MAS4TE
As Europe accelerates its green transition, EU-funded project MAS4TE is exploring how artificial intelligence, blockchain and digital twins can reshape the way citizens produce, store and trade energy. We spoke with Dr Clara Maathuis, Co-Principal Investigator of the project, about trust, security and the future of cross-border energy communities.
Europe’s energy landscape is changing rapidly. Rooftop solar panels, local battery systems and small-scale renewables are turning citizens into energy producers. Yet while production is becoming decentralised, the way energy is traded remains largely centralised. Across borders, regulations, infrastructures and market rules often prevent households from directly benefiting from the surplus power they generate.
The MAS4TE project - short for MultiAgent Systems for Trading Energy - is tackling this challenge head-on. Funded through the Interreg Meuse-Rhine programme, as well as the Province of LImburg, MAS4TE is developing an intelligent, secure and cross-border energy trading platform that brings together AI agents, blockchain, battery storage and digital twins to allow communities in Wallonia, Limburg and North Rhine–Westphalia – who are also cofounding this project - to share renewable energy in smarter ways.
For Maathuis, Assistant Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Security at the Open University and Co-Principal Investigator of the project, MAS4TE is first and foremost about empowerment. “Our main goal is to empower citizens and smaller organisations,” she explains. “People already produce green energy, for example with solar panels on their roofs. But in many cases, they are not able to actively use or trade their surplus in a way that truly benefits them.”
In countries like Germany, local energy trading is already partially possible, under restrictions. In the Netherlands, however, surplus energy produced by households is still largely fed back into the grid without allowing individuals to directly trade it. MAS4TE aims to demonstrate and show a near-future perspective on how communities could pool their surplus, store it, and redistribute it intelligently - even across national borders.
Instead of relying solely on national energy markets, the project introduces a community-based trading model. Energy generated in one household can be stored in shared batteries and later used by another household, depending on daily needs, working schedules or even holiday plans.
AI meets blockchain
The engine behind MAS4TE is a sophisticated combination of artificial intelligence, blockchain technology and digital twins. AI plays a dual role in the system. On one level, it acts as a technical intermediary, framework that connects batteries, storage systems and energy flows. On another level, it serves as the user interface and communication, translating human preferences into system actions.
“Users can simply tell the system what they want - to buy, sell, store, or reduce energy use,” says Maathuis. “The AI agent takes these requests and turns them into technical instructions.”
Once a trading decision is made, blockchain ensures that the transaction is executed securely and transparently. Instead of traditional payments, MAS4TE uses tokenisation and smart contracts to manage financial settlements.
“In simple terms, blockchain is a decentralised network,” Maathuis explains. “Transactions are not controlled by a single authority but shared across multiple connected systems. Smart contracts are small pieces of software that implement the rules - they make sure every transaction follows agreed conditions automatically.”
This combination of AI decision-making and blockchain enforcement allows the platform to operate efficiently without central control, while remaining fully transparent to users.
As an expert in responsible and trustworthy AI, Maathuis insists that MAS4TE is not just about efficiency - it is also about trust, safety and ethics.
“From the very beginning, we designed the system with security and privacy by design using only the information that is strictly necessary.”, she says.
Security is addressed across all layers of the system. At the physical level, safety controls are applied to batteries to prevent failures. At the digital level, the AI agents are tested against security threats such as prompt injection attacks, where malicious inputs could manipulate system behaviour.
The blockchain layer is built on Ethereum, chosen for its robustness and transparency, while open-source language models such as Mistral are used to ensure auditability. On top of this, digital twins replicate physical batteries and energy infrastructures in virtual form, allowing the team to simulate storage behaviour, efficiency and system responses safely before real-world deployment.
“All communication between physical devices, digital twins, AI agents and blockchain must be secure,” Maathuis explains.
“Otherwise, trust would collapse immediately. In other words, you cannot add security at the end. Responsible design must be built into the system from the very beginning, otherwise you lose the advantage entirely.”
