CloudEnerChain started on March 1, 2026. The kick-off meeting on March 10 and 11, 2026, in Aachen marked the joint starting point for the consortium of research, industry and grid-operations partners.
The meeting focused on a central question: how can digital applications in power grids be designed so that interoperability, security and operational value are considered together from the beginning? To answer that, CloudEnerChain looks at the full chain from secondary systems through substation and grid IT to a shared interoperability layer, monitoring and control-centre integration.
A shared starting point for the consortium
The consortium used the meeting to align on the project’s core ambition: digital components should interoperate reliably, information should remain transparent across system boundaries and new applications should connect meaningfully to existing operational environments.
Fraunhofer FIT contributes expertise in digital energy, monitoring and demonstration environments. Bremen University of Applied Sciences works on security concepts, trust models and simulation. PSI Software SE brings in perspectives on grid control systems, integration and cloud-based operational applications. Digimondo contributes experience with IoT platforms, interoperability layers and open information models. SWO Netz, Schleswig-Holstein Netz and Rhebo add the operational grid perspective, application relevance and OT security expertise.
What comes next
With the kick-off completed, the consortium has moved into substantive project work. Over the coming months, CloudEnerChain will bring together requirements, interfaces and demonstration paths for the next project steps.