Digitized Energy Systems and Open-Access Platforms: Accelerating Cities’ Transition to Carbon Neutrality

Urban environments encounter urgent challenges in transitioning to net-zero emissions, particularly with respect to the adoption and large-scale incorporation of renewable energy solutions such as photovoltaic (PV) technologies. This study explores the interrelation of digitized energy systems, digital twins, and open-access platforms in accelerating effective PV deployment in cities moving toward carbon neutrality. We examine how digital tools can enhance PV performance, demand-side management, and grid integration, while open-access platforms contribute to data sharing, raising awareness, public engagement, and stakeholder collaboration. We also present BIPV-city—a novel, open-access, digital, and climate-aware platform developed to support and optimize PV integration in building and urban areas. Validations of the solar irradiance calculations against PVGIS for several European cities exhibit a strong agreement, with a root mean square error (RMSE) extending from 3.3 to 7.6. The validation of the standardized BESTEST Case 600 against TRNSYS simulations for three representative climates—Athens, Prague, and Dubai—with tilt variations confirmed substantial alignment for plane-of-array (POA) radiation (within ±2% and ±6% for the global and direct/diffuse components, respectively) and annual PV yield estimations (within ±10%). The findings highlight that the BIPV-city platform is a reliable, user-friendly tool that can harness climate-responsible and scalable BIPV deployment in the built environment through digital innovation.