ACCEPT · Project

Digital Toolbox Helping Energy Communities Earn Revenue from Residential Demand Flexibility

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Imagine your neighborhood forms an energy club — everyone has solar panels, heat pumps, maybe an electric car. The problem is, nobody has the software to coordinate all that energy so it actually makes money. ACCEPT built a digital toolbox that lets these community groups manage their members' energy use, shift demand to cheaper hours, and sell flexibility services back to the grid. They tested it across four real communities in the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and Greece with over 750 homes and 3,000 people.

By the numbers

750+

residences directly involved in pilot testing

3,000

citizens engaged across four pilot sites

pilot sites across Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and Greece

consortium partners

countries represented in the consortium

SMEs in the consortium

total project deliverables produced

The business problem

What needed solving

Energy communities are growing across Europe, but they lack the digital tools to turn their collective energy assets into real revenue. Without proper software, community-owned solar panels, batteries, and flexible loads sit idle instead of earning money from grid services. Residential demand flexibility is the largest untapped flexibility source in the market, but no one has given communities the means to harvest and monetize it.

The solution

What was built

ACCEPT built a fully integrated digital toolbox for energy communities, delivered through three prototype iterations (v1, v2, v3) plus a wrapper prototype for interfacing with external markets and actors. The final product is described as a Minimum Viable Product that passed preliminary market testing and financial viability checks, comprising 59 deliverables in total.

Audience

Who needs this

Energy community operators and cooperatives looking for digital management toolsEnergy aggregators seeking access to residential demand flexibilitySmart home and PropTech companies wanting to add energy servicesMunicipal utilities exploring community energy programsEnergy retailers looking to engage residential prosumers

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Energy utilities and retailers

mid-size

Target: Energy retailer or aggregator looking to tap residential flexibility

If you are an energy retailer struggling to access distributed demand flexibility from households — this project developed a fully integrated digital platform, tested across 4 pilot sites with more than 750 residences, that lets you bundle residential demand response into tradeable flexibility products. The system was delivered as a Minimum Viable Product that passed preliminary market testing and financial viability checks.

PropTech and smart building services

SME

Target: Property management or smart home platform provider

If you are a property tech company looking to add energy services to your platform — ACCEPT created a digital toolbox that engages residents through non-energy services alongside demand response. Tested with over 3,000 citizens across four countries, it provides ready-made engagement tools that keep residents actively participating in energy programs rather than dropping out after the novelty wears off.

Energy community operators and cooperatives

any

Target: Energy cooperative or community energy organization

If you run an energy community and struggle to create sustainable revenue beyond selling electricity — this project built exactly the tools you lack. ACCEPT delivers digital services that let communities offer demand flexibility, access new revenue streams, and ensure financial viability. The consortium included 11 industry partners and 7 SMEs, signaling the solution was designed for real market deployment.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to adopt or license this platform?

The project data does not specify licensing costs or pricing models. However, the platform was explicitly designed as a Minimum Viable Product with financial viability checks, which means commercial pricing was part of the design process. Contact the coordinator for licensing terms.

Can this scale beyond the pilot communities?

The system was tested across 4 pilot sites in 4 different countries (Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Greece) with more than 750 residences and 3,000 citizens. The multi-country validation across different regulatory environments suggests it was designed for cross-border scalability.

Who owns the intellectual property?

The consortium of 18 partners across 10 countries shares IP under the EU grant agreement terms. The coordinator is HYPERTECH, a Greek SME specializing in IT. Licensing arrangements would need to be negotiated with the consortium, likely through HYPERTECH.

Does this comply with EU energy regulations?

The project was funded under the EU topic LC-SC3-EC-3-2020, which specifically targets energy communities under the Clean Energy Package. The platform was designed to work within EU regulatory requirements for citizen energy communities and demand response markets.

How long until this could be deployed commercially?

The project ran from 2021 to 2024 and delivered three successive versions of the integrated system prototype (v1, v2, v3). The final version demonstrated a fully integrated and interoperable solution. Given the MVP status and completed market testing, commercial deployment could follow relatively quickly.

How does it integrate with existing energy management systems?

ACCEPT included a dedicated 'wrapper prototype' that simulates and interfaces with external entities — markets and actors outside the platform. The system was built for interoperability across the four different pilot environments, each with different market structures and grid operators.

What kind of ongoing support is available?

The project consortium includes 11 industry partners and 7 SMEs, providing a strong commercial support base. Based on available project data, the coordinator HYPERTECH is an IT company positioned to provide continued development and support post-project.

Consortium

Who built it

The ACCEPT consortium is unusually industry-heavy for an EU project: 11 out of 18 partners are industry players (61%), and 7 are SMEs. This signals a strong commercial orientation rather than a purely academic exercise. The consortium spans 10 countries across Europe, with pilot operations in 4 of them (Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Greece), which demonstrates the solution works across different energy markets and regulatory regimes. The coordinator HYPERTECH is a Greek IT SME, meaning the technology lead is already a commercial entity with skin in the game. With only 1 university partner versus 4 research organizations and 11 industry players, this project was clearly built to reach the market.

HYPERTECH (CHAIPERTEK) ANONYMOS VIOMICHANIKI EMPORIKI ETAIREIA PLIROFORIKIS KAI NEON TECHNOLOGIONCoordinator · EL
FUNDACION CIRCE CENTRO DE INVESTIGACION DE RECURSOS Y CONSUMOS ENERGETICOSparticipant · ES
SMART INNOVATION NORWAY ASparticipant · NO
ETHNIKO KENTRO EREVNAS KAI TECHNOLOGIKIS ANAPTYXISparticipant · EL
AZIENDA ELETTRICA DI MASSAGNO (AEM) SAparticipant · CH
RINA CONSULTING SPAparticipant · IT
VIESGO DISTRIBUCION ELECTRICA SLparticipant · ES
MY ENERGIA ONER SLparticipant · ES
EYFYEIS LYSEIS GIA KTIRIA MIDENIKOUKAI THETIKOU ENERGEIAKOU ISOZYGIOU- KOMVOS PSIFIAKIS KAINOTOMIAS AMKEthirdparty · EL
QUE TECHNOLOGIES KEFALAIOUCHIKI ETAIREIAparticipant · EL
METLEN ENERGY AND METALS MONOPROSOPI AEparticipant · EL
EUROPAISCHES ZENTRUM FUR ERNEUERBARE ENERGIE GUSSING GMBHparticipant · AT
BEDRIJFSBUREAU ENERGIE SAMEN BVparticipant · NL
GECO GLOBAL APSparticipant · DK
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK - NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, CORKparticipant · IE

How to reach the team

HYPERTECH is a Greek IT SME — search for their team leads on LinkedIn or through the project website contact page

Order a report on this consortium See HYPERTECH (CHAIPERTEK) ANONYMOS VIOMICHANIKI EMPORIKI ETAIREIA PLIROFORIKIS KAI NEON TECHNOLOGION profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to explore licensing the ACCEPT platform for your energy community or flexibility business? SciTransfer can connect you directly with the development team and help structure a technology transfer deal.

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