INNO-TREC

Full Project Name: INNOvative Transactive Renewable Energy Communities
Acronym: INNO-TREC
Programme: Horizon Europe – Innovation Actions (HORIZON-IA) (HORIZON-CL5-2024-D3-02-06)
Grant Agreement: 101160614
Duration: 01/2026 – 06/2029
Websites:

• https://inno-trec.eu/
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/inno-trec/
• https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101230578

Project Overview

INNO-TREC aims to revolutionize how Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) operate by introducing a transactive energy model that enhances profitability, social inclusion, and technological innovation.

The project develops and validates a comprehensive framework for RECs built around:

• An energy credits platform enabling decentralized value exchanges
• An AI-driven Decision Support System (DSS) for intelligent energy management
• A federation of interoperable platforms for cross-sector data exchange
• Secure data transfer using Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)
• Open APIs and standardized data models to ensure scalability and interoperability

INNO-TREC empowers citizens and communities with user-friendly, web-based digital tools that facilitate energy value transactions, optimize PV performance, and strengthen community engagement.

The solutions will be demonstrated in six countries: Portugal, Greece, Belgium, Ireland, UK, and Italy.

Cleanwatts Digital’s Role

Cleanwatts Digital (CWD) plays a central role in INNO-TREC as Technical Leader and leader of Work Package 7 (WP7), focusing on:

• Demonstration activities
• Social sciences integration
• Business innovation and exploitation

CWD coordinates the Portuguese DEMO site in Chaves, targeting energy poverty in rural communities, which will:

• Support vulnerable residents through PV generation and social tariffs
• Test innovative transactive energy mechanisms
• Validate non-monetary energy exchange models
• Implement and test the energy credits platform in a real-world rural context

CWD integrates its proprietary digital tools — Kiome®, Kisense®, and Kiplo® — as part of the project’s Key Exploitable Results (KERs), strengthening their application within REC optimization and market integration.

Strategic Relevance for Cleanwatts Digital

INNO-TREC directly reinforces CWD’s mission to:

• Empower communities through digital energy solutions
• Promote local energy autonomy
• Foster energy equity and social inclusion
• Decentralize energy markets

The project provides a real-world validation environment for tariff optimization, self-consumption maximization, and innovative REC governance models. It strengthens CWD’s positioning in:

• Digital REC orchestration
• Transactive energy systems
• Socially inclusive business models
• AI-powered energy management

This is a critical step toward scalable, commercially viable REC solutions that integrate both technological and social innovation.

Key Innovations

INNO-TREC introduces:

• A decentralized energy credits platform reducing reliance on traditional wholesale markets
• AI-based forecasting and tariff optimization
• Distributed ledger-enabled secure transactions
• Social tariff mechanisms integrated into REC structures
• Cross-sector interoperability through open digital architecture

The project embeds Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) expertise to ensure that solutions are inclusive, accessible, and tailored to community needs — not just technologically advanced, but socially transformative.

Expected Impact

• Reduced energy costs for REC members through smart tariff switching
• Increased local value retention within communities
• Replicable transactive REC models across Europe
• Scalable digital infrastructure for decentralized energy markets
• Measurable contribution to reducing energy poverty

Consortium & Funding

INNO-TREC is supported by the European Union’s Horizon Europe program under Grant Agreement No. 101230578. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.