A hybrid solar panel that maximises heat capture and electricity generation. Although solar panel technology is well established, commercial hybrid panels are a recent innovation. A typical PV panel transforms ~20% of incident solar irradiance into electricity – and a thermal panel several times that, into heat. Between the two, there are trade-offs; and the detailed economics – factoring in power prices and other heating costs, etc. – can be very complex. In the end, however, people/businesses need continuous electricity and regular hot water. There is clear need for a solution that delivers both: hence the development and uptake of hybrid panels. The battle is to establish technology (efficiency) leadership – which EndeF has achieved in ECOMESH: the most efficient panel ever built. At the core of the innovation is ECOMESH’s Transparent Insulating Cover (TIC) technology: an advanced heat recovery system which, using an inert gas layer, maximises heat capture. TIC also increases electricity generation by 15%, by cooling the PV cells to their optimum operating temperature.

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.

In the “secure, clean and efficient energy” initiative, it is stated that the most important milestones for such a transformation are the EU's energy and climate targets for 2030, which are: (i) at least 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990, (ii) at least 27% for the share of renewable energy consumed in the EU, and (iii) at least 27% improvement of energy efficiency and an electricity interconnection target of 10%[1].The LowUP Project has a two-fold strategy: 1) on one hand, to target goals (i) and (ii) of these climate challenge with a 42 months duration project where innovation will be the core activity, and 2), on other hand, to successfully present different technological solutions which will enable the participation of low grade thermal energy sources in the energy transition, and improve the efficiency of the Europe Low Exergy systems, not only at building level but also in industrial applications. Within the LowUP project three different heating and cooling systems will be developed and demonstrated at relevant environment: HEAT-LowUP (low exergy heating system directly fed by solar and sewage water recovered heat) COOL-LowUP (low exergy cooling systems directly fed by renewable and free energy sources) and HP-LowUP ( waste heat recovery and upgrading via heat pump.) The first two systems are focused on the rational and efficient use of low valued energy sources for direct implementation in low-exergy heating & cooling systems for buildings and the third one is focused on the exploitation of low temperature residual energy, wasted with industrial processes, by upgrading them to generate useful heat to be re-introduced in the process. The project will be implemented using the Acciona thermal lab located in Seville where will be emulated different real cases as the industrial process of a Water treatment plant, an automotive factory and a retirement house.

The EU building stock has large potential to increase its energy efficiency with solutions that can be integrated to existing dwellings and through different measures. One of them is optimizing the use and management of thermal energy by allowing it to be stored, levelling demand peaks and increasing use of renewables affected by intermittency such as solar-based heating. The MiniStor project aims at designing and producing a novel compact integrated thermal storage system for achieving sustainable heating, cooling and electricity storage that can be adapted to existing systems in residential buildings. It is based on a high-performing CaCl2/NH3 (calcium chloride/ammonia) thermochemical material reaction combined with parallel hot and cold phase-change materials for flexibility and usage year-round. It also stores electrical energy in a Li-ion battery that responds to grid signals and can sell to the electrical grid. The system is managed by a smart Building Energy Management System that connects to the Internet of Things. The system can have as input energy obtained from a variety of renewable energy sources such as hybrid photovoltaic thermal panels. This arrangement is demonstrated and validated in four demonstration sites (Ireland, France, Greece and Hungary), testing its effectiveness at different local climatic conditions and facilitating market replication. The system provides stability, performance and use of at least 20 years, an estimated compact storage material volume of 0.72 m3, reduced net energy consumption in a building by at least 44% and a return-on-investment period of 6.7 years, using high energy density storage materials that reach storage densities up to 10.6 times higher than water.

Today, the heating sector is not on track toward achieving the IEA Net-Zero targets: it represents more than a third of the energy demand and it mainly relies on fossil fuels. District heating is recognized as a major solution allowing decarbonization of the heating sector. The integration of large-scale seasonal energy storage, compensating for the mismatch between supply and demand whilst ensuring the service, is key for a wide spread of district heating. USES4HEAT aims to demonstrate innovative, large-scale, seasonal thermal energy storage solutions enabling a future decarbonized and reliable heating supply. USES4HEAT demonstrates, at TRL8 and for a one-year test campaign, two innovative, cost-effective, large-scale, seasonal underground TES units to maximize the availability and resilience of heating supply while reducing energy losses and environmental impact. USES4HEAT seeks to demonstrate the storages as fully integrated units in commercial large-scale district heating networks and industrial waste heat recovery and fulfilling industrial thermal demand. In doing so, USES4HEAT also demonstrates six innovative key enabling components/technologies and their integration with seasonal storages: advanced drilling equipment and remotely controlled machines halving drilling times, innovative layered high-temperature borehole pipes, efficient groundwater heat pumps integrated with aquifer storages, hybrid solar panels and thermal solar collector, and accurate AI-based energy management tools. USES4HEAT will systematically demonstrate the effectiveness and techno-economic-social viability of innovative, large-scale, seasonal energy storages ensuring limited CAPEX, reduced environmental impact and energy losses, efficient integration in district heating and accumulation of various sources of heat, and granting reliable and decarbonized heating supply.