Energy efficiency project wins H2020 funding

An innovative district heating and cooling network controller project has received almost €2m of EU funding from Horizon 2020.

The STORM (Self-organising Thermal Operational Resource Management) project aims at boosting energy efficiency at the district level by increasing the use of waste heat and renewable energy sources.

To achieve this, the project aims to develop, demonstrate and deploy an advanced self-learning controller for district heating and cooling network. The controller will be demonstrated at two sites (Mijnwater at Heerlen, the Netherlands, and Växjö, Sweden) and will include three control strategies: peak shaving, market interaction, and cell balancing. As part of this, the project intends to develop innovative business models for the large scale rollout of the controller at reduced costs.

It is hoped that the outcome of the project will lead to a better balance of supply and demand among a group of heat/cold producers and consumers, as well as the integration of multiple efficient generation sources, including renewable energy sources, waste heat and storage systems.

The project, which began in April, has been awarded €1,972,126 from Horizon 2020 and will run until September 2018. More information on the project can be found here.