The WeForming Final Conference & Market Uptake Event brought together over 50 attendees from across Europe to explore the future of smart buildings and energy flexibility. It was a privilege to showcase the outcomes of a project that has successfully demonstrated how real-world buildings can actively support the clean energy transition.
Throughout the day, participants engaged in focused discussions spanning policy, technical deployments, cross-project synergies, and commercial exploitation.
Project Overview & Strategic Context
The conference opened with a keynote on the broader European policy background. Buildings account for 40% of Europe’s total energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions. To meet European decarbonisation goals, buildings must shift from passive consumers into active, grid-supporting nodes.
Project Coordinator Konstantinos Kotsalos (ED), Dimitris Kranias (HSE), and Pau Garcia Audí (DG ENER, European Commission) detailed how WeForming addresses this challenge. Dimitris presented the core technical concept and the W-IBRA (WeForming Interoperability Assurance Architecture) framework, explaining how its cloud, middleware, and connector layers establish secure, metadata-driven data exchange and app discovery while guaranteeing full data privacy and sovereignty for building owners.
Pau Garcia Audí also outlined key developments in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) guidance package – covering minimum energy performance standards, solar integration, zero-emission buildings, and data exchange framework rules. He walked participants through the EU’s EPBD timeline toward a fully decarbonised building stock by 2050, emphasizing key milestones such as:
2025–2026: Phasing out incentives for standalone fossil fuel boilers and drafting National Building Renovation Plans.
2030: Reaching zero-emission standards for new buildings, setting Global Warming Potential (GWP) calculation requirements, and targets for non-residential (16% worst-performing) and residential renovation trajectories (16% energy reduction).
2033–2035: Tightening standards for non-residential buildings (26% worst-performing) and escalating residential renovation trajectories (20–22% reduction).
2040–2050: Phasing out fossil fuel boilers entirely by 2040 to achieve a fully decarbonised European building stock by 2050.
Real-World Results Across Six European Pilots
The pilot session demonstrated how WeForming technologies perform in real operational settings:
Luxembourg (Pedro Rodriguez, LIST): Demonstrated a 1 MW power hub coordinating first- and second-life battery storage alongside electric vehicle charging. The pilot achieved a 23% reduction in daily electricity procurement costs.
Portugal (Mojtaba Kamarlouei, Builtrix): Showcased how software optimisation reactivated a 4.2 MW ice storage system at the Palácio do Gelo shopping centre without new hardware. The trial generated 491 kW in grid flexibility and delivered €13,000 in annual cost savings.
Croatia (Hrvoje Keko, Argovolt): Solved seasonal energy challenges on Krk Island by deploying an affordable plug-and-play measurement device (WeFormPMU) across 11 lighthouse user sites.
Belgium (Frederic Ransy, ULiège): Combined a reversible 50 kWel Carnot Battery prototype with flooded mine thermal storage, reaching 95% local solar self-consumption.
Spain (Cristina García Moreno, Cuerva): Delivered a rural energy community model across 25 households and 6 public buildings. The pilot supplied 38% of local energy demand internally and reduced household energy bills by 16%.
Germany (Dr Erfan Tajalli-Ardekani, KIT): Tested multi-sector grid support across office and residential buildings using a 180 kWh Voltfang battery and bidirectional EV chargers.
Ecosystem Synergies & Policy Recommendations
The Synergies session highlighted broader European collaboration:
Smart Energy Cluster: Introduced by Katerina Papapostolou (NTUA DSS Lab), uniting over 70 EU-funded initiatives to tackle market fragmentation.
META BUILD Joint Policy Brief: Presented by Duncan Gibb and Samuel Thomas (Regulatory Assistance Project), presenting survey evidence from 13 demonstrator sites. The brief emphasised that while physical equipment is available, national grid access rules and slow smart meter rollouts remain the primary bottlenecks.
DECODIT: Stratis Kanarachos (European Dynamics) presented cross-dataspace search tools built using common European energy data space standards.
EVELIXIA: Paraskevas Koukaras (CERTH-ITI) introduced 29 solution pathways for grid-interactive buildings, reinforcing that grid flexibility must always maintain occupant comfort.
Throughout the day, participants engaged in focused discussions spanning policy, technical deployments, cross-project synergies, and commercial exploitation.
Market Uptake
Closing the event, Maria Ruiz (Schneider Electric) outlined the commercial pathway for WeForming’s 15 Key Exploitable Results. With key technologies tested at maturity levels TRL 6–8, open-source connectors and modules are now accessible on GitHub for wider adoption by aggregators, system operators, and software providers.
Thank You to Our Partners
We would like to thank all 30 consortium partners, pilot leads, guest speakers, and attendees. This project’s achievements are the direct result of three years of close collaboration, hard work, and shared vision. Thank you for contributing to an exceptionally rewarding final conference and for helping shape the future of smart buildings in Europe!
