In order to foster the development and integration of PV systems in Europe and beyond, more efficient, reliable and profitable operation and maintenance (O&M) strategies need to be found. In this context, SOLARIS will gather 15 partners (6 research-oriented partners, 8 industrial partners including 2 start-ups & 3 SMEs, and a municipality) for 48 months to develop and demonstrate a complete set of physical and digital tools for improved forecasting, operational performance and maintenance, resulting in high performance index (90%) and availability (>98%) of PV plants, and decreasing the levelised cost of energy by 10%. SOLARIS will provide operators with reliable forecasting (short and long-term weather and power production); accurate monitoring and inspection techniques through novel wind, dust and impedance sensing, as well as automated multi-spectral PV inspection using drones; early fault detection (incl. preventive maintenance); improved lifetime of strategic components through adapted responses (self-protection, power electronics’ reconfiguration, storage strategies); and energy trading via an AI-based tool. Demonstration data will be gathered in an IoT platform, feeding one of the main tools proposed to PV operators, i.e. the PV asset management software. All developments will be demonstrated and assessed in 8 use-cases (utility- and small-scale ground-mounted, rooftop, floating, agriPV) across Europe. Demonstration datasets and labelled data on the different use-cases, as well as long-term PV potentials for regions of demonstration will be shared publicly to foster developments of other initiatives. The uptake of SOLARIS developments will be enhanced by the wide dissemination of demonstration and assessment results to relevant stakeholders, i.e. PV systems owners and O&M firms, as well as technology providers. It will be further facilitated by the creation of a Stakeholder Forum, accompanying all developments towards commercialisation.

procuRE brings together 6 procurers from 6 countries, responsible for over 21,000 public buildings, to invest over €7 million in R&D to tackle their common challenge of achieving 100% Renewable Energy Supply (RES) in existing stock. Consortia bidding are expected to deliver a comprehensive package of tools enabling delivery across Europe and beyond of customised full-renewable building renovation. The systemic packages comprise services from design to implementation, and day-to-day operation, and contracting/financing, ensuring that the building continues to perform as designed over the full life-cycle. procuRE packages must ensure the following: enable optimal selection of cutting-edge components and configurations for RES generation, storage and management, fully addressing the challenges of on-site RES and eliminating off-site supply; increase SRI by integration across technologies and BEMS providing good occupant control; must deploy advanced BIM to model outcomes in advance in an assessment framework which at speed and low cost delivers procurers and investors with transparent choices of their options to maximise value delivery across the complete life-cycle; must provide simple configuration to match regulatory differences; and must include innovative, embedded and cost-efficient training services to impart necessary skills to both operators and to occupants, whose behaviour is a growing factor to be taken fully into account. PCP competitive tendering and the three phases of R&D and supplier selection is expected to ensure delivery of reasonably mature renewables renovation packages and their entry onto the international market within the expected timescale. Package efficacy will be demonstrated in the types of building which dominate public portfolios and promise replication in the private sector, in a multi-country public demonstration of solutions meeting building stock decarbonisation targets - six configurations achieving 100% RES throughout the year.

MEloDIZER implements high-performance membranes and modules in strategic applications of membrane distillation (MD), hence providing the decisive step for the success of MD. These core components are fabricated with a focus on feasible wide uptake and on sustainability, substituting harmful materials and protocols with >80% of benign solvents and relying on green chemistry principles. Both flat-sheets and innovative hollow-fibres are produced, striking the optimum between productivity and energy efficiency, as well as minimising fouling/wetting phenomena, also by applying novel sacrificial coatings while membranes are in situ. Optimised modules are developed with a focus on hydrodynamics and energy recovery improvements. These activities are strongly supported by sustained modelling tasks, conducted at different scales to (i) control the relationship between membrane properties and performance, (ii) customise module geometry, and (iii) increase system efficiency and automation. The membranes and modules are thus rationally installed as core components of four MD prototypes spanning three orders of magnitude of productivity. Two prototypes (2-5 m3/day, 0.5-2 m3/day) are demonstrated in industrial facilities (textile, beverage, chemical industries) to reuse wastewater (70-90%), thus reducing water footprint and approaching zero waste, as well as to recovery valuable nutrients as secondary raw materials from aquaculture wastewater. Two prototypes (50-100 L/day, 10-20 L/day) are demonstrated as low-cost, ready-to-use, passive, autonomous, decentralised units, delivering drinking water from saline and challenging sources at community and family level. All prototypes are run with 90-100% sustainable energy from waste heat and/or solar energy, with careful designs that maximise membrane and system performance. Quantitative, robust evaluations of market entry and environmental benefits act as input data for each innovation activity in MEloDIZER and to promote exploitation.

