The rapid expansion of renewable energy requires reliable, transparent, and interoperable data on energy plants and their environmental contexts. Although detailed location and technical data are collected by numerous actors in research, administration, and industry, these efforts remain highly fragmented. Heterogeneous data formats, standards, and processing workflows, combined with limited transparency regarding data provenance and updates, lead to duplicated work, inconsistent results, and inefficient use of resources. This significantly hampers evidence-based decision-making in energy planning, environmental assessment, and policy design.

REDataNet addresses these challenges by establishing a coordinated network of key stakeholders and developing a shared digital infrastructure for renewable energy plant data in Germany. The project brings together research institutions, public authorities, and other relevant actors to structure collaboration along the entire data processing chain – from data collection and preparation to enrichment, documentation, dissemination, and reuse. Through a moderated network process, existing data sources, workflows, overlaps, and stakeholder needs are systematically identified.

A central objective of the project is the development of a common semantic metadata standard for renewable energy plants and their environmental attributes. Building on existing ontologies, the standard ensures interoperability across datasets and disciplines while explicitly documenting data provenance and processing steps in line with the FAIR data principles. The technical core of REDataNet is a data platform integrated into the EE-Monitor website, linking registries and data services and providing tools for automated data collection, validation, and collaborative enrichment. Through targeted outreach and continuous network expansion, REDataNet promotes sustainable adoption of the developed standards beyond the project duration.