The transition to the smart grid era is associated with the creation of a meshed network of data contributors that necessitates for the transformation of the traditional top-down business model, where power system optimization relied on centralized decisions based on data silos preserved by stakeholders, to a more horizontal one in which optimization decisions are based on interconnected data assets and collective intelligence. Consequently, the need for “end-to-end” coordination between the electricity stakeholders, not only in business terms but also in exchanging information is becoming a necessity to enable the enhancement of electricity networks’ stability and resilience, while satisfying individual business process optimization targets of all stakeholders involved in the value chain. SYNERGY introduces a novel reference big data architecture and platform that leverages data, primary or secondarily related to the electricity domain, coming from diverse sources (APIs, historical data, statistics, sensors/ IoT, weather, energy markets and various other open data sources) to help electricity stakeholders to simultaneously enhance their data reach, improve their internal intelligence on electricity-related optimization functions, while getting involved in novel data (intelligence) sharing/trading models, in order to shift individual decision-making at a collective intelligence level. To this end SYNERGY will develop a highly effective a Big Energy Data Platform and AI Analytics Marketplace, accompanied by big data-enabled applications for the totality of electricity value chain stakeholders (altogether integrated in the SYNERGY Big Data-driven EaaS Framework). SYNERGY will be validated in 5 large-scale demonstrators, in Greece, Spain, Austria, Finland and Croatia involving diverse actors and data sources, heterogeneous energy assets, varied voltage levels and network conditions and spanning different climatic, demographic and cultural characteristics.

TRIĒRĒS is Greece’s first Hydrogen Valley brings together business, knowledge and regional interests. The TRIĒRĒS Valley starts as a small scale Valley but has a tremendous upward perspective over a large part of the Balkans, South-Eastern Europe and the wider area of Eastern Mediterranean. The Valley will be built around the nucleus of MOH’s Corinth Refinery complex. From a business perspective the project has strong transeuropean interest as 80% of the refinery sales are generated outside of Greece, rendering it internationally oriented by default. Creating and building a Valley using the refinery as Hydrogen generator accelerates the transition, with an annual production of 2,410 tons of Green Hydrogen that will be utilised in the production of low and no Carbon footprint energy and industrial products and will be injected in the natural gas grid creating a Hydrogen Backbone of full EU interest. High visibility actions in mobility will include one (1) short-sea ferry ship, three (3) public transport buses, and at least (two) 2 cars. Knowledge and innovations are spurred through the intensive collaboration with knowledge institutes and SME’s. The participation of the local and regional governments assures the component of public acceptance, understanding and advocacy, generating interest to many parties supporting regional economic growth. The learnings from HEAVENN and WIGA P&G Valleys will be replicated with the specific knowledge of the Greek and broader connected geographies. TRIĒRĒS entails an investment of 115 mil EUR (initially by project partners) up to 408 million EUR (potential direct/indirect leverage of investments). Several thousand people will be employed during the realisation of the valley project, which will promote new skills development. The consortium partners are creating a true new perspective in the region, transitioning from a traditional refinery complex to a state-of-the art future oriented energy and hydrogen ecosystem in the region.

