ExpectedOutcome:
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- Increased availability of tools, guides and interoperable solutions for planning, design, development and management of Positive Energy Districts (PEDs).
- Improved integration of energy (e.g. distributed renewable energy generation, waste heat utilisation, storage) and non-energy sectors (e.g. mobility) within PEDs.
- Improved integration of PEDs in energy systems and improved contribution of PEDs to energy grid robustness with regard to dependencies to energy supplies.
- Increased social entrepreneurship and citizen participation and engagement in energy communities.
- Increased participation of consumers and energy communities in the value chain of the energy system.
Scope:
Recent projects have demonstrated positive energy districts, but there is a need to demonstrate fully interoperable solutions that include improved energy efficiency coupled with a better integration of local renewables and local excess heat sources within the district. In parallel, the interoperability of positive energy districts with the urban and renewable energy system in which they are embedded needs to be enhanced through effective solutions that will allow interaction and integration between buildings, the users and the regional energy, mobility and ICT systems.
Projects are expected to address all of the following:
- Develop solutions (products, tools, etc.) for planning and managing assets (e.g. buildings, energy systems, mobility systems, ICT) in positive energy districts.
- Develop tools and methods for planning and designing PEDs, that support PED developers and managers to optimise the mix of PED solutions depending on the local conditions.
- Develop data exchange platforms (heat & electricity) and technologies to integrate buildings with energy markets (e.g. flexibility market) relying on available standards (e.g. SAREF), allowing buildings to contribute effectively to grid stabilisation at district / city level.
- Develop methodologies and/or planning tools for the optimal integration of distributed renewable generation and excess heat at district (or building) level.
- Develop innovative business models for integration of PEDs in the energy markets including technological, financial and regulatory aspects.
- Deploy and test certification and standardisation frameworks for interoperable solutions in positive energy districts.
- Demonstrate the proposed solutions in at least three PEDs to promote replication, upscaling and mainstreaming.
To ensure interoperability and integration into the grid, projects should make use of operational end-to-end architectures, digital platforms and other data exchange infrastructure for the energy system being developed under ongoing Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe as well as under other EU programs such as the Digital Europe Program, when addressing communication and data exchange between inverters and other components, other appliances and the electricity network.
The selected projects are expected to contribute to the BRIDGE initiative[1], actively participate to its activities and allocate up to 2% of their budgets to that end. Additional contributions to the ‘Alliance for Internet of Things Innovation’ (AIOTI) and other relevant activities (e.g. clusters of digital projects and coordinating actions) might be considered, when relevant.
Specific Topic Conditions:
Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-8 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.
[1]https://www.h2020-bridge.eu/
