Pilot 8 partners met on 27 and 28 August in Val d’Anniviers. This meeting brought together key stakeholders to present the Swiss pilot project and define the role of local partners in its pilot phase. On 27 August, participants included the Energy Director of the St-Luc/Chandolin ski lifts (also an owner of hotels and restaurants...
On October 22, the O-CEI project will host a dedicated Special Session at the IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies (ISGT) conference, highlighting the transformative potential of an open and federated IoT Edge/Cloud Continuum in enabling energy flexibility across sectors and borders. As energy systems evolve towards greater digitalisation and decarbonisation, coordination between distributed assets,...
The partners in Pilot 8 of the O-CEI Horizon project attended two important information events organized by the Smart Energy District (SED) Project, held in Fribourg on Thursday, October 30th, and Monday, November 3rd. Private households, both producers and consumers of electricity, are becoming major players in the new electricity system. To gather residents' opinions...
Solar production is booming — but how can our electrical networks cope? Between Solar Panel variability, the need for flexibility, storage solutions and coordination between stakeholders, technical and strategic challenges are multiplying. This conference, organised in conjunction with the ‘Smart Energy District’ flagship project, explores the challenges of integrating photovoltaics into networks from three complementary...
Pilot 8 contribution to the European O-CEI Horizon project took a decisive step forward on Friday 14 November. The partners convened the Polygones community for an in-depth participatory workshop dedicated to the future of smart energy systems. The session had a clear objective: to understand how citizens perceive Local Energy Communities and to collaboratively shape...
HES-SO participated in the conference “European Funding - Opportunities for Companies & Academics Collaborations” that took place at Campus BioTech in Geneva on 21 January 2026. The conference was designed to inform academia and industry stakeholders about opportunities to participate in Horizon Europe projects under Clusters 4 and 5, as well as other international funding...
The partners in Pilot 8 participated in the BRIDGE General Assembly 2026, which took place on 23–24 March in Brussels. This annual flagship event of the BRIDGE initiative brings together Horizon Europe projects, European Commission representatives, and key energy stakeholders from across Europe. The two-day event provided a valuable opportunity to engage with representatives from...
Pilot 8 organised a workshop bringing together key tourism actors from the Val d'Anniviers, including hotel, ski resort, and the local Tourism Office. The goal was to collectively map a systemic view of the valley and build a shared vision for promoting the energy transition while strengthening Val d'Anniviers as an attractive tourist destination. The...
Building on the insights gathered during the November workshop, Pilot 8 reunited with the Polygones community in Meyrin on 29 April for a second participatory session, this time moving from exploration to concrete co-design. While the first event focused on understanding how citizens perceive local energy communities, this session translated those insights into action. Working...
Can you briefly introduce your company and what you do?
Advanced Microturbines Srl is an Italian deep-tech SME specialised in the development of compact microturbine technologies for energy recovery and self-powered monitoring systems. The company designs and manufactures high-efficiency microturbines from 50 W to 50 kW capable of converting pressure drops in gas and water networks into electricity, enabling autonomous power supply for IoT sensors and digital infrastructure. Its solutions support the digitalisation and sustainability of energy and industrial systems by transforming unused pressure energy into a reliable source of power for remote monitoring applications. By combining microturbine technology with smart IoT systems, we deliver innovative solutions that support smart infrastructure, improve energy efficiency, and enable decentralised energy systems.
What challenge are you addressing under the O-CEI Horizon’s first Open Call, and how is your proposal relevant to the challenge?
Our proposal addresses the challenge of enabling transparent, secure, and real-time management of energy flows in decentralised energy systems, particularly in emerging smart microgrids. As renewable generation becomes increasingly distributed, local energy communities require reliable mechanisms to measure, validate, and share energy data between multiple actors. However, current infrastructures often rely on centralised systems, not distributed ones.
The ENTRUST solution tackles this challenge by developing an edge-validated blockchain platform for energy transactions. The system integrates IoT metering, edge computing, and blockchain notarisation to create a distributed architecture capable of securely validating energy data close to where it is generated. This approach enables real-time, low-latency processing while ensuring data integrity and transparency through blockchain mechanisms.
By combining edge processing with blockchain-based verification, the proposed platform allows microgrid participants, including households, local producers, and community operators, to securely record and validate energy exchanges. This contributes directly to the goals of the O-CEI Horizon’s Open Call by supporting decentralised, trustworthy, and scalable digital infrastructures for energy communities and smart grids.
What is the expected impact of your proposal?
The expected impact of the proposal is the development of a secure and transparent operational layer for decentralised energy systems, enabling more efficient management of renewable energy within local microgrids.
Through the integration of IoT metering, edge computing, and blockchain notarisation, the ENTRUST platform allows energy transactions and operational data to be securely recorded, validated, and shared in real time. This improves transparency and trust among microgrid participants while ensuring the integrity of energy data used for operational decisions and potential energy trading mechanisms.
The project will demonstrate the solution in the Krk Island pilot, showing how local communities can manage renewable energy generation and consumption more effectively. By enabling tamper-proof data validation and automated smart-contract processes, the platform supports fair and auditable energy exchanges between producers, consumers, and community operators.
Beyond the pilot, the modular and scalable architecture of ENTRUST allows the platform to be replicated in other energy communities and distributed energy systems across Europe. In this way, the project contributes to the broader objectives of the European energy transition, supporting the integration of renewable energy, strengthening local energy resilience, and enabling new models of transparent and decentralised energy management aligned with EU climate and energy policies.
Company website: www.microturbines.it
