European Data Space for Smart Communities

Data Spaces for Positive Energy Districts (DS4PED)

DS4PED transforms cities into data-driven, sustainable urban environments by connecting energy, mobility and environmental planning through sovereign data sharing in Rubí and Sofia.

DS4PED project overview Project active

2Pilot cities

2Federated data spaces

EUOpen standards

What DS4PED stands for

DS4PED = Data Spaces for Positive Energy Districts.

Unlocking sovereign, interoperable data sharing across energy, mobility and urban planning to build sustainable, climate-resilient communities.

Built on the official European Data Space for Smart Communities blueprint, DS4PED combines established European data sharing protocols like Gaia-X, Eclipse Dataspace Components and OASC Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms, so municipalities can share data safely across sectors.

Motivation

The DS4PED pilot aims to empower public administrations to facilitate the following changes in their respective communities.

Solving energy imbalances to reduce energy inequality and poverty

Cities can ensure that energy surpluses are distributed to the consumers who need them most, when they need them most. In the DS4PED pilot, tokens will be used during peak demand times or when solar production is low, ensuring that vehicle charging always uses renewable energy.

Administrative cost savings

By digitalising and automating their energy management with more and better data — enabled by a data space and digital twins — cities can reduce the administrative, legal and contractual challenges of managing energy communities on their journey to financially sustainable Positive Energy Districts.

Cities will be able to certify their PED

Proof of Renewable Energy Source gives energy users a guarantee that their energy comes from renewable sources. The traceability solution piloted tracks the energy flow from solar generation to consumption, ensuring that electric vehicles are charged with 100% renewable energy — and it can scale to other applications within the PED.

Measure urbanisation impact on the environment

By integrating data from mobility, energy and environmental sensors, the modelling and prediction of the impact on the urban environment becomes possible, enabling targeted interventions for mitigation. With climate projections, the project assesses long-term impacts, supporting climate-resilient urban planning.

How DS4PED works

Connect. Govern. Act.

Connect

Data providers plug into DS4PED's Empower-x & Sofia data spaces through compute to data & connectors. Nothing is copied to a central platform — data stays where it lives.

Govern

Data stays local under owner-defined rules. Smart algorithms analyze information on-site without moving raw files, guaranteeing data control.

Act

Cities issue proof that EVs charge on local solar energy, while Digital Twins simulate heat resilience and rooftop solar potential.

European Data Space for Smart Communities

2 use cases, real world proof.

Rubí, Catalunya (Spain) · Energy certificationCatalunya (Spain) · Renewable energy certification

How can cities power EV fleets with 100% solar energy when charging occurs mostly at night?

To offset nighttime EV charging demand without investing in costly physical battery storage, Rubí synchronizes 31 municipal photovoltaic installations with electric vehicle charging points. By tokenizing daytime solar surpluses into digital certificates of origin (ZEAC tokens), the city digitally guarantees 100% green mobility. Beyond electric mobility, the pilot integrates 373 data sources across 353 supply points (CUPS) and 20 chargers, publishing 12 active data products covering public lighting, pumping stations, and waste management containers.

Rubí pilot ecosystem: use case leads, carsharing users and operators, charging points, energy community and the Zertifier solution facilitated by the Empower-X data space — Rubí pilot ecosystem: use case leads, carsharing users and operators, charging points, energy community (prosumers) and the Zertifier tokenisation solution, facilitated by the Empower-X data space.

31 PV installations15 charging points

Rubí pilot (Solar energy & electric mobility) · Standards

MIM1Context data management · NGSI-LD

MIM2Energy data models · SAREF

MIM3Sovereign data exchange · EDC / Contracts

MIM6Digital identity & security · DIDs and VCs

MIM9Analytics & Compute-to-Data · Analysis tools

Aerial view of Sofia for the urban Digital Twin pilot

Sofia, Bulgaria · Climate resilience

How can a 3D map of the city help residents install solar panels and combat extreme heat?

Sofia built an interactive 3D digital model of the city that calculates the exact solar potential for every rooftop. Building owners get clear solar investment recommendations, while city planners use the same data to simulate heatwaves and improve neighborhood air quality.

