The ambitious plan for an energy transition in Europe now seeks to achieve a low-carbon climate-resilient future in a safe and cost-effective way, serving as an example worldwide. In many European countries, the phase out of nuclear and coal generation has started with a transition to new renewable sources comprising mainly of solar and wind for electricity generation. However, solar and wind are variable energy sources and difficult to align with demand. Hydropower which strongly contributed during the last century to industrial development and welfare, provides high flexibility and storage services required for ensuring energy security and delivering more solar and wind power onto the grid. Hydropower has all the characteristics to serve as an excellent catalyst for a successful energy transition. Building from this extensive programme of consultation, the Hydropower Europe Forum (https://hydropower-europe.eu/) has developed from 2018 to 2022 a Research and Innovation Agenda (RIA) as well as a Strategic Industry Roadmap (SIR). The Consortium is particularly motivated (1) to integrate its RIA and SIR into the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan roadmap establishing links with national authorities and (2) to consolidate its strong networks into a sustainable association serving not only the hydropower sector but the whole renewable energy sector contributing towards the European Green Deal. Built on the more than 600 stakeholders representing all sectors, who actively participated through the Hydropower Europe Forum, ETIP HYDROPOWER will further align and coordinate the industry RIA and SIR strategies to provide consensus-based strategic advice to the SET Plan covering analysis of market opportunities and R&I funding needs, biodiversity protection and ecological continuity. Another goal is, in one with Europe and the latest EU climate and energy related policies, deepening the understanding of innovation barriers and exploitation of research results.

The aim of this proposal is to promote and facilitate technologically, financially, and operationally mature projects from Horizon 2020 to reach deployment phase by means of developing synergies with the ETS Innovation Fund. The overall objective of H2IF is to validate such connection could be effective between promising Horizon funded R&I results and Innovation Fund for hydrogen and energy storage projects. This proof of concept will be made thanks to the scaling-up and submission of 3 projects to the Innovation Fund instrument, all of them having been selected due to their high ‘climate neutrality’ potential, their innovation degree, while already being supported by Horizon 2020.

The transformation of Europe’s energy system creates both challenges and opportunities for the hydropower sector. Hydropower needs to seek out value within the electricity market aligned with other sources of renewable and sustainable energy, whilst operating and building plants in environmentally sensitive and acceptable ways. The call H2020 LC-SC3-CC-4-2018: “Support to sectorial fora”, item 2: “bringing together stakeholders of the hydropower sector in a forum” provides a unique opportunity to bring together the hydropower community and to develop a Research and Innovation Agenda, and a Technology Roadmap mapping implementation of that agenda. These will support implementation of research and innovation for new hydropower technologies and innovative mitigation measures. The HYDROPOWER-EUROPE project delivers these objectives through an extensive programme of stakeholder consultation. The consortium brings together six different associations and networks spanning the whole research and industry value chain. These networks, along with representatives of civil society and European and national authorities, will form the initial stakeholder consultation base. Through an extensive, cyclic programme of consultation – both online and through various regional, European and International workshops – research needs and priorities will be established supporting development of the Hydropower Research and Innovation Agenda. The consultation process also facilitates discussion around issues and perceptions affecting the implementation of hydropower in Europe. Conclusions from this will underpin development of the Technology Roadmap, addressing any issues affecting uptake of the research and innovation agenda. Finally, the HYDROPOWER-EUROPE project will also consider ways in which the forum, established through this initiative, may become sustainable beyond the 3-year project programme, so supporting uptake and implementation of the research and innovation agenda.

INTENSYS4EU aims at addressing the SET-Plan identified novel interacting integration challenges, where - the consumer becomes active and is put at the center of the energy system, - a demand focus that increases energy efficiency across the energy system, - an energy system optimization leading to a secure, cost-effective, clean and competitive energy supply. Energy networks are critical to successfully address the above integration challenges. The project managed by four independent players (ZABALA Innovation Consulting (coordinator), TECHNOFI, RSE and BACHER Energie) involves the technical expertise of the members of four associations (ENTSO-E, EDSO, EASE and EERA) to implement parallel processes in view of defining and implementing a novel approach to the subsequent RD&I strategy for energy networks. The INTENSYS4EU project objectives are : -To provide strategic guidance about the R&I activities (low to high TRL, priorities) raised by the integration issues of the electricity system into the wider European energy system -To interact with the stakeholders of the ETIP SNET (European Technology and Innovation Platform Smart Networks for Energy Transition) at European level as well as the ETIP stakeholders at national and international level. - Setting several long term energy scenarios at European level - Analyzing the on-going research, development and innovation projects in the EU and, when relevant at Member State levels - Enhancing collaboration between projects through a support to the on-going BRIDGE process initiated by the European Commission for the funded R&I projects of Horizon 2020 - Maximizing cross border knowledge sharing about energy system optimization through interaction with national level players - Supporting in fine-tuning the development of an upgraded draft R&I roadmap and its yearly implementation plans for approval at SET plan level,covering integrated network solutions of low (TRL=2) and high (TRL=8) maturity.

Electric vehicles (EV) are expected to play a key role towards a decarbonised transport system and thus contribute to meet EU’s ambitious goal to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, the wide adoption of EVs has been hampered by key barriers, particularly the lack of a well distributed infrastructure for fast and widespread charging. The main objective of HEROES is the development and demonstration of a disruptive hybrid high power/high energy stationary storage system for fast charging of EVs (23 min) to be used in medium-size charging stations connected to the LV grid. The system will take advantage of combining state-of-the-art Li-ion capacitor (LiC) with high power and high energy densities, with Li-ion batteries (LiBs) to store high amounts of energy and serve as back-up when the charging demand of EVs surpasses the LiC and grid connection capacity. The combination will bring a higher efficiency and better performance of the system, as well as longer battery life, as the LiC can protect the LiB from accelerated degradation, more energy from battery cells, simpler and cheaper management, and lower overall system cost, all with a strong sustainable drive. The HEROES system will be a key enabler for the widespread fast charging of EVs, cost-effectively, without the need for major investments in the grid. To achieve this overall objective, the project will include research and development activities of key technological enablers such as the LiC cells and modules, a new Battery Management System, a DC/DC converter specifically developed for high input and output voltage ranges, and Energy Management System (EMS). The prototype system will be demonstrated for the fast charging of EVs in operational environment. The consortium includes partners that cover the full value chain of energy storage, placing the consortium in a perfect position to develop scientific and technological breakthroughs as well as seizing novel market opportunities.