underlines that digital solutions in the energy sector can deliver real, quantifiable benefits for consumers and industry alike: demand-side flexibility could directly reduce electricity costs for EU consumers by more than €71 billion per year — a 64% reduction in electricity consumption costs — while AI-based operation and maintenance optimisation could save up to €94 billion ($110 billion) annually by 2035. It is within this context that AI.grids paves the way for the implementation of AI-based solutions across the European energy sector.
UBITECH’s Role
Through its Energy Digitalisation Group, UBITECH will leverage its extensive expertise in Energy Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence to contribute to the project’s technical framework — from data foundation design to model validation on real operational use cases across transmission and distribution networks. As the AI.grids consortium remains open to new partners and prepares further signature rounds throughout 2026, UBITECH’s participation reflects its continued commitment to advancing European technological sovereignty and AI-driven innovation in critical energy infrastructure.
Dr Magda Foti, Head of UBITECH’s Energy Digitalisation Group, commented: “AI.grids marks a turning point for how Europe approaches AI in critical infrastructure. Rather than importing solutions built on data and assumptions that don’t reflect our grids, we have the opportunity — together with 47 other partners — to build foundation models trained on European operational realities, governed by European institutions, and accountable to European safety and cybersecurity standards. For UBITECH, this is a natural extension of the work our Energy Digitalisation Group has been doing for years at the intersection of AI and power systems, and we are proud to bring that expertise to a project that will shape how transmission and distribution operators plan, forecast, and manage the grid of the future.”
As the AI.grids consortium continues to build toward its first prototype foundation model, UBITECH’s participation reflects its continued commitment to advancing European technological sovereignty and AI-driven innovation in critical energy infrastructure.