Data space architecture for the Sofia use case — DS4PED: Sofia Use Case & Value

13 data offerings5 simulation tools

Sofia pilot (Urban digital twin & climate) · Standards

MIM1Sensor & transport data · NGSI-LD

MIM3Contract exchange & negotiation · EDC / Contracts

MIM6Digital identity · DIDs and VCs

MIM7Geospatial data · 3D CityGML

MIM8Local digital twins · Urban models

Who shares data, what the data space does, who benefits

Rubí, Catalunya (Spain) · Energy certification

Partner data flows into a data space operated by Zertifier. Solar surplus becomes ZEAC tokens, so night-time EV charging is certified 100% renewable.

Data providers

Rubí Municipality31 PV sites, chargers, municipal assets
DatadisStatic consumption data per CUPS
SIORDReal-time energy data
EtecnicCharging point operator data
Som MobilitatCar-sharing and EV charging data
The Mobility FactoryMobility data
AELECEnergy-sector association data

Data space

Empower-X data space

Operated by Zertifier

i2CAT data space testbed

Connectors and identity authority
Federated metadata catalogue
Sandbox and governance portal

ZertiPower Web3 platform

Aggregates energy data
Mints ZEAC tokens (1 token = 1 kWh)
Smart contracts and usage policies

Distributed ledger

Traceability of renewable origin
Automatic settlement
End-to-end audit trail

Beneficiaries

Rubí MunicipalityPED certification, lower energy costs
EV usersVerified 100% renewable charging
ProsumersSurplus solar sold as ZEAC tokens
Charging point operatorsRenewable claims, flexibility markets
Energy providers / DSOsGrid stability, flexibility signals
Tech innovators / SMEsAPIs, sandbox, interoperable data

Public anchor providerEnergy data platformsPrivate partners

How a kilowatt-hour of sun reaches an EV at night

DaySolar surplusPV sites inject surplus energy
DayZEAC minted1 verified kWh = 1 ZEAC token
Day to nightStored as a tokenOrigin kept, no battery needed
NightRedeemed at the chargerToken used for the EV session
NightCertified charge100% renewable, recorded for audit

How data spaces is built

2 cities, 2 data spaces, 1 common blueprint

See how each pilot city connects its data sources, platforms and connectors into one secure data space.

Architecture

Reading the architecture

1
Data sources
EV chargers, solar panels and smart meters.
2
ZertiPower
Data ingestion, harmonisation and renewable-energy traceability.
3A
DeltaDAO Clearing House
Decentralised identity, credential verification and policy-based access.
3B / 3C
Connectors
Bridge to external data marketplaces and blockchain for tokenisation.

Data space architecture for the Rubí use case, based on the ZertiPower platform.

Impact at a glance

Real-world operational numbers and proven outcomes from DS4PED use cases.

Rubí · Spain

12%

District energy cost reduction

Targeted annual reduction in municipal energy expenditure achieved through smart data balancing.

Rubí · Spain

373

Integrated data sources

Connecting 353 supply points (CUPS) and 20 municipal EV chargers across Rubí.

Rubí · Spain

~3M

Annual data points processed

High-frequency energy, mobility, and environmental sensor data managed securely per year.

Sofia · Bulgaria

Data offerings in Sofia

Cataloged public data assets published by the Sofia urban data space.

Sofia · Bulgaria

Digital Twin simulation tools

Simulation tools running on the Sofia Local Digital Twin platform.

Sofia · Bulgaria

26+ GPU

Big Data infrastructure nodes

High-performance nodes powering Sofia's digital twin analytics.

Data sovereignty by design

Your data stays yours.

DS4PED runs on Eclipse Dataspace Components connector (Sofia) and Ocean Compute to Data (Rubí) technology. Data providers keep full control and ownership of their data at all times; an accepted usage policy governs every exchange, so nothing moves without one, and each transaction is GDPR-compliant by design.

Connector-based access

Each municipality connects through its own sovereign data connector—no central data lake.

Usage policies enforced

Access rules travel with the data: every transaction is governed by terms the city sets.

GDPR by design

Cities keep full ownership; sharing is private, compliant and EU-aligned by default.

Transparent traceability

Every exchange is auditable and traceable across energy, mobility and urban planning data.

Project consortium

A consortium built for real deployment

Coordinated by Factual Consulting, DS4PED brings together pioneering European organizations across municipal governance, data space technology, energy grids and electric mobility.

Project Leadership & Public Authorities