After 10 years of track record, the current EPCs schemes across the EU face several challenges which have led to not fully accomplish their initial objectives: lack of accuracy, a gap between theoretical and real consumption patterns, absence of proper protocols for inclusion of smart and novel technologies, little convergence across EU schemes, lack of trust in the market and very little user awareness related to energy efficiency. The objective of the ePANACEA project is to develop a holistic methodology for energy performance assessment and certification of buildings that can overcome the above mentioned challenges. The vision is ePANACEA becoming a relevant instrument in the European energy transition through the building sector. ePANACEA comprises the creation of a prototype (the Smart Energy Performance Assessment Platform) making use of the most advanced techniques in dynamic and automated simulation modelling, big data analysis and machine learning, inverse modelling or the estimation of potential energy savings and economic viability check. A relevant part of the project is to have a fluent dialogue with European policy makers, certification bodies, end-users and other stakeholders through two types of participatory actions: on the one hand a feedback loop with policy makers will be carried out through the so called Regional Exploitation Boards (REBs) covering EU-27+Norway+UK, and the dialogue with the end-users will be established by means of specific thematic workshops. Thanks to these participatory actions we will ensure that ePANACEA approach is aligned with and meets the needs of national public bodies, end-users and other stakeholders with a view to test the acceptance and to validate the methodology developed. ePANACEA will demonstrate and validate reliability, accuracy, user-friendliness and cost-effectiveness of the methodology through 15 case studies in 5 European countries.

Europe is at the beginning of a major transition to a low carbon economy and is experiencing substantial growth in the expansion of renewable energy generating capacity. However, parallel to this technological investment, many Member States are witnessing increasing levels of local opposition to individual projects, particularly for wind energy, which is now the cheapest form of energy generation. This has a range of consequences including increased deployment costs/delays, increased regulatory demands, reduced market support and highlights a major social challenge for the energy transition. In response to this, MISTRAL aims to nurture a new generation of researchers who can effectively evaluate the complexity of social acceptance issues facing the deployment of renewable energy infrastructure and propose innovative solutions in a variety of research, government and business contexts. It will do this by fostering a vibrant inter-disciplinary environment to change the way we understand and respond to declining social acceptance of renewable energy infrastructure and engage a wider range of inter-sectoral stakeholders to develop innovative solutions. MISTRAL will also provide an innovative training environment where young researchers can develop advanced skills in research and transferable skills, benefit form a range of diverse secondment experiences and debate current issues with some of the world leading researchers in the field, in order to develop advanced capacities for progressing Europe’s energy transition.

SH2AMROCK - Ireland's Emerald Hydrogen Valley SH2AMROCK will deploy green hydrogen across key hard-to-abate sectors across the island of Ireland – including key infrastructure to enable the production, distribution, and use of green hydrogen. The 5 year-project, with a total investment of approximately €80m, will showcase the capacity of H2 to maximise penetration of RES through sector coupling, while facilitating widespread integration of renewable H2 into Ireland’s energy system. SH2AMROCK will realise this goal through the deployment of the country’s first hydrogen valley and multi-modal H2 transport hub in Galway – accelerating the island of Ireland’s energy transition and decarbonisation across multiple end-user applications.