In a new episode of Enlit’s EU Energy Projects Podcast, Policy Officer for Digitalisation and AI at DG Energy Stavros Stamatoukos describes the EU’s growing framework of policy and legislative actions on AI and digitalisation in the energy sector.

During the interview, Mr Stamatoukos explains how policymakers are balancing innovation, regulation, and system security in Europe’s energy transition through the strategic roadmap for digitalisation and AI in Europe’s energy sector, one of the key documents due from the European Commission in 2026.

The roadmap is based on a public consultation launched in August 2025 and has two key objectives, one of which is to facilitate the development of trusted AI applications for the energy sector and their secure deployment into the energy system. The other, given the speed at which AI technology moves, is to manage the risks while maintaining the safe running of the overall system.

Mr Stamatoukos says data sharing and the growth of data centres  ̶  and their associated energy consumption  ̶  are key concerns for stakeholders. In terms of the data sharing issue, which he describes as characterised by non-standardised data siloes which impede access for companies wanting to develop and deploy smart energy applications and AI tools, he says the common European energy data space, which is in development, should be a key enabler.

Regarding the growth of data centres, he says it’s likely that current capacity will be tripled over the next five to seven years. Given that a data centre can be built in two to three years, while new grid infrastructure might take eight to 10 years, he says: “The challenge is huge but the European Commission has started a proactive dialogue, bringing together the energy sector and data centre sector to identify the bottlenecks.” He adds, “Data centres have immense potential for flexibility, quantified by the IEA at 50-60GW over the next five years. If we can tap into a fraction of that, this will be really beneficial for the energy sector.”

Other topics being analysed include energy reporting, energy rating and minimum performance standards for data centres.

Funding is also an important issue for participants in the energy sector. Mr Stamatoukos promises that significant funding is being made available in the next Horizon Europe call – for example, more than €80 million for smart control rooms for transmission and distribution management and more than €50 million for the development of AI tools. He adds, “We are also looking to the future and have proposed a five-fold increase for Horizon Europe and hope we will see more smart grids and smart system projects funded.”

Listen to the podcast here.