LocalRES project will deploy innovative local energy systems driven by renewable energy communities for a socially fair energy transformation that puts renewable energy into the hands of communities and people. LocalRES will deliver new digital tools that will boost the expected structural change in the current energy system at different levels: 1) generation, increasing the number of small power producers of renewable energy; 2) market, creating local energy markets that enable prosumers to trade energy volumes of their choosing within local communities; 3) distribution, establishing a multidirectional energy flow and promoting REC driven energy services, and 4) consumers, empowering consumers to be active and participating in the energy system and the design of their own Renewable Energy Communities (REC). The main objective of LocalRES is to demonstrate at TRL8 innovative local energy systems in a sector coupling approach, which will be able to interconnect and optimise the joint operation of different energy vectors (electricity, heating, mobility, etc.) by maximising the RES contribution and enhancing the energy system flexibility and supply security. The focus is on the renewable energy communities as main actors for leading the structural change in the current energy system towards the decarbonisation of the local energy systems based on an integrated multidirectional flow approach and prosumers, allowing to maximize the replicability and upscale the potential of the decentralized solutions developed in the project. The LocalRES solutions promote a secure, sustainable, competitive and affordable energy supply for everyone.

Currently, buildings are responsible for 40 % of the energy demand and 36% of the CO2 emissions in Europe. Decarbonisation of existing buildings plays a key role in order to reach the overall climate protection targets. However, current renovation rates lie in the order of 1%. Heat pumps are a key technology in bringing renewable shares into heat supply of buildings; especially their combination with onsite renewable electricity production e.g. by PV allows to bring high renewable shares. Their current installation in existing multi-apartment buildings is however still marginal. The proposed technological solution is based on decentralized heat pumps, in such a way that it results an easy-to-install solution for installers, low-intrusive for the occupants and easily adaptable to a large number of different building situations. This is flanked by developing near-zero planning, implementation and operation processes, in order to facilitate the work during the planning phase, ensure a high-quality installation and effective operation, and reduce the efforts and costs within the whole retrofitting project. The challenge of cost-competitiveness is addressed by developing new financial and business models. Bringing new players (such as financial experts) and financing models to the renovation market is expected to bring the needed paradigm change and boost investments in the residential retrofitting sector. Dissemination of measured performance and system characteristics from HAPPENING will be one of the key results of the project. Through 3 demo sites (Spain, Italy and Austria), the project will demonstrate a highly versatile, scalable and replicable solution package for buildings energy system retrofitting allowing 70-75% of renewable energy fraction, 30-50% of PE and GHG savings, reduction of planning time by 50% and installation/operation time by 30% and payback time for ESCOs and investors of less than 8 years, compared to best available solution existing today.