With EDDIE, we aim to achieve 5 key objectives:

• OBJ#1: Deliver a unified, de-central and highly scalable European interface – the EDDIE Framework – to validated historical and near real-time energy consumption data from different data sources based on the work of the EU Smart Grids Task Force’s Expert Group 1for data interoperability.
• OBJ#2: Develop a consent-based interface – the Administrative Interface for In-house Data Access (AIIDA) – installable in standard home automation environments and in-house computing systems to facilitate the consent-based use of in-house data sources from smart meters and downstream submetering like the standardised interface mandatory for all smart metering systems installed after July 4th, 2019, as required by Article 20(a) of Directive (EU) 2019/944.
• OBJ#3: Provide demonstrated connectors to that unified European interface for more than 70% of European metering points with the deliverables produced as part of the EDDIE Framework, and clearly defined paths to attach more.
• OBJ#4: Carry out scientific assessment of relevant aspects of energy data-sharing covering energy and behavioural economics, data privacy, governance, portability and compliance considerations, as well as a much-needed security and safety views on these infrastructures, keeping in mind that the criticality levels of services based on shared energy data might not be clear yet.
• OBJ#5: Ensure that EDDIE is ready to be used, to stay, and to be further developed by an open-source community, European organisations and players with a stake or interest in general by means of diverse exploitation and dissemination activities. All software components delivered by EDDIE will be ready-to-use and feature technology readiness level (TRL) 7 or better.
• OBJ#6: dentify and disseminate small or big hurdles while conceptualizing and developing EDDIE to Member State (MS) data-sharing infrastructure operators, national and European legislation to allow for improvement and convergence in that sector.

The overall methodology of EDDIE is oriented towards the first main objective to (OBJ#1) provide a dependable, scalable and extensible European Distributed Data Infrastructure for Energy Framework (EDDIE Framework). This means that the overlying European interface will be given priority, and data accessible through data-sharing infrastructure (1) provided by metered data administrators will be available first. In parallel, and independently but synchronised, the work on the second main objective to (OBJ#2) provide an Administrative Interface for In-house Data Access (AIIDA) to feed in-house data (2) to EDDIE Framework users will be started.

Both together, the EDDIE Framework and AIIDA will be put into a consistent overall architectural environment in an extensive architecture and specification phase planned for the first six months of the project. Publicly available data (3) from different Member States (MSs) also often has some hurdles to take and should also be part of a unified interface in the future, but for the initial EDDIE project, it shall be out of scope. The figure above illustrates the 3 major data family groups (1–3) considered within EDDIE as described in detail in the following:

• Data-sharing infrastructure: These are national energy data management environments and online data hubs. Historical metering and consumption data is collected, validated and stored at entities that need to make that data available in turn to established actors or eligible parties. At the moment, this is done diversly and by different players in each Member State. Also, different processes need to be followed and data is delivered in different formats and schemas. The EDDIE Framework communicates with these data-sharing infrastructures and provides a streamlined consent management user flow and a transformation towards a common pivotal format.
• In-house data sources: Currently, near real-time data can in most MSs be read from the “standardised interface” on the smart meter (if it has been ordered and installed after July 4th 2019). If the customer manages to connect to that interface and make that data processable, it is still only available in-house and it needs to be transformed to a common format. The Administrative Interface for In-house Data Access (AIIDA) will be in the position to read that data from different meter models, standards and configurations and make it available through an online consent-based mechanism. This means that users of services that are based on the EDDIE Framework can be shown a button on e.g., the service website saying “connect my in-house data” and will be routed to their Consent Management Interface (within AIIDA). If a consent is given, the AIIDA instance will deliver the requested data to the EDDIE Framework of the service for which a consent was granted. Not only main meter interfaces will be supported, but also others (e.g., sub-meters).
• Publicly available data: There is also other – often publicly available – data, that is necessary for many processes, but does not directly belong to the customer and also does not show consumption or generation time series characteristics. National weather forecasts, price feeds or market reference data fall under this category. These data families are still depicted diversely and by different players depending on the country. Optionally, but if the time allows, the EDDIE project team will also address this field and strive to make it available in a unified pivotal format through the EDDIE Framework.

Activities towards the fourth main objective to (OBJ#4) provide extensive scientific assessment and share real-world experience on various aspects of data-sharing will start accompanying these developments, and when the architecture and specification phase is completed. Implementation of software and systems to be developed within EDDIE will deliver usable and assessable preliminary results soon, to ensure that their contribution is aligned with the overall objectives during the whole lifecycle of the project. Following this rationale, software deliverables will be released on the open-source code management platform, so that all interested stakeholders can easily test and provide feedback. It is planned to ramp up dissemination and future development and maintenance through options like the formation of a new or the adoption of the project results by an existing open-source foundation.

Project EDDIE covers a multiplicity of diverse aspects and will tackle a lot of highly demanding challenges that require interdisciplinary cooperation between scientists, legislative and regulatory experts, enterprise architects, software developers and infrastructure operators with outstanding expertise in different domains. Throughout the whole lifecycle of the project, representatives from different contributing partners covering the whole vertical spectrum of the respective task will co-operate closely without borders between organisations and within agile project structures to solve the described challenges together. It is crucial to avoid the development of knowledge and organisational silos. The team is aware of Convey’s Law, which states that organisations design systems that mirror their own communication structure. Therefore, and to make use of emergent expertise and cross-domain problem solving, a whole-team approach is utilised.