The ongoing decentralisation of electricity generation presents challenges for the energy system: photovoltaic systems alone – currently over five million in Germany – are systematically replacing large central power plants. At the same time, the rapid growth in electric vehicles and heat pumps is driving up the number of electricity consumers. A consistent end-to-end digitalisation down to the system level promises to evolve the currently analogue interaction between actors and systems. The project “DIVE – Digital Identities as Anchors of Trust in the Energy System” by the Future Energy Lab of the German Energy Agency (dena) shows how systems can be efficiently and securely integrated into this emerging digital energy system. Contributors included Jens Strüker, Professor of Information Systems & Digital Energy Management at the University of Bayreuth and Deputy Scientific Director of the Information Systems division at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT.
In the DIVE project, researchers worked with partners from the energy industry to equip energy systems with digital credentials – so-called self-sovereign identities – and verifiable system data, integrating them into existing processes and infrastructures in a flexible, scalable way while preserving the digital sovereignty of system operators. Using three practical use cases – high-resolution guarantees of origin, flexible deployment of decentralised systems, and the use of personalised electricity contracts at public charging stations – they demonstrate that digital identities can be embedded into existing infrastructures and workflows. “This digital connectivity leverages the existing smart meter infrastructure, which records and transmits high-resolution energy consumption data digitally, enabling cost-efficient integration into existing market processes,” says Strüker.
“With DIVE, we present a concrete solution to close the digital identity gap in the energy system, enabling seamless integration of decentralised producers and consumers. This is a key building block for a more affordable and faster implementation of the energy transition,” Strüker adds.
The DIVE project is led by the Future Energy Lab of dena. Research partners include BOTLabs, Energy Web, FfE, Fieldfisher, Fraunhofer FIT, and OLI Systems. The project began in 2023; the final report is now available at: https://future-energy-lab.de/projects/dive-en/
