The BundleUp NEXT project builds on the successful experience of BundleUP (Ponto Energia), a PDA project funded by Horizon 2020, which has developed a very effective methodology that resulted in over 32M€ of investment in energy efficiency (EE) projects (32€ for every 1€ of grant) in Portugal. The BundleUP methodology incorporates energy efficiency projects in different stages of development and proceeds to technical, legal and financial development assistance to bring them to the “investor-ready” (or “tender-ready” in case of public sector) stage. The methodology also focuses on grouping small projects in bundles, in order to provide procurement advantages and more attractiveness for investors and building owners. Due to the success of its predecessor and the strength of the consortium partners, BundleUP NEXT has received more than 60 letters of support and the formal endorsement of the Portuguese Deputy Minister for Energy and the national Directorate-General for Energy and Geology BundleUP NEXT will focus on the following project types: LED and public lighting, PV self-consumption, solar thermal, building envelope and electric mobility, creating a complete array of competences to support projects in any part of Portugal. The project is promoted by a concise and powerful consortium composed by PARITY, experts in sustainable energy investment and coordinators of the previous BundleUP project, ADENE, the national energy agency of Portugal with extensive experience in PDA and close ties to the public central administration, RNAE, the national network of local energy and environment agencies, establishing the projects connection to local administration all across the country and SRS, a law firm that was also part of the BundleUP project with extensive experience in the public and energy sectors. The project is expected to leverage up to 50M€ of investment, overcoming its predecessor’s success (around 1:50 leverage factor on the requested grant).

The energy transition causes significant challenges in the building sector, which demand profound changes not only on the economic perspective, such as implementing innovative financial models to overcome financial barriers, but also fostering cooperation between all actors involved, paying particular attention to citizens and communities. It is essential to advance the business cases for energy efficiency measures and to increase support for respective projects, by standardising citizen financing in investment programs. There is therefore a need to consider the role of different actors (public authorities, financial institutions, project developers) and the interactions with innovative citizen models, particularly at the regional/national scale. The main objective of CitizEE is to support European public authorities to scale up investments for energy efficiency in the building sector through attracting citizen private investments. By integrating tailored and widely adopted crowdfunding and cooperative financing schemes with adequate available or to be developed Public Financing Instruments (PFIs), CitizEE will enable to set up large-scale community energy efficiency programs while strengthening know-how of regional/national key stakeholders. The ambition is to put in place a sound enabling legal, financial and operational environment to attract citizen private investments coupled with Public Financing Instruments (PFIs) aimed at: (i)mitigating performance & credit risks, (ii) closing financing gaps, (iii)enlarging citizen access financing, (iv) reducing transaction costs (v) enhancing capacity of local crowdfunding operators and cooperatives and (vi) stimulating the required investment towards higher renovation rates and thus a more efficient building stock.

Many projects of high energy savings potential, both in the private and public sectors, have been identified by building owners, local energy agencies and ESCOs. However, a large number of them consistently fails to reach implementation stage, as they collide with two main barriers: 1) lack of scale to attract professional investors in this project type and/or 2) restrictive Public Procurement procedures that are expensive to prepare and adapt to each project case. - BundleUP will develop a “Ponto Energia”, will bundle projects according to specific characteristics (investment size, technology, geography) using the currently available framework and consolidated procurement procedures to provide projects with scale, improve bankability, investor-trust and result in a faster time-to-market. The action aims at developing at least 58 Portuguese sustainable energy projects with total estimated investments of EUR 49,9m. These projects will trigger around 155 GWh/year of primary energy savings and generate 3,1 GWh/year of renewable energy. - Innovative approaches will be implemented concerning financing models and sources. BundleUP will strongly focus on energy savings projects, including renewable energy self-consumption. The project will make use of existing and innovative financing instruments, combine them with institutional investors (such as investment funds or ESCOs) while stimulating the engagement of citizens and local communities by using crowdfunding and cooperative business models to share the benefits of sustainable energy investment. - By placing Portuguese local and regional energy agencies in a central role, with regard to potential project identification, dissemination and relation with local authorities, companies and stakeholders, BundleUP will put in practice the Energy Agencies’ objective of “acting as an intermediary between the local authority and local players in the energy market.” Moreover, BundleUP will promote the replication of the developed methodology and business-models with knowledge transfer workshops aimed at sharing the knowledge gathered during the project at EU level.

JustWind4All aims to support the acceleration of on- and offshore wind energy through just and effective governance, i.e., the creation of synergies among people and organisations to coordinate and participate in actions around wind energy strategies and deployment. To this end, JustWind4All develops knowledge, practical guidelines, instruments, strategies, and trainings for just and effective decision-making in on- and offshore wind energy governance. This move towards more effective and just decision-making processes and structures is crucial in the context of ambitious EU renewable energy targets, which require installing more and larger on- and offshore wind farms, speeding up the planning and deployment processes whilst ensuring no one is left behind. JustWind4All makes use of a rigorous trans- and interdisciplinary multi-method research design. It combines holistic impact assessment based on a social-ecological approach with techno-economic modelling to assess a variety of social, environmental, technical, and economic impacts and/or benefits to improve decision-making. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies (e.g., case studies, multicriteria mapping) help to investigate ways to foster wind energy citizenship with a particular focus on participation, energy justice and social innovation. Through transdisciplinary knowledge co-production in Wind Labs, JustWind4All makes the most out of novel resources i.e., practices (repowering), technologies (airborne, floating) and regions (e.g., Bulgaria) and engages in knowledge co-production with wind energy governance actors for fit-for-purpose outcomes. A cutting-edge Wind Forum network enables knowledge exchange and dialogue between multiple stakeholders across policy, community, market and third sector – it ensures that JustWind4All’s knowledge, practical guidelines, instruments, strategies, and training activities have maximum impact.

Realising an accelerated expansion of renewable energy will require a switch from centralised to decentralised energy production and greater social participation, together known as energy democracy. The increase in energy democracy and social equity will be an essential part of the clean energy transition. A transition that could represent one of the most fundamental social, economic and technical changes in modern history. The most common businesses associated with social innovation in the renewable energy sector are Cooperatives, Aggregators and Crowdfunding platforms. These businesses facilitate consumers to take a more active role in the electricity system. Achieving sustained growth in energy democracy requires a better understanding of support structures for successful social innovation across technical, legal and economic systems. SocialRES aims to devise more effective ways of increasing social innovation leading to greater social acceptability as well as more durable governance arrangements and socioeconomic benefits. Through research excellence and co-creation of knowledge with relevant stakeholders, SocialRES will develop socially innovative and inclusive strategies for the energy system of the future. SocialRES will supplement the existing fragmented data on social innovations with new understandings from businesses, end-users and stakeholders to provide a comprehensive evidence base for policy design. The project will employ innovative techniques such as a Peer to Peer (P2P) crowd-investing for renewable energy sources (RES) projects, P2P lending and P2P virtual RES energy aggregator platform. The SocialRES team combines partners from a range of disciplines together with industry expertise to develop a comprehensive understanding of the strengths and limitations of the current renewable energy system to foster social innovation and to shape a roadmap for a future, more innovative and equitable system.