The plan, part of the Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in the Energy Sector, was released Wednesday as part of the EU tech sovereignty package.
Data centers already account for 2.5 percent of EU energy use, the Commission said in the roadmap, and demand is expected to more than double over the next four years. That will put increasing pressure on a grid already struggling to meet the demands of the clean energy transition.
Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen presented the roll out of smart meters as one of the positive impacts of AI, saying it would help households save money on their energy bills. He said it was not part of the Commission’s proposed response to soaring demand from data centers.
But smarter, dynamic use of electricity is key to making the most out of existing networks at a time when electricity demand — from things like data centers, electric vehicles, heat pumps, hydrogen electrolyzers and electric smelters — risks running far ahead of reliable supply from clean sources such as renewables and nuclear.
Smart meters can “contribute to improving the utilisation of existing electricity network
infrastructure, including by reducing the curtailment of renewable energy and facilitating
electrification,” the Commission’s roadmap said.
The roadmap contained seven “flagship actions,” of which the smart meter legislation was one.
