Photovoltaic (PV) electricity microgeneration is becoming an increasingly profitable solution, because electricity costs for consumers are expected to rise and the PV panel prices to fall. However, in the residential market, there is a time-shift (i.e. the duck curve) between the electricity consumption curve and the PV electricity production, with largest consumption in the morning and evening, while most PV production is during daytime. Currently, these differences are managed in the following way: during the day, excess PV electricity production is fed into the utility grid, and the producer receives a payment based on the Feed-in Tariff. At night, electricity consumption is maintained by the utility grid at normal costs. In the past decade, this system was supported by attractively high Feed-in Tariffs. However, due to very large number of PV installations the Feed-in costs for utility grids have grown exponentially and new payment models have now much lower or even zero Feed-in Tariffs for microgeneration in residential buildings, in most EU countries. Thus, there is now an economical incentive for electricity storage. With this innovation project, we aim to pave the way for market introduction of the most cost-effective solution for storage of locally produced PV energy at residential buildings. To reach this goal, VisBlue is developing a storage system based on Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries. The ultimate value proposition for end-users is the lowest cost in terms of EUR/kWh/cycle on the market, ensuring as low as 9 years of payback time, which is significantly lower than any of the competing solutions. Furthermore, the successful implementation of the innovation project is expected to boost the company’s growth, placing VisBlue in a strong position to generate around €25.6 million in revenue and a profit of €8.6 million over five years’ post-project.

The CuBER project proposes the validation of a promising RFB technology, the all-copper redox flow battery (CuRFB), able to cover a wide range of the aforementioned market applications due to its simple, modular and scalable design, security and sustainability. Firstly, a 5kWDC CuRFB pilot will be designed for its integration in Smart Cities and residential self-consumption market segments within the CuBER action. Subsequently, the planning of further developments will allow its application at larger scales, both as back-up power system in isolated areas (i.e. copper mining) and for energy management and grid balancing in renewable power production. CuBER thus focuses first on improving the infrastructures for renewables self-consumption and grid integration within the Smart Cities and Net Zero Buildings concepts. It seeks to unify the expertise of different European actors in the field of Electrochemistry, Electrochemical Energy Storage, Electronics, Process Engineering, Smart Sensors, IoT´s and Solar Power Industries with the objective of deploying functional pilots capable of validating an holistic and innovative way of producing and consuming renewable energy in urban, rural and industrial areas all around the EU, that will change the actual O&M paradigm, increasing significantly the competitiveness of RFB energy storage solutions in the global energy sector and creating new business opportunities for the companies involved.

PROBONO brings together a European multidisciplinary consortium of 47 partners, construction and consulting entities, public asset service managers, municipalities, technology solution providers and experts, to turn the six European districts (PROBONO´s Living Labs) into Green Building Neighborhoods (GBN), with positive energy balance and zero carbon emissions: two large-scale demonstrators (Madrid and Dublin) and four living labs representing business/owner promoters of the green buildings and neighborhoods’ transition (Porto, Brussels, Aarhus, Prague). PROBONO will provide strong examples of how GBN's technological and social innovations can be applied, with a vision focused on building infrastructure and a renewed focus on people and sustainability, taking full advantage of digitalization and smart technologies for the benefit of society. The adoption of the PROBONO approach and innovations will be proposed through a range of participatory methods that promote stakeholders (including citizens) partaking in co-designing and co-delivering a sustainable GBN. PROBONO will provide GBN Strategic Planning Tools in spatial, economic, technical, environmental regulatory, and social context aligned with city and urban masterplans and policy frameworks. PROBONO will create evidence-based policy recommendations, standardization actions, and robust adoption and commercialization strategies supported by a capacity-building program and a European Alliance of GBN Innovation Clusters. PROBONO will provide a GBN Digital Twin (DT) implemented across the LLs as a virtual representation of associated GBN including operational assets that implicate environmental and efficiency KPI. A cloud-based decision support-planning tool will be created to develop an optimized design for carbon-neutral energy GBN systems incorporating PROBONO innovative solutions on GBN demand and response dynamics. The technological developments will include metering different utilities with electricity, gas, warm energy, cold energy, and water linked to Smart IoT gateway and Energy Optimisation middleware, all this combined with geothermal, PV, micro-turbines, efficient HVAC technologies, green roofs, custom insulation, and GB energy optimization, efficient energy storage and integrating EV charging value chain. To enhance wide-scale adoption and standard creation, PROBONO will contribute with evidence-based policy recommendations, standardization actions, and robust adoption and commercialization strategies.