VSL B.V.
VSL
VSL manages and develops primary measurement standards and primary reference materials on behalf of the Dutch government.
ID: 169860499056-18
Lobbying Activity
Response to Roadmap for artificial intelligence and digitalisation for energy (RAID-E)
13 Oct 2025
Dear European Commission, We welcome very much your initiative for a strategic roadmap for digitalisation and AI in the energy sector in order to leverage the potential of digital technologies. This is a highly important topic that needs a coordinated, long-term vision, avoiding fragmentation and isolated initiatives. In the framework of the currently running European Partnership for Metrology (EPM), the project Metrology for Reliable Grid Data Analytics (GridData, https://griddata.inrim.it/) is at this very moment performing research very much in line with the aims you mention that need to be tackled. Several European National Metrology Institutes (NMIs), universities, research centres and grid operators are closely working together to formulate a shared, European response from a metrology perspective. I.e., By combining models of measurement instruments and trained AI models we develop and test methods for assessing data quality in a quantitative way; We are setting up a framework for assessing proposed AI-based methods in terms of transparency and explainability as well as uncertainty, robustness, generalisability to situations that may not have been included in the training data. We also aim at defining clear bounds on the applicability of each method. Best practices as identified by us will be shared, as well as datasets that will enhance transparency and risk oversight of both the AI algorithms as well as the proposed testing procedures. You will understand that this 3-year European project will not be able to fully tackle all aims during the short lifetime of the project and that the proposed ideas will need further development before they will be widely accepted by industry. As GridData consortium we therefore fully agree with your statement that research organisations, amongst which NMIs can be counted, need to share best practices and pool resources. We believe that the particular research area of metrology is making an essential contribution to making AI-based solutions trustworthy and acceptable to society in general, in particular when physical measurements are involved, like in the electrical power grid. However, probably due to the successful implementation of the metrological infrastructure in society, this is often overlooked. We therefore think that further EU action is needed to coordinate efforts across different EU policies to leverage the potential of digital and AI technologies for the energy system. In particular we would like to stress that measures facilitating continued cooperation by European NMIs within a joint European Metrology initiative is essential for properly addressing the metrological challenges associated with the digitalisation of the energy sector.
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