The inclusion of the National University of Water and Environmental Engineering (NUWEE) into the SafeCREW consortium represents a significant advancement for the safety and sustainability of drinking water in western Ukraine. The objective is the transfer and adaptation of methodologies and practical approaches developed in SafeCREW to a less developed eastern European country. This objective will be accomplished by leveraging NUWEE's expertise in water research and access to drinking water distribution network infrastructure to adapt and implement the SafeCREW methodologies for the benefit of western Ukraine via 1) monitoring water quality in riverbank filtration (RBF) used for drinking water production; 2) using monitoring results for risk-based planning of future interventions; 3) implementing risk-based management through the creation of Water Safety Plans; 5) adapting hydraulic models and establishing soft sensors for conditions with limited data availability; 6) identifying regulatory and real-life gaps in Ukrainian and European drinking water quality guideline values; and 7) providing a roadmap for the establishment of a Centre for Excellence in Water Management at NUWEE. The activities proposed will be primarily carried out by NUWEE, in collaboration with other SafeCREW partners. This partnership with NUWEE serves as a valuable replication test case for transfer of EU water sector knowledge to less developed states, and is particularly timely for improving the safety and sustainability of drinking water for Ukraine, a candidate for EU accession. NUWEE’s inclusion will not only extend the reach of the EU DWD into Ukraine but also introduce the EU's science-based policy-making approaches to the Ukrainian water sector. By doing so, it will showcase NUWEE as a formidable research partner in eastern Europe and provide NUWEE with the tools to participate in further European research and innovation projects.

The central objective for Eco-UV is the demonstration and characterisation of an innovative UV lamp and driving electronics technology for chemical-free water treatment and disinfection. The newly implemented technology is a ground-breaking innovation providing up to four times increased lifetime with greatly increased efficiency, the energy consumption reduced by 80%. Thus, this technology provides a lower carbon footprint, much improved energy use and hence greatly reduced lifetime costs. Additionally, the innovative technology will be introduced with a mercury-free configuration, removing the need to handle with this hazardous substance in manufacture and disposal, hence providing a sustainable and eco-innovative technology. The project will prove the lamp technology by demonstration in real applications with full characterisation in terms of long-term stability, ageing effects and dose-response-relationship. Furthermore, the UV lamps are integrated in reactors and the performance of the whole UV system is evaluated at a test centre for drinking water. A new testing protocol for different end-users applications will furthermore be derived, which will be the basis for a future standardised validation of industrial UV applications. The technology will be installed at three demonstration sites for an extended running period. At each, the treatment performance of the UV systems will be evaluated according to the inactivation of micro organisms and the reduction of application specific chemicals, e. g. antibiotics and pesticides. A full Life Cycle evaluation of cost and environmental benefits will be disseminated via EU ETV forums to ensure active uptake of the technology offering by comparing it to traditional UV technology in terms of energy, infrastructure and lifetime costs. The proposed UV technology is addressing the thematic priority areas as outlined in the EIP on Water, especially water reuse, water treatment, water governance and the water-energy nexus.

The new policies and the revised renewable energy Directive are fixing ambitious targets for 2030: renewable energy target of at least 32% and an energy efficiency target of at least 32.5%. When the policies are fully implemented, they will lead to a great reduction on emissions for the whole EU, around 45% by 2030 (relative to 1990 GHG emission). The EU framework towards GHG emissions reduction is based in six key areas of action, including the deployment of renewable energy production, decarbonising heating and cooling applications (which vastly relies on fossil fuels), and reducing the emissions on the transport sector. Therefore, the integrated energy markets in the EU shall allow important transformations to provide more flexibility and be better placed to integrate a greater share of renewable energies, allowing also a more independent energy system. In this context, Hydrogen can play a pivotal role as energy vector allowing coupling the energy sectors (produced by electrolysis) , and as an alternative fuel in hard to electrify sectors. To facilitate that a high amount of hydrogen is produced by RE, existent gas infrastructure could be a way of transporting hydrogen between production point and final use. Therefore, hydrogen injection into the gas grid could support gas-electricity sector coupling and opening the role of hydrogen as a way of decarbonising the gas usages. HIGGS project aims to pave the way to decarbonisation of the gas grid and its usage, by covering the gaps of knowledge of the impact that high levels of hydrogen could have on the gas infrastructure, its components and its management. To reach this goal, several activities, including mapping of technical, legal and regulatory barriers and enablers, testing and validation of systems and innovation, techno-economic modelling and the preparation of a set of conclusions as a pathway towards enabling the injection of hydrogen in high-pressure gas grids, are developed in the project.

THyGA main goal is to enable the wide adoption of hydrogen and natural gas (H2/NG) blends by closing knowledge gaps regarding technical impacts on residential and commercial gas appliances. For this purpose, THyGA will: •Screen the portfolio of technologies in the domestic and commercial sectors and assess theoretically the impact of hydrogen / natural gas admixture in order to have a quantitative segmentation of the gas appliance market and a selection of the most adequate products to be tested •Test up to 100 residential and commercial gas appliances (hobs, boilers, CHP, Heat pumps, etc.) and how 200 Million of European gas appliances will react to various H2 concentration scenarios •Benchmark and develop pre-certification protocols (test gases) for different level of H2 in natural gas for coming integration in standardization, these protocols will be validated through tests •Make recommendations for manufacturers, decision makers and end-users along the gas value chain to enable mitigation strategies for retrofit THyGA will provide an extensive understanding of previous projects or studies related to H2NG admixture utilization with domestic and commercial appliances. Through extensive testing programme, the project will establish the impact of hydrogen concentration in natural gas on safety and performances of a large set of domestic and commercial appliances. Hence, THyGA will support recommendations for revising EN or ISO standards or drafting new standards and will fully support and secure FCH-JU’s “Hydrogen Roadmap Europe” (2019). THyGA project gathers 9 renowned partners including 4 research centres, 3 industries, 1 SME, and 1 association covering the whole value chain of natural gas. The extensive advisory panel includes manufacturers, European and International Associations and DSOs included in H2/NG blends projects ensuring a constant challenge of the processed results and a great opportunity for a wide dissemination/communication plan to share results.