Storage is becoming one of the most critical assets for modern energy systems. At the same time storage is a very diverse universe of solutions and technologies with very different characteristics. InterSTORE plans to address this complexity by developing an innovative middleware that, while virtualising the storage technology, will simplify its use from the point of view of integration platform thanks to a technology agnostic approach.The middleware will facilitate the integration of storage creating an independence from hardware solutions which are critical from customer perspectives to avoid vendor lock-in solutions. It will also facilitate its use from a monetisation perspective making sure that more investments in storage are enabled. InterSTORE middleware will be released as a full open-source product integrating a set of already available standards and protocols in a coherent and advanced architecture.The new InterSTORE solution will be tested and validated in a laboratory environment with the goal to develop testing software to be adopted in the future for interoperability certification. The middleware solution will also be integrated both in open source and commercial platforms that will be integrated in 4 real life demos to enhance the flexibility platforms and analyze the user acceptance and economic value of the new solution. Moreover, new and legacy systems will be taken into account. InterSTORE also has a strong focus towards impact. The solution will become part of existing commercial platforms ensuring that a real adoption will be deployed beyond the end of the project. The consortium will ensure that software maintenance will continue beyond the end of the project with the support of Linux Foundation Energy and that the work done will be considered by on-going standardization activities. SSH experts will perform an impact analysis to maximize the economic impact adopting innovative approaches to data monetization in the context of data spaces.

The RE-SKIN project aims at developing an integrated and multifunctional system for energy retrofit of existing buildings, organised in two main subsystems, roof and façade, combined with the building's HVAC system. The roof is equipped with a hybrid photovoltaic-thermal system, which produces electricity and heat and at the same time thermally and acoustically insulates the slab beneath. Electricity, from retrofitted photovoltaic modules, powers the building's loads, which interacts with the grid and EV charging stations. Heat is used by a heat pump for heating and hot water preparation. Solar modules form the outer skin of the roof and replace traditional materials such as tiles and sheets. Through a special treatment, they can take on different colours, depending on the aesthetic and architectural identity of the building. The façade is a thermal cladding with self-supporting panels and bio-based insulation, optimised for quick assembly without scaffolding, inside which the wiring for the new installations and earthquake sensors are housed. Retrofit techniques/components of existing windows are also included. Both the roof and the façade are particularly resistant to weather and extreme climatic phenomena, as they use materials that are more resistant and waterproof than traditional ones. The HVAC system consists of a solar-assisted DC air-water heat pump, connected to smart-fancoils, which are designed to be connected to the building’s heating piping, but can provide both heating and cooling. The whole system is designed according to a circular economy logic, using mostly recycled/bio-based/repurposed/refurbished materials, and is supported by a lifecycle cloud-based DSS and energy management tool, in order to maximise energy performance while reducing environmental impacts. The system can be applied all over Europe, as it provides renewable energy and participates actively and passively in the energy performance of buildings, both in summer and winter.

CONNECT aims to provide concepts, technologies and components that support enhanced integration of renewables and storage combined with intelligent control of the power flow. The demand for primary energy and the carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced and a decentralized energy infrastructure will be facilitated by these solutions. CONNECT investigates new concepts and technologies for power conversion that will be specifically developed for bidirectional power exchange with the grid and for controllable power flow in order to support the extended integration of renewables like PV and local storage. Power quality optimization will be explored in order to avoid unnecessary energy flows in the grid. The enhanced capabilities of the power conversion fit seamlessly to the smart energy management systems researched in CONNECT applicable for single/multiple buildings and quarters. Monitoring approaches and advanced control algorithms will be developed which take into account renewable energy sources, local storage and electric vehicles for peak demand reduction and optimization of local generation, consumption and storage. In order to fully exploit the advantages of the aforementioned technologies it is necessary to enhance the data transmission capacity of the smart grid communication infrastructure. For this purpose CONNECT will develop solutions for high interoperable, high data rate local and wide area communication in the grid with enhanced security in order to protect this critical infrastructure against attacks. Particular effort is spend to minimize the power consumption of the developed solutions. Selected results of CONNECT are planned to be demonstrated not only in lab environment but also in close to real life scenarios.

WInSiC4AP core objective is to contribute in developing reliable technology bricks for efficient and cost-effective applications addressing social challenges and market segments where Europe is a recognized global leader as well as automotive, avionics, railway and defence. WInSiC4AP approach is to rely on the strength of vertical integration allowing optimization, technologies fitting application requirements, developing the full ecosystem and approach relevant issues as reliability in the full scope. That enhances the competitiveness of EU- Industries as well as TIER1 and TIER2 down to the value chain in a market context where other countries today, such as the USA or Japan, are advancing and new players accessing SiC enter in the market. New topologies and architecture will be developed for targeted application simulating operational environment, at laboratory level, driving the needed and still missed technologies, components and demonstrators to fill the gap between current state of the art and the very high demanding specifications. WInSiC4AP framework has been built so that companies working in different domains (i.e. automotive car maker and TIER1-2 and avionics, railway and defence TIER1-TIER2) and in the vertical value chain (semiconductor suppliers, companies manufacturing inductors and capacitors) as well as academic entities and laboratories will collaborate to co-design solutions, solve problems and exchange know-how, such that unforeseen results may also emerge. WInSiC4AP will be supported with synergy between ECSEL JU and ESI funding enabling complementary activities with relevant economic and social impact envisage in a less development region of Union.

Progressus supports the European climate targets for 2030 by proposing a next generation smart grid, demonstrated by the application example “smart charging infrastructure” that integrates seamlessly into the already existing concepts of smart-grid architectures keeping additional investments minimal. The expected high-power requirements for ultra fast charging stations lead to special challenges for designing and establishing an intelligent charge-infrastructure. As emission free traffic concepts are a nascent economic topic also the efficient use of charging infrastructure is still in its infancy. Thus, novel sensor types, hardware security modules, inexpensive high bandwidth technologies and block-chain technology as part of an independent, extendable charging energy-management and customer platform are researched for a charging-station energy-microgrid. Research of new efficient high-power voltage converters, which support bidirectional power flow and provide a new type of highly economical charging stations with connected storage and metering platform to locally monitor the grid state complements the activities. The stations are intended to exploit the grid infrastructure via broadband power-line as communication medium, removing the need for costly civil engineering activities and supplying information to the energy management solutions for utilization optimization. Smart-Contracts via block-chain offer a distributed framework for the proposed energy management and services platform. Furthermore hardware security hardens the concept against direct physical attacks such as infiltration of the network by gaining access to the encryption key material even when a charging station is compromised. Progressus solutions are estimated to enable a carbon dioxide saving of 800.000 tons per year for only Germany, will secure the competitiveness of European industry and research by extending the system know how and will thus safeguard employment and production in Europe.