Testing in real life
MAS4TE is already moving from theory to practice through a series of collaborative pilot activities developed jointly by research, industry and regional partners. The first step took the form of a workshop in Germany, focusing on the co-design and system integration of solutions at battery level, alongside early digital simulations that laid the foundations for the project’s digital twins. The second major workshop will take place in Belgium in March, bringing together municipalities, community representatives and energy stakeholders. This collaborative setting will support the project’s first large-scale assessment, shared learning and knowledge exchange, placing citizens at the centre of the development process.
“We are inviting municipalities, energy organisations and sustainability actors,” says Maathuis. “The goal is not only to demonstrate the technology, but to learn
when it doesn’t, and how individual choices affect the wider community.”
The long-term vision includes integration with smart cities, electric vehicles, IoT infrastructures, and eventually Europe-wide energy networks. By analysing different regional behaviours, climate conditions and consumption patterns, the platform could evolve into a highly adaptive energy ecosystem.
“In Limburg, energy behaviour is different from the Randstad. Housing, climate, lifestyle - everything plays a role,” Maathuis notes. “Understanding these differences helps us design better systems.”
Shaping future policy
As a cross-border initiative, MAS4TE is well positioned to inform future European energy policy, particularly where regulations lag behind technological possibilities in peerto-peer trading and decentralised markets.
“We hope to show policymakers that combining multiple digital technologies responsibly can lead to more effective energy systems,” Maathuis says. “AI alone is not enough - it needs infrastructure, hardware, governance and societal acceptance.”
“Our main goal is to empower citizens and smaller organisations. People already produce green energy, for example with solar panels on their roofs. But in many cases, they are not able to actively use or trade their surplus in a way that truly benefits them.”
directly from stakeholders what they need, what concerns them and how we can adapt.”
Further pilots will focus on digital twins in Heerlen and Liège, where virtual models of 40 households in total will simulate energy flows, storage behaviour and trading dynamics.
Special attention is also given to training and accessibility. Many of the target users include elderly residents and households with limited digital experience.
“We don’t assume that everyone is digitally confident,” Maathuis explains. “That’s why we combine direct engagement, workshops, educational material and handson support.”
The project also explores how behavioural change can support the energy transition. “It’s not only about giving people tools,” says Maathuis. “It’s also about raising awareness - when it makes sense to trade,
The Multi-Agent Systems for Trading Energy
Project Objectives
The MAS4TE project aims to develop a multi-agent energy trading platform that integrates Agentic AI, blockchain, digital twins, and battery storage technologies to support peer-to-peer energy sharing, reduce energy costs for social houses, enhance grid stability, and strengthen cooperation between Wallonia, Limburg, and North Rhine-Westphalia within the European energy transition.
Project Funding
The Interreg MR project Multi Agent Systems For Trading Energy on the Blockchain (MAS4TE) is co-financed by the Interreg Euregio Meuse-Rhine program and has a total budget of €2,220,119.68 with additional co-funding from the region of Wallonia (BE), the province of Limburg (NL) and the state of North Rhie-Westphalia (DE).
Project Partners
• Open Universiteit
• Boosting Alpha
• Climate Cities
• University of Liege
• FH Aachen - University of Applied Sciences
• Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
Contact Details
Project Coordinator, Clara Maathuis
Organisation details would be: Open Universiteit
Valkenburgerweg 177 6419 AT Heerlen
The Netherlands
T: +31 (0)45 576 28 88
E: info@ou.nl
W: https://www.interregmeuserhine.eu/en/ projects/mas4te/
Co-creation is central to this approach.
The project actively engages municipalities, citizens, industry and sustainability organisations, while scientific results from the pilots feed back into the research community.
Alongside public engagement, the consortium is also actively publishing scientific results, ensuring that insights from the pilots feed back into the wider research community.
“We can only build these systems together,” Maathuis reflects. “Energy transition is not only a technological challenge - it is a societal one.”
As MAS4TE continues to unfold, it offers a compelling glimpse into a future where neighbourhoods, cities and even countries may one day trade energy as easily as information - securely, transparently and for the benefit of all.
Clara
is
Professor in Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Security at OU since 2019. She conducts research on building responsible, secure, and trustworthy AI systems in critical societal domains. In the MAS4TE Interreg project, she is Co-PI working on the AI and security components while supporting the group in research and governance terms.
