AI4ES project awarded National Growth Fund Grant to advance responsible AI in energy and sustainability The first ELSA Lab on responsible AI for energy and sustainability

The AI4ES (AI for Energy and Sustainability) project has been awarded €3.7 million funding under the National Growth Fund (NGF) AiNed ELSA Labs program, administered by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This marks a significant step towards integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into the energy sector to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy systems.

About AiNed ELSA Labs

The AiNed Elsa Labs initiative supports interdisciplinary research that combines technological innovation in AI with ethical, legal and societal aspects (ELSA). The program supports collaboration between academia, industry, government and civil society to ensure AI solutions are human-centered, trustworthy and socially beneficial.

AI4ES: Responsible AI for energy and sustainability

The AI4ES project, which is led by the University of Twente, will explore how AI can be applied responsibly within the energy sector, focusing on sustainability and societal impact. The project aims to:

• Investigate the interaction between AI innovation, energy law, and sustainability regulations.
• Co-design frameworks and tools for responsible AI integration in energy systems and policy.
• Engage stakeholders across public, private, and civil sectors to ensure ethical and socially legitimate AI applications.
• Deliver actionable insights for policy guidance, best practices, and scalable models for responsible AI in the energy domain.

By leveraging a quadruple-helix approach, which brings together science, industry, government and society, the AI4ES project will create a collaborative research environment to address real-world challenges in the energy transition.

Receiving the grant enables us to apply the ELSA approach to energy and sustainability through close collaboration with our academic, industry, and social partners. Our objective is to co-produce knowledge and tools that embed ethical, environmental, economic, legal, and societal considerations into the design and deployment of AI-based energy technologies. We are very excited to get started.

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The consortium

The project is led by Thomas Hoppe (University of Twente), with technical project leaders Michel Bourban (University of Twente) and Peter Stegmaier (University of Twente). The consortium includes researchers from UT and JADS, alongsides partners such as KPN, Enexis, Eurofiber, AI-hub Oost-Nederland.

The total project budget amounts to €3.7 million, of which €1.7 million is funded by NWO and €2 million by co-funders.

• Main applicant: Thomas Hoppe (UT).
• Technical project coordinators: Michel Bourban (UT) en Peter Stegmaier (UT).
• Co-applicants: Ewert Aukes (UT), Philip Brey (UT), Salih Çevikarslan (UT), Y. J. Erden (UT), Jos van Hillegersberg (JADS en UT), Imad Ibrahim (UT), Kornelia Konrad (UT), Alexandria Poole (UT), Esther Turnhout (UT), Alexander Vossen (JADS).
• Consortium partners: Gianluigi Bardelloni (KPN), Jasper de Vries (Coolgradient), Dominique Doedens (Endona Energy Cooperative), Mirjam Elferink (Elferink & Kortier Advocaten), Mariëlle Feenstra (Enexis), Michiel Goossensen (&Flux), Marianne Jager (FME), Eric Kuisch (Eurofiber), Lennard Nellestein (CONNECTR),  Jeroen van der Tang (NLdigital), Thijs van Dieren (Electricity Campus), Ruud van Iwaarden (Brainport Development), Chris Willemsen (AI-hub Oost-Nederland, Oost NL), Steffen Woltering (Stadtwerke Gronau GmbH).