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Harri Iisakka of Synergi discusses how, as the uptake of electrified assets such as EVs continues to rise across Europe, one challenge remains a hurdle crucial to overcome: interoperability.
Electrification at scale is a key pillar in reaching the EU’s 2050 carbon neutrality target. Decarbonising road transport and heating will play a central role in helping achieve those goals. This shift toward cleaner and sustainable technologies is already underway.
EY has forecasted that by 2030, there will be over 75 million electric vehicles on European roads. As of 2024, there were already 24 million heat pumps in Europe, which are helping Europe avoid 5.5 billion cubic metres of gas (equivalent to 1.6% of the EU’s total annual gas consumption).
While the pace of DER (distributed energy resources) adoption will continue to fluctuate depending on individual markets and policy conditions, the message is clear: electrification is gaining momentum, and engaging the end-customer is at the heart of this transition.
The question remains: is the future of Europe’s energy system being shaped with consumers truly at the centre?
Embracing interoperability to power consumer choice
One topic that remains sidelined in DER adoption is how interoperability (or an “open energy” ecosystem) powers consumer choice. According to Entso-e, interoperability is the ability of a product or system to cooperate with other products or systems within a wider energy ecosystem.
To illustrate the concept, we must consider all the different players in Europe’s energy landscape: grid operators, consumers, OEMs, electricity retailers, technology vendors, service providers, and more. Interoperability ensures that these diverse players and systems can communicate with each other, enabling the creation of value-added products and services that benefit consumers.
Take electric vehicles. Today, there are a plethora of third-party services designed to enhance the EV ownership experience: charging station finders, route planners, road trip calculators, smart charging services, and more. These services are typically not provided by the vehicle manufacturer itself, but act as additional value on top of the brand that consumers purchase.
This is possible thanks to interoperability. But the growing ecosystem of actors around it, wanting to “lock in the end-customer,” risks becoming over-regulated, potentially limiting the very innovations that have made the EV experience more seamless and attractive to the masses. Examples of no interoperability are recent cases, such as the dispute between Enel and Google in Italy, which highlight how the lack of interoperability can limit consumer choice and serve as a reminder that established companies should not block interoperability simply because it is inconvenient for them. Another example is OEMs creating their own preferred frameworks and rules for technology vendors, pushing them to abide by their rules or else risk losing OEM connectivity access.
Another aspect to consider is that because consumers have different types of technology available, it now allows them to tap into whole smart and flexible energy systems, which are considered critical digital infrastructure on the road to net zero. It also positions them as active participants in the energy transition.
An example of this is demand response programs that aggregate the load of several DERs into a single “virtual power plant” (VPP) to provide grid support when needed. Tapping into this flexible demand is also seen as the fastest and most cost-effective way to decarbonise the grid. It also leverages assets sitting idle in people’s homes already today.
VPPs create value on multiple fronts: they put money into the pockets of end-customers while supporting the broader energy ecosystem, supporting grid stability, and accelerating the energy transition. The success of a VPP goes hand in hand with interoperability. Since DERs come from different manufacturers with their own communication protocols, true interoperability would allow free data flow between OEMs, energy providers, and VPP operators (including independent and utility-powered ones), so all assets can be aggregated within the same coordinated system. Furthermore, even if you are not the aggregator of the loads you are involved with, having visibility into how it is being controlled is one of anyone’s rights under “open data”.
However, when the needs of different players in the race to own flexibility collide, this is where interoperability is key, so that actors in the ecosystem don’t inadvertently put roadblocks into the path to a zero-carbon energy system. For example, even though most OEM APIs are free for all, when some OEMs start monetising them, they create additional hurdles for innovators to build value-added services on top of them. This delays the adoption of services that could be built to support the grid (like VPPs).
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EU legislation and local communities back interoperability
Openly sharing device data is not a novel concept in 2025. Already, in 2022, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) launched an EU-wide campaign with the support of different automobile and mobility clubs in Europe. The goal was to understand and promote a shared sentiment about the ownership behind car data and its role in the future competitiveness of a smarter energy ecosystem in Europe.
Their initial research showed that 90% of survey respondents believe that they own their vehicle data and that drivers should, in principle, be able to choose whether to share it or not. As a result, came the MyCarMyData campaign led by 11 automobile and mobility associations in Europe to advocate for drivers’ right to select providers that offer the most added value from the data they share.
This is important because it allows different service providers to compete to add value to consumers’ connected devices. If Europe were to operate under a monopoly, the opposite would be true — it would mean that every new application, product, or service consumers acquire would always have to come from either the manufacturer or its approved subcontractors.
Furthermore, the EU Data Act, coming into force on 12 September 2025, highlights individuals as owners of all their energy device data. The Data Act gives users of connected internet products greater control over the data they generate so they can freely share it with the apps and services that work best for them.
Lastly, local communities are also playing their part. In the UK, Icebreaker One (an independent, non-partisan non-profit organisation) was created to position data in the net-zero transition as a key asset to drive economic growth and policy effectiveness. This is an excellent initiative to bring awareness to data sharing challenges, attract supporting members, and create cohesive frameworks to develop data interoperability in ways that benefit all its stakeholders.
The EU has big climate targets — it’s time to collaborate and build together
Recognising that consumers have complex needs and no single company can cater to all of them is one of the key pillars to make interoperability work. Understanding where the customer experience begins and ends between players should become a reflection point for all ecosystem actors. Looking forward, Europe has ambitious climate targets. Reaching them requires enticing the consumer with value-added products and services to maximise their usability and removing roadblocks for interoperability. It’s an exciting and promising time for the future of our energy system. Let’s make it work for all.
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About the author:
Harri Iisakka is the Co-Founder of Synergi, a residential aggregation platform for energy companies, and leads the company’s product and operations. He holds a Master’s degree from Aalto University, where his thesis focused on the strategic role and economic potential of household EV charging in Finland’s ancillary services market.
Originally published on Enlit World.
