SO WHAT main objective is to develop and demonstrate at TRL8 an integrated software which will support industries and energy utilities in selecting, simulating and comparing alternative Waste Heat and Waste Cold (WH/C) exploitation technologies that could cost-effectively balance the local forecasted H&C demand also via RES integration. The SO WHAT integrated tool will be designed to support industries, and energy utilities in 1) auditing the industrial process to understand where WH/WC could be valorised 2) mapping the potential of locally available RES sources to be integrated with WH/WC potential 3) mapping the local forecasted demand for heating and cooling 4) define and simulate alternative cost-effective scenarios based on WH/WC technologies also leveraging TES introduction 5) evaluate the impacts (in terms of energetic, economic and environmental KPIs) that the adoption of the new scenarios will generate against the current situation (i.e., baseline) both at industrial and local level 6) promoting innovative contractual arrangements and financing models to guarantee economically viable solutions and less risky investments. To do so SO WHAT will capitalize already existing tool and knowledge from previous research experiences (REEMAIN, PLANHEAT, REUSEHEAT, CELSIUS…) and the expertise of 11 industrial validation sites from different REII/ non-REII sectors (petrochemical, chemical, metallurgic, food etc.) that will be involved in the project to validate the tool and provide relevant insights for its development. SOWHAT tool will be built indeed following a participatory approach involving both National clusters from Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Sweden, Romania (composed by local industries, public authorities/energy agencies, energy utilities/ESCOs) and external stakeholder since the very beginning of the development in order to have a wide, clear and structured promotion of WH/C also thanks to a robust training campaign and policy oriented dissemination actions.

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.