Sustainable energy Positive & zero cARbon CommunitieS demonstrates and validates technically and socio-economically viable and replicable, innovative solutions for rolling out smart, integrated positive energy systems for the transition to a citizen centred zero carbon & resource efficient economy. SPARCS facilitates the participation of buildings to the energy market enabling new services and a virtual power plant concept, creating VirtualPositiveEnergy communities as energy democratic playground (positive energy districts can exchange energy with energy entities located outside the district). Seven cities will demonstrate 100+ actions turning buildings, blocks, and districts into energy prosumers. Impacts span economic growth, improved quality of life, and environmental benefits towards the EC policy framework for climate and energy, the SET plan and UN Sustainable Development goals. SPARCS co-creation brings together citizens, companies, research organizations, city planning and decision-making entities, transforming cities to carbon-free inclusive communities. Lighthouse cities Espoo (FI) and Leipzig (DE) implement large demonstrations. Fellow cities Reykjavik (IS), Maia (PT), Lviv (UA), Kifissia (EL) and Kladno (CZ) prepare replication with hands-on feasibility studies. SPARCs identifies bankable actions to accelerate market uptake, pioneers innovative, exploitable governance and business models boosting the transformation processes, joint procurement procedures and citizen engaging mechanisms in an overarching city planning instrument toward the bold City Vision 2050. SPARCS engages 30 partners from 8 EU Member States (FI, DE, PT, CY, EL, BE, CZ, IT) and 2 non-EU countries (UA, IS), representing key stakeholders within the value chain of urban challenges and smart, sustainable cities bringing together three distinct but also overlapping knowledge areas: (i) City Energy Systems, (ii) ICT and Interoperability, (iii) Business Innovation and Market Knowledge.

EPHYRA will demonstrate the integration of a first-of-its-kind renewable hydrogen production facility at industrial scale in South-eastern Europe by employing an improved electrolysis technology, at a scale of 30 MW. The large-scale electrolysis will be integrated with industrial operations within MOH’s Corinth Refinery, one of the top refineries in Europe and the largest privately-owned industrial complex in Greece. It will be operated for at least 2 years under commercial conditions and will supply renewable hydrogen to the refinery’s processes and external end-users. The industrially integrated renewable hydrogen production will be developed around a circular economy, industrial symbiotic approach, as the electrolyser will be coupled with (i) renewable electricity production, (ii) renewable electricity storage, (iii) an innovative waste heat harvesting technology, (iv) water use environmental optimisation, (v) valorisation of produced oxygen in current MOH Refinery operations, (vi) a digital twin and (vii) a dedicated energy management system. EPHYRA will contribute to all electrolysis technology KPIs as detailed in Clean Hydrogen Partnership SRIA objectives. Therefore, the project will demonstrate its reliability for green hydrogen production at the lowest possible cost thus enabling the EU renewable hydrogen economy, industry decarbonisation and zero-emission fuels uptake. EPHYRA will be implemented by a strong consortium with robust research, innovation and industrial capabilities, able to successfully deliver the project within time, budget and detail objectives. The aim of EPHYRA is to enhance European synergies on the globally expanding hydrogen market and build a unique value proposition on industrial symbiotic renewable hydrogen production.

Rapid up-scaling and deployment of more cost-efficient and sustainable carbon capture solutions is needed to reduce the emissions of CO2-intensive industries. Solvent-based carbon capture is an important technology that can be readily adopted to many emission sources. Such technology can achieve high capture rates and deliver CO2 at high purity with a relatively low energy demand. In AURORA the open and non-proprietary CESAR1 solvent technology will be optimised and qualified for commercial deployment. The technology will be demonstrated at TRL7-8 for three CO2 intensive industries: refining, cement, and materials recycling, for which there are few other options to achieve climate neutrality. The partners will demonstrate negligible environmental impact (emissions being a potential issue for solvent technology), capture rates at 98%, and capture costs reduced by at least 47% compared to a benchmark process with the MEA solvent. This will be achieved due to the following innovations: 1) Holistic optimisation of solvent composition, process design, emission monitoring and control, and solvent management, 2) Validated models for use in commercial process simulators 3) enhanced waste heat integration with carbon capture for reduced external heat demand and operational costs 4) Improved and integrated advanced control system for reduced OPEX and optimised performances. These innovations will be integrated in four optimised capture processes and various aspects will be demonstrated in pilots of various size and complexity. The partners will ensure transferability of results to other CO2 intensive industries thanks to the large variations in CO2 source and developed clusters addressed in the project and a strong stakeholder participation. The project will also do full CCUS chain assessments for its end-users. It is noteworthy that the end-users are situated in two different regions of Europe offering different conditions for the implementation of CCUS value chains.