Secretariat of the European Technology and Innovation Platform on Renewable Heating and Cooling

Project Information

SecRHC-ETIP

Grant agreement ID: 825998

DOI

10.3030/825998

Project closed

EC signature date 6 November 2018

Start date 1 December 2018

End date 31 May 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 984 200,00

EU contribution

€ 984 200,00

Coordinated by

BIOENERGY EUROPE
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SecRHC-ETIP (Secretariat of the European Technology and Innovation Platform on Renewable Heating and Cooling)

Reporting period: 2020-06-01 to 2022-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The heating and cooling sector has a central role in the energy transition and decarbonisation of the energy system. Each year, almost 50% of the final energy consumed in Europe is used for heating, cooling or refrigeration either for residential, tertiary or industrial purposes. The majority (around 75%) of this energy demand is met by the combustion of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal – damaging the environment in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution – while only 19% is generated from renewable energy. Today the social, environmental and economic costs of climate change make the mission of embracing more sustainable sources of energy urgent. Recognising this situation, the European Technology and Innovation Platform on Renewable Heating and Cooling (RHC-ETIP) aims at playing a decisive role in protecting Europe’s leading position in renewable heating and cooling (RHC) technology. It is focused on increasing RHC contributions in energy systems to benefit society and reach the vital goal of a carbon-neutral world by 2050.

RHC-ETIP, officially launched in 2010, today brings together more than 1000 European stakeholders representing all renewable energy technologies for heating and cooling from industry, research, and the public sector. RHC-ETIP uniquely brings together stakeholders from all over Europe from multiple sectors: biomass, geothermal, solar thermal, heat pumps, district heating and cooling, thermal storage and hybrid systems. Since its launch, RHC-ETIP has been instrumental in raising the profile of the RHC sector by publishing a set of common documents, which have defined the sector’s strategic research directions, and project ideas to increase the share of renewable energy in the heating and cooling sector.

The RHC-ETIP Secretariat (SecRHC-ETIP), which was first set up in 2011, aims to assist relevant stakeholders in coordinating activities related to defining and implementing an innovation strategy to increase the use of renewable energy sources for heating and cooling and to foster the growth and market uptake of relevant industries. In order to coordinate between a large number of different stakeholders from competing sectors and technologies, the secretariat is composed of sectoral associations to ensure the active involvement of each industry; SecRHC-ETIP is led by EUREC, a research association covering all types of renewable energy technologies. This configuration ensures a broad representation of the different RHC stakeholders.

The SecRHC-ETIP was established to support the achievement of the following goals:
1. Strengthen the RHC sector to foster the decarbonisation of the energy system
2. Support the SET-Plan Implementation Plans
3. Support the competitiveness of the RHC-industry

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The steps taken to reach the project´s objectives have included:
- The RHC-ETIP’s Horizontal Working Groups and Technology Panels have addressed challenges identified as facing the RHC sector through relevant expert documents – namely by defining an updated Vision for the renewable heating and cooling sector to 2050, Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), Deployment and implementation report, and several individual technology-specific SRIAs
- Setting up a database of national and international stakeholders and detailing a strategy for engagement
- Organising 16 national roundtables (covering 14 MSs) (+1 in the process of being planned) to engage national stakeholders, discuss the translation of EU-level R&I strategies and legislation on national level, funding opportunities and country-specific challenges to reach a 100% RHC system by 2050
- Publishing numerous position papers and/or letters on relevant policy issues
- Launching a revamped RHC-ETIP website with an online database of RHC-related projects and their results
- Organisation of 3 annual conferences with a high-quality program supported by speakers from research, industry and national representatives to disseminate the RHC-ETIP activities and strategic documents and to create a networking event for the RHC sector
- Collaboration with ETIP-SNET‘s WG3 on a common White paper on Coupling of Heating & Cooling and Electricity Sectors in a Renewable Energy Driven Europe
- Net Zero 2050 Buildings report (contributing from the RHC technologies for buildings perspective)
- Collaboration with other ETIPs within the newly established ETIPs Forum
- Collaboration with ETIP-Bioenergy on a joint position towards hydrogen (in preparation)
- Support to the SET-Plan Implementation Plans through involvement in the work of several IWGs, namely: IWG 1 and 2 on Deep Geothermal, IWG3.2 – Positive Energy Districts, IWG4 – Smart Energy systems, IWG5.2 – Heating and cooling technology for buildings, IWG6 – Energy efficiency in industry, and IWG8 – Renewable fuels and bioenergy
- Contribution to the SET-Plan annual implementation progress reporting for IWG5 and support to the IWG5 coordinator (e.g. contribution to a video to be made for the SET Plan Conference in November2021)
- RHC-ETIP has contributed to other relevant partnerships and initiatives: CETP - Clean Energy Transition Partnership (Co-authoring H&C chapter of SRIA), Built 4 People (B4P) (Contributing to the B4P SRIA)
- Consistent input from the RHC-sector to relevant research and innovation policy dossiers
- Identifying and listing available funding instruments for the RHC sector in EU-27 for the benefit of RHC-ETIP companies
- Contribution to the Competitiveness Progress Report – Heat Pumps in 2021 and 2022
- Organisation of brokerage events
- Contribution to the consultation on the SET-Plan revamp

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

All desired impacts were achieved by the end of the project, and some activities impacted beyond the state-of-the-art:
1) Stronger RHC sector
Through the development of strategic documents; active participation to the definition of a stable and favourable research policy framework for the development of RHC technologies at EU level; organisation of national roundtables and annual RHC conferences to engage national stakeholders; discussion of the translation of EU-level R&I strategies and legislation to a national level; funding opportunities and country-specific challenges to reach a 100% RHC system by 2050; collaboration with ETIPs and partnerships, RHC-ETIP has continued to support the RHC sector in its effort to reach a 100% RHC system by 2050.
2) Support to the SET-Plan Implementation Plans
RHC-ETIP continued its support to the SET-Plan Implementation Plans through involvement in the work of several IWGs: IWG 1 and 2 on Deep Geothermal, IWG3.2 – Positive Energy Districts, IWG4 – Smart Energy systems, IWG5.2 – Heating and cooling technology for buildings, IWG6 – Energy efficiency in industry, and IWG8 – Renewable fuels and bioenergy; Contribution to the SET-Plan annual implementation progress reporting for IWG5 and active support to the IWG5 coordinator and IWG5.2 chair.
3) Support to the RHC-industry´s competitiveness
RHC-ETIP has actively supported the RHC-industry´s competitiveness by identifying and listing available funding instruments for the RHC sector in EU-27 for the benefits of RHC-ETIP companies; organising brokerage events for RHC stakeholders, and contributing to the Competitiveness Progress Report – Heat Pumps in 2021 and 2022.

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