The objectives of LEONARDO are: 1) to develop a new microvehicle based on the smart fusion of the concepts of monowheel and scooter. The monowheel and the scooter have the best characteristics to be used as a means of daily transport and to fully exploit the intermodality. The new microvehicle will take the best features of these two vehicles and eliminate the disadvantages, obtaining a silent, clean, energy efficient and safe vehicle, as well as attractive and affordable to the public so that the barriers for adopting it are minimized. The development includes a) the consolidation of already outlined conpects, through analysis of functionality and comparison with existing vehicles, on the basis of an extensive analysis of user's needs and safety and regulamentary aspects b) structural and electrical / electronic design c) in-house testing 2) to do an extensive demonstration and re-design activity. The vehicle will be tested in a real environment in 5 European cities: Rome, Palermo, Eilat and 2 others that will be identified with a tender. In these demonstration tests, a fleet of vehicle will be tested for free by hundreds of users, on a rotating basis. Each vehicle can be used in stand alone mode or in battery sharing mode, through a system already developed by UNIFI, made available for the project. Operating data will be automatically collected through a platform and users will be asked to give feedback weekly. The pilot in Rome and Palermo will start with 50 vehicles and will be used for a revision and re-design process, to arrive up to a TRL 7. Afterwards, the other pilots will start, in sequence, for 3 months in each city, in which 100 vehicles will be tested. These tests will be used to refine the vehicle up to the TRL8-9 and to do a physical demonstration of the technical and economic feasibility. During the pilots, pre-orders will be accepted. A detailed exploitation strategy and a draft business plan for the vehicle will be draft with the data collected.

MUSE GRIDS aims to demonstrate, in two weakly connected areas (a town on a top of a hill and a rural neighbourhood), a set of both technological and non-technological solutions targeting the interaction of local energy grids (electricity grids, district heating and cooling networks, water networks, gas grids, electromobility etc.) to enable maximization of local energy independency through optimized management of the production via end user-driven control strategies, smart grid functionality, storage, CHP and RES integration. Two large-scale pilot projects will be implemented in two different EU regions, in urban (Osimo) and rural (Oud-Heverlee) contexts with weak connections with national grids. These pilots will test and promote the main project concepts: Smart energy system and Local Energy Community. A Smart Energy System is defined as an approach in which smart electricity, thermal, water, gas grids etc are combined with storage technologies and coordinated to identify synergies between them towards maximization of energy independency and reduction of operation costs. The purpose is to reduce energy carbon footprint while meeting energy demands and creating real and sustainable energy islands. To achieve this both physical networks (electricity, natural gas, district heating and cooling, water) and non-physical networks (mobility and citizens/communities) have to interact in order to become a Local Energy Community where inhabitants can act and exchange energy to provide reliable and cheap energy in colaboration. MUSE GRIDS will promote these two concepts not only in pilot projects but also in virtual demo-sites in India, Israel and Spain. Social and environmental aspects of smart multi-energy system transition will be investigated Osimo and Oud Heverlee citizens will be directly involved.The project involves leading EU companies and energy utilites and will be a muse of inspiration for dedicated policy redaction also providing insights to the BRIDGE initiative