The technical and economic viability of today’s district heating (DH) networks are undermined by transitions to highly efficient building stocks and ineffective business models which fail to benefit all stakeholders. TEMPO tackles this by 1) innovations to create low temperature (LT) networks for increased network efficiency and integration options for renewable and residual heat sources; and 2) new business models to boost network competitiveness and attractiveness for stakeholder investment. In TEMPO, six innovations related to networks, digitisation thereof and building optimisation undergo final development (TRL7-8). The innovations are combined into 3 solution packages suitable for 3 different application areas: new LT DH networks in urban areas, new LT DH networks in rural areas, and existing (HT) networks. The benefits of these solution packages to reduce network temperatures will be demonstrated in 3 selected representative demos. The Vattenfall demo is a new urban LT network whereby solution package 1 will be demonstrated to reduce temperatures and therefore to enable integration of a geothermal energy source and cooling. The Enerpipe demo is a new rural LT network whereby solution package 2 will be demonstrated to reduce temperatures and so can open up the possibility to integrate a renewable energy source at a later stage. The existing network of A2A currently operates at a very high supply temperature. By integrating solution package 3, with particular emphasis on end consumer engagement, reduction in network temperatures will be similarly demonstrated. A comparable monitoring approach will ensure optimal network performance (reliability and durability) assessment and to foster maximal replication options in other areas. Each solution package will be coupled to an innovative business model, which can leverage cost savings due to improved energy efficiency to offset the investment costs. Stakeholder engagement and consumer empowerment will be high pr

In the framework of the achievement of the EU Climate and Energy packages for the decarbonisation of the energy sectors, the integration of variable renewable energy sources will put at stake the stability and provision security of the electricity system: there is a growing need for flexibility provision to ensure a reliable and stable electric system. MAGNITUDE addresses the challenge to rise flexibility in electricity systems, by increasing the synergies between electricity, heating/cooling and gas networks and associated systems. MAGNITUDE will bring technical solutions, market design and business models, to be integrated on ongoing policy discussions. MAGNITUDE will define technological and operational means for maximising flexibility provision to the electricity network. It will identify the regulatory framework to bring such flexibility service to the energy markets and will provide enhanced market designs and related business mechanisms. MAGNITUDE is built upon 7 real life case studies of multi energy systems, located in different European countries, under different regulatory and geopolitical environments and with different technological development levels. It will: 1. Simulate the multi energy systems in the case studies and optimise their operation strategies maximising the provision of specific flexibility services 2. From existing regulations, propose improved market designs, and integrate them in a market simulation platform for evaluating its performance among the case study countries 3. Quantify the benefit of pooling flexibilities from decentralized multi energy systems for energy markets through an aggregation platform. MAGNITUDE results will define policy strategies and recommendations in a pan-European perspective. Achievements will be spread among stakeholders to raise awareness and foster higher collaboration among the electricity, heating and gas sectors to achieve the common goal of a less carbon intensive, yet reliable energy system.

SENERGY NETS aims at demonstrating the technical and economic capability of multi-energy systems to decarbonize the heating and cooling, power and gas sectors through renewable energy sources produced locally as well as sector integration, by primarily focusing on promising infrastructure and business models. To do so, SENERGY-NETS will develop a set of tools and platforms (up to TRL7/8) aimed to optimise the planning of District Heating and Cooling as well as distribution grids with sector coupling consideration and allow the provision of flexibility services to Distribution and Transmission System Operators. These solutions will be implemented on three pilot sites located in Milan (IT), Ljubljana (SI) and Paris (FR) and their replicability will be tested in two additional real case studies presenting alternative climatic, economic and geographic conditions in Västerås (SW) and Cordoba (ES). The SENERGY NETS solutions will be adapted to the main stakeholders at the different phases of the projects development involving sector coupling: long term planning, design and simulation, operational planning, valorisation, evaluation and replication. The project will evaluate the benefits through a consolidated methodology developed to estimate the overall value created by sector integration, relying on the current economic, regulation and market rules and assess the impacts on the European power system. SENERGY NETS relies on a strong trans-disciplinary consortium involving 17 organisations located in 7 European countries, involving renowned experts from public authorities, infrastructure providers, research institutions, entrepreneurs and consumers associations. Altogether, they will provide the necessary knowledge, expertise and capacities to develop, demonstrate and evaluate developed tools and services enabling the integration of multi-energy systems to provide flexibility to the power system, and ultimately enable the decarbonisation of the energy system.

It is in urban areas that the demand for heating and cooling demand assumes highest density. At the same time a huge amount of low-grade waste heat is diffused within the urban texture, the largest amount being rejected by air-conditioners, cooling systems in industrial processes and tertiary buildings (i.e. dry coolers and wet cooling towers), datacentres’ chillers and supermarkets’ refrigeration systems. Moreover, for historic reasons, cities have born along rivers, lakes and seashores. All these sources make low-temperature renewable energy available, which utilisation is highly replicable because it is accessible right where it is needed. Having this in mind, the overall objective of REWARDHeat is to demonstrate a new generation of low-temperature district heating and cooling networks, which will be able to recover low-grade renewable and waste heat available at low temperature. Focusing on the exploitation of the energy sources available within the urban context allows to maximize the replicability potential of the decentralized solutions developed in the project. REWARDHeat will promote punctual metering, thermal storage management, network smart control as means to enable and optimise the exploitation of renewable and waste heat in DHC networks. At the same time, this approach permits a change of paradigm with respect to the business models devised: thermal energy will not be seen as a commodity anymore, rather it will be sold as a service to the customers.