ConnectHeat
The ConnectHeat project will develop an enabling policy framework for the development of community energy initiatives, aiming at decarbonising the heating and cooling (H&C) sector in 7 target areas located within a wide geographical spread.
Illustration : Image by Erich Westendarp from Pixabay
The ConnectHeat project will develop an enabling policy framework for the development of community energy initiatives, aiming at decarbonising the heating and cooling (H&C) sector, in 7 target areas located in selected countries within a wide geographical spread (BE, BG, ES, HR, IT, DE, PT) and, thanks to an ambitious dissemination and replication package, also across the whole EU.
ConnectHeat will overcome a major barrier in the H&C sector, where community energy has been so far the almost exclusive preserve of electricity, also because of a lack of comprehensiveness in the transposition of the RED II Directive in several Member States. Thanks to structural cooperation with key stakeholders at the local and transnational levels, and also thanks to the transfer of knowledge and best practices, project activities will culminate in the implementation of 7 real-life pilot cases of H&C community energy.
In target areas with a large coverage of applications (industrial/tertiary/touristic, public buildings & social housing, urban regeneration, agriculture), a wide range of technical solutions and systems will be developed, based mainly on the integration of local RES (solar thermal, biomass, waste heat, etc.). Furthermore, ConnectHeat will build up skills in the target areas and at the EU level, support 7 more pilot replicators in the EU, and develop 7 policy roadmaps and a blueprint proposing tool, as well as suitable supporting schemes for the stable development of H&C community energy.
The ConnectHeat consortium is constituted of 6 local/regional key actors of the target areas, 2 research/consulting companies, and 2 EU associations in the district heating and energy agency sectors. The project is welcome by 43 letters of support from a variety of key stakeholders. The project will reach a RES generation of more than 44 GWh/year and 21 million EUR of investments in sustainable energy, as well as developing 11 policies. 550 people will be trained and more than 10,000 people will be reached through dissemination.
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Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Funded under project number 101076258.