White Paper Enabling local energy communities: new infrastructure for decentralized power distribution

White Paper Enabling local energy communities: new infrastructure for decentralized power distribution. Published May 2025

Authors: Dr. Philip Abrahamsson, Head of Engineering, Elonroad, PhD in Industrial Electrical Engineering, Lund University. Expertise in power electronics, electric road systems, and distributed energy infrastructure.

Kim Svedmark, CIO and co-founder of Elonroad, is a Specialist in digital infrastructure, energy system architecture, and scalable technologies for mobility and power systems.

1. Executive Summary 

As cities and regions aim for climate neutrality, local energy communities are emerging as a powerful model for accelerating the transition to renewable energy. These communities rely on the ability to produce, store, and share electricity locally, but today’s grid infrastructure was not designed with such decentralisation in mind. This white paper explores the technical and infrastructural needs of energy communities and highlights how collaborative innovation is helping address these challenges. It draws on the early learnings from

2. Context: The rise of energy communities 

Energy communities empower citizens, businesses, and municipalities to generate, store collectively, and consume renewable electricity. Backed by EU policy initiatives such as the Clean Energy for All Europeans package, they are expected to play a central role in the energy transition. However, their growth is currently hindered by infrastructural and regulatory barriers, including limitations in grid flexibility, the absence of suitable local distribution systems, and a lack of tools to balance supply and demand at a community level. Energy communities need more than solar panels and battery systems to function effectively. They require dynamic infrastructure to manage bidirectional energy flows, connect diverse energy sources, and ensure resilience without central dependencies. 

3. Infrastructure gaps and technical challenges 

Current grid designs assume a unidirectional flow from centralized production to consumers. Energy communities, in contrast, depend on distributed generation, where buildings can act as producers and consumers ("prosumers"). This model introduces several challenges: 

• How to manage local energy flows in real time? 

• How can system resilience be ensured in the event of outages? 

• How do we balance AC and DC loads within the same network? 

• How can dependence on the central grid be reduced while maintaining supply security? 

Addressing these questions requires rethinking the physical and digital layers of the electricity infrastructure. 

4. Technology spotlight: energy routing and programmable power electronics 

One emerging solution is the energy router, a programmable device capable of controlling local energy flows between sources, storage, and loads. Acting as a smart node within a microgrid, it enables multidirectional energy exchange and supports AC and DC ports. At the heart of this system is an Energy Router Operating System (EROS), which coordinates switching decisions in real time. 

EROS is designed to support an open communication protocol—the Energy Protocol (EP)—that enables interoperability across manufacturers and system types. It allows local networks to function autonomously while only interacting with the central grid when necessary. 

5. Applied example: Open Energy Lab and CoAction in Lund 

To explore the practical implementation of these ideas, ViaEuropa and Elonroad have launched Open Energy Lab, a joint initiative focused on enabling local energy networks through advanced power electronics and software systems. Drawing on Elonroad’s experience with high-voltage power electronics in electric road systems, the project adapts these technologies for use in buildings and microgrids. 

The energy routers developed within the Open Energy Lab are being tested in Elonroad’s power lab in Lund. Live building integration is underway as part of the CoAction demonstrator, a large-scale testbed supported by Vinnova to showcase how cities can achieve climate neutrality by 2030. 

6. Early findings and lessons learned 

Initial tests confirm that programmable energy routers can effectively manage local energy distribution, dynamically balancing inputs and outputs based on real-time conditions. Key takeaways include: 

1. Interoperability is essential: Open standards enable more resilient and adaptable systems

2. AC/DC flexibility matters: Supporting both current types expands the range of use cases 

3. Local autonomy increases resilience: By reducing reliance on the central grid, communities can avoid single points of failure

The energy routers' modularity also opens up new business models for shared infrastructure, where different buildings or users co-invest in local systems. 

7. Next steps and broader implications 

Open Energy Lab is continuing development and testing throughout 2025, with plans to expand pilot installations beyond Lund. The architecture is being designed for scalability, with potential applications in public housing, industrial parks, and ports. 

For cities aiming to meet climate neutrality targets, energy routers offer a practical tool to unlock the potential of energy communities. However, further work on regulatory frameworks, system integration, and standardized certification is needed to support broader adoption. 

8. Conclusion 

Energy communities offer a compelling vision for sustainable, citizen-led energy systems. However, we need new infrastructure solutions that support decentralization, flexibility, and resilience to move from vision to reality. Initiatives like Open Energy Lab are emerging as a new generation of power electronics and digital control systems to meet this need. These developments show that energy communities can become foundational to tomorrow’s energy landscape with the right tools and partnerships.