Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) – Working and shaping with stakeholders

The increased use of smart technologies should make buildings fit for renewable energy grids and meet the needs of users. An indicator is intended to help assess and promote the so-called smart readiness of buildings. The Smart Readiness Indicator SRI was first mentioned in 2017 when the European Commission presented the idea of assessing the “smartness” of buildings. A decision on the methodology of an SRI was put into force by regulation from 1.1.2021. This also marked the start of the test phase announced in the EPBD 2018, in which member states can participate.

The introduction of a new indicator is currently particularly challenging, as the European Commission wants to reduce the administrative burden by at least 25% by the end of its term of office under the title “Omnibus”.[1] When introducing a new indicator that entails additional effort, particular attention must therefore now be paid to the cost-benefit ratio and to ensuring that important stakeholders can expect to benefit from it.

Since autumn 2021, there has been an ‘SRI platform‘ for interested stakeholders, which is managed by a consortium around the Belgian research center VITO for the European Commission. This permanent forum is open to all stakeholders (Commission services, representatives of the Member States, interest groups) to exchange information and practices on the implementation of SRI and to make recommendations on possible further developments of SRI. The platform comprises three working groups (WGs) and plenary sessions and operates according to governance rules. While Member State representatives are invited to participate in WG1, WG2 focuses on results from projects, WG3 enables the participation of stakeholders, including industry. Austria is active in several EU projects on SRI and is represented in the working groups.

Stakeholders were identified in the Austrian SRI Demo project funded by the Climate and Energy Fund and in the EU LIFE project SRI2MARKET and approached in coordination with other Austrian EU projects. Two workshops and various individual discussions have taken place so far and information has been provided in writing. In a workshop on September 22, 2025, the SRI Demo project team will present the Austrian proposal for the further development of the SRI developed during the test phase for discussion.

Work with stakeholders has shown that the EU’s offer to participate in the development of the SRI is only taken up by certain interested parties. The industry that is actively involved in the development of the SRI at EU level mainly comprises players from the building technology sector, companies such as Siemens, Honeywell, Danfoss, associations such as Buildwise with around 90,000 Belgian construction companies, research institutions such as the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. The German trade association BDEW and the HEA trade association were only actively involved at the beginning. Austria has been involved since the beginning, primarily through research institutions such as AEE INTEC via projects, as well as the OIB and the responsible ministry BMWET, and through a representative of the company Wittur, which is active in the field of elevators and for the European Lift Association (ELA).

In the course of the work for SRI Demo, it became clear that the potential for energy flexibility in buildings in particular could bring benefits in terms of achieving climate targets and economic advantages. However, stakeholders from the energy industry, especially energy service providers, were hardly involved or active until recently. The discussions started around SRI Demo aroused a certain interest in the potential that the building sector can offer for smart grids. in the stakeholder workshop on 11.11.2024 it was noted:

“Flexibility is seen by energy supply companies as indispensable for achieving climate targets and continuing to guarantee security of supply in line with the economic expansion of the grid. Capacities can also be created in large storage facilities; it will be an economic question whether and how buildings play a role here, but the demand is so great that all potentials are interesting.”

“The stability of the lower grid level is essential for the supply. Continuing as before would require enormous excavation work to reinforce Head of Units. The energy supply companies are therefore interested in reducing peaks through flexibility. This applies to electricity and heating grids.”

“At the lowest voltage level (grid level 7), power flexibility is already helpful from low outputs (100kW) in order to save grid reinforcement costs (cable replacement). However, this requires a secure exchange of information between the grid operator and flexibility.”

This resulted in a concrete proposal for a further development of the existing SRI assessment method, which is currently being developed by AEE INTEC, FH Technikum Wien with the support of AIT, BOKU, TU Wien and IBO.

New service providers, so-called aggregators, can therefore play a special role. End customers should be able to market their flexibility via aggregators.[2] Aggregators are providers on the balancing market that add up or aggregate the smaller effects of individuals into larger effects.[3] With a meaningful SRI, aggregators could screen the building stock and develop offers, particularly for buildings with attractive flexibility and savings potential, based on the direct access to building system data (EPBD 2024 (55)) mentioned above. This is already documented in VITO’s 2nd report[4]: “One stakeholder wanted quantifying indicators for load shifting capacity …”, and “Another stakeholder said he would prefer an SRI based on performance data and not just on the assessment of available smart-ready services/features.”

The proposal for the further development of the SRI is to be submitted by the end of 2025 as Austria’s contribution to the test phase, if possible with the support of stakeholders.

DI Johannes Fechner, IBO, employee in the SRI Demo project