On Sept. 29, the European Space Agency opened a call developed with Slovenian grid operator ELES for operational services using Earth observation, satellite communications and navigation technologies. The initiative is designed to support commercial services based on satellite data, artificial intelligence and digital twins. It also targets a potential shift in part of grid investment from physical equipment towards continuously purchased data and analytics.
Applications are open until Nov. 27. Projects can receive zero-equity ESA co-funding covering as much as 50-80% of costs depending on company status and national approval. Slovenia has already pre-authorised funding for eligible domestic applicants.
Operational services and market-ready business models
The programme is not primarily a research exercise. ESA is seeking market-ready concepts with sustainable commercial business models and operational customers. The call is therefore positioned as an operational development effort rather than a laboratory trial.
Planned use cases include renewable-generation and demand forecasting, congestion analysis, dynamic thermal ratings and infrastructure monitoring. Other listed applications cover predictive maintenance, vegetation management and the integration of external data into grid digital twins. Several services are described as deliverable without building additional substations or transmission lines.
Satellite-derived weather information is cited as a way to improve forecasts of solar irradiation, wind conditions and ambient temperature. Those inputs can be used to refine renewable forecasts and load-flow calculations. The same weather inputs can also support dynamic thermal ratings for overhead lines.
Dynamic thermal rating is described as varying the available capacity of an overhead line according to temperature, wind and other real-time conditions rather than relying on a conservative static limit. The approach is presented as a way to release additional transmission capacity from existing infrastructure. Satellite imagery is also referenced for identifying vegetation encroachment, landslides, wildfire exposure and other physical threats along long transmission corridors.
Grid intelligence as a continuously updated service
The commercial model differs from traditional utility procurement. Instead of purchasing a sensor or an engineering project once, grid operators could subscribe to continuously updated datasets and analytics. A technology company could package satellite information, terrestrial sensors and artificial intelligence into an operational product used by control-room engineers.
ELES is highlighted as an environment for testing because Slovenia has a heavily interconnected electricity system and significant renewable-development ambitions. Network constraints are described as increasingly influenced by weather-dependent generation and regional power flows. The programme notes that successful outcomes could create export opportunities.
It also points to similar challenges across Southeast Europe’s transmission and distribution networks, including ageing infrastructure, renewable integration, vegetation risks and extreme weather. The stated pressure is to extract more capacity from existing lines before expensive reinforcement is completed through permitting and construction processes that can take years.
Digital twins, resilience links and risk-informed maintenance
The programme links improved information with insurance and resilience considerations. Better information about wildfire, flood and landslide exposure is described as supporting maintenance planning and helping utilities and insurers quantify infrastructure risks more accurately. Digital twins are described as combining those datasets with actual grid topology and equipment condition.
The initiative is framed as testing whether grid data itself can become a scalable energy-sector product. It describes a future grid contractor that may not necessarily manufacture transformers or construct transmission towers, instead selling continuously updated information that helps existing infrastructure carry more electricity, fail less often and require earlier intervention.