This proposal aims at supporting the work which has been carried out by the secretariat of the European Technology and Innovation Platform on Renewable Heating and Cooling since 2009. The role of the secretariat is to assist the stakeholders of the RHC-ETIP in coordinating activities related to the implementation of a research and innovation strategy to increase the use of renewable energy sources for heating and cooling in line and supporting the targets set by the European Green Deal, as well as to foster the growth and the market uptake of the RHC technologies. The secretariat provides support to the structure of the RHC-ETIP, by organising meetings, events, and relevant consultations, and by assisting with the preparation of relevant documents (both of technical and of political nature) to raise the profile and importance of the renewable heating and cooling sector, and its related technologies. It also provides consensus-based strategic advice to the SET-Plan and will play an active role in the planned update of the SET-Plan in 2022. This proposal keeps the emphasis on the need to enlarge the membership of the RHC-ETIP by involving more closely policy makers and RHC stakeholders on the national level, as well as other relevant stakeholders (i.e. new markets for the H&C demand side, and socioeconomic experts) in its work. This proposal adds stronger emphasis on the RHC industry through establishment of RHC Accelerator and the development of the RHC industrial strategy. By supporting interactions between the many stakeholders representing industry, research and academia, from different renewable heating and cooling technologies, and by further inclusion of complementary sectors and expertise, the SecRHC-ETIP will assist the RHC sector in strengthening its growth and competitiveness both vis-à-vis traditional heating and cooling technologies, as well as with respect to other RES energies and competitors coming from non-EU countries.

This proposal aims at supporting the work which has been carried out by the secretariat of the European Technology and Innovation Platform on Renewable Heating and Cooling since 2011. The role of the secretariat is to assist the stakeholders of the RHC-ETIP in coordinating activities related to the definition and implementation of an innovation strategy to increase the use of renewable energy sources for heating and cooling, and to foster the growth and the market uptake of the relevant industries. The secretariat provides support to the structure of the RHC-ETIP, by organising meetings, events, and relevant consultations, and by assisting with the preparation of relevant documents (both of technical and of political nature) to raise the profile and importance of the renewable heating and cooling sector, and its related technologies. This proposal also addresses the need to enlarge the membership of the RHC-ETIP by involving more closely national policy makers, as well as other relevant stakeholders (related industries, and socio-economic experts) in its work. By supporting interactions between several stakeholders representing industry, research and academia, from different renewable heating and cooling technologies, and by gradually including complementary sectors and expertise, the SecRHC-ETIP will assist the RHC sector in strengthening its growth and competitiveness both vis-à-vis traditional heating and cooling technologies, as well as with respect to competitors coming from non-EU countries.

In STORM a generic district heating and cooling (DHC) network controller will be development and demonstration, with the ambition to increase the use of waste heat and renewable energy sources in the DHC network. The general applicability will be guaranteed by the following measures: - Applying self-learning control techniques instead of model-based control approaches, will make the controller easy to implement in different configuration and generations of DHC networks. - Three control strategies are included in the controller (peak shaving, market interaction, cell balancing). Dependent of the network, one or more of these strategies can be activated. - The controller will be an add-on to many existing DHC network controllers and SCADA systems. To present this general applicability, the controller will be demonstrated in two existing grids: one highly innovative low-temperature DHC network In the Netherlands and a more common medium-temperature district heating grid in Sweden. Since additional value is created by applying the control strategies in the controller, innovative business models should be developed to distribute this value amongst the different market players (producers, transporters, consumers of energy). This will also be addressed in the project. Also a plan will be developed on how the developed controller can be replicated to other countries than the ones of the demonstrators, taking into account different market organizations and legal framework. With respect to dissemination two levels of dissemination will be applied. A international dissemination will address the international research community, DHN network controller suppliers, international energy companies etc… Besides that, an additional local level will be implemented where two local dissemination platforms will be installed integrating all local stakeholders (the energy company, users, local educational institutions, local politicians…). Special attention is foreseen for education.

R-Aces means a step-change in the contribution of European Industry to the climate targets of the EU. The sector after all represents 25% of all energy demand – and 50% of all cooling and heating - on the continent; yet only 16% comes from renewables. By focusing on collective measures and clustering, the efficiency of industry can be drastically increased. The focus of R-Aces therefore is to turn high-potential, high-impact industrial clusters into Ecoregions that achieve at least a 10% reduction in emissions. An Ecoregion is an area where energy, material and information exchanges occur between various companies and actors to reduce waste and energy/material consumption. Each region is centered on an (eco-)industrial park or (eco-)business park, linked to its surroundings by a 4th/5th generation district heating/cooling network. The consortium sees this project as a capping stone, condensing the knowledge and experience gathered throughout H2020 into a set of three focused tools embedded in selected support actions. The tools consist of an assessment tool; legal decision support for joint contracts; and a smart energy management platform for clusters. The support actions are built around peer-to-peer learning, more formal coursework and serious games. Together they enable a cluster to really become an EcoRegion and set up meaningful energy collaboration. The entire package of tools and support is aimed at the high-potential clusters identified in the European Thermal Roadmap. It will be validated in three of them (all are part of the consortium); actively deployed in another seven; and disseminated to ninety of them. In addition, the tools and support methodology will be made available to third parties in a sustainable way after the end of this two-year project. The project consortium consists of the entire value chain needed for energy collaboration – suppliers, ESCO, cluster managers, support – and represents many years of proven experience in this field.