MASTERPIECE is a European project that aims to revolutionise the way energy communities are created, managed and empowered through the realisation of a digital collaboration platform that promotes the active participation of citizens and energy market actors. The aim of the project is to promote a new participatory paradigm based on advanced technological solutions, inclusive governance models and tools to maximise the social, economic and environmental impact of energy communities.
A platform for shared and conscious energy
MASTERPIECE proposes a user-centred and participatory vision in which community members are not just passive users but active actors in the energy transition. The project aims to create a European “digital arena”:
- Coordinating and optimising the activities of energy communities.
- To promote cooperation between citizens, companies and institutions.
- Simplifying access to local energy services in a changing market.
This digital arena is supported by tools designed to meet the challenges of new regulatory and market frameworks and to make citizen participation safe, incentivized and sustainable.
Strategic goals
The MASTERPIECE project has five main objectives:
- Empowering citizens: developing technological and social solutions that transform traditional consumers into active prosumers able to contribute to the production, management and exchange of energy in their communities.
- Promoting co-creation: developing user-centric digital and organisational solutions involving citizens in decision-making processes through participatory methods such as workshops, labs and field tests.
- Promoting new business models: introducing incentive strategies and innovative economic mechanisms that also make energy communities attractive to market players, investors and service providers.
- Ensuring security and data protection: introducing a cyber-resilient infrastructure that complies with European regulations, including the EPBD and GDPR, to ensure data security and the privacy of active citizens.
- Testing and replication of solutions: Validation of technical, methodological and governance innovations in four pilot sites in heterogeneous geographical and regulatory contexts – France, Italy, Sweden and Turkey – to demonstrate the effectiveness and replicability of the MASTERPIECE approach.
A gradual, concrete and international implementation
The project envisages a step-by-step approach to testing and disseminating solutions. The four international pilot projects will serve as testing grounds for the trials:
- Different levels of technological maturity of the solutions.
- Different local models of energy management.
- Different socio-economic and cultural conditions to ensure the adaptability of the model to different European scenarios.
This approach enables the collection of concrete data, user feedback and impact metrics useful for improving the platform and building replicable standards at European level.
Towards a fairer, more open and inclusive energy market
With MASTERPIECE, energy becomes a common good that is managed in an intelligent, transparent and participatory way. The project makes an immediate contribution to the green transition in Europe and lays the foundation for a new generation of resilient, digitally equipped and socially active energy communities ready to seize the opportunities of climate and technological change.
More information on https://masterpiece-horizon.eu/
