Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SO WHAT (Supporting new Opportunities for Waste Heat And cold valorisation Towards EU decarbonization)
Reporting period: 2019-06-01 to 2020-11-30
SO WHAT main objective is to develop and demonstrate at TRL8 (Technology Readiness Level) an integrated software which will support industries and energy utilities in selecting, simulating and comparing alternative Waste Heat and Waste Cold (WH/C) exploitation technologies that could cost-effectively balance the local forecasted Heating and Cooling (H&C) demand also via Renewable Energy Sources (RES) integration. The SO WHAT integrated tool will be designed to support industries, and energy utilities in 1) auditing the industrial process to understand where WH/C could be valorised 2) mapping the potential of locally available RES sources to be integrated with WH/C potential 3) mapping the local forecasted demand for heating and cooling 4) define and simulate alternative cost-effective scenarios based on WH/C technologies also leveraging Thermal Energy Storage (TES) introduction 5) evaluate the impacts (in terms of energetic, economic and environmental Key Performance Indicators - KPIs) that the adoption of the new scenarios will generate against the current situation (i.e. baseline) both at industrial and local level 6) promoting innovative contractual arrangements and financing models to guarantee economically viable solutions and less risky investments.
In the time-span of the first reporting period, 2 technical work packages delivered the majority of their results: while the actual tool development just started, the theoretical foundations for its development have been laid, providing the software developer much of the required material. Such work, which has been reported in various deliverables and will be presented extensively in the following paragraphs and chapters of the present document, focused specifically on:
• The auditing process, which have been performed for the industrial demosite to a different level of detail;
• The mapping algorithms for the renewable energy sources as well as thermal demand analysis;
• The extensive development of a techno-economic database;
• The development of algorithms for TES selection and integration;
• Analysis of current barriers and current contractual arrangement for WH/C recovery agreements;
• Cost Benefit Analyses of possible investments;
• Financing and ESCO models for WH/C recovery.
As such analyses and theoretical work were developed, 3 pivotal macro-activities have been performed:
1. Testing, analysis and improvement of existing tools, which should represent the basis of SO WHAT integrated tool, mainly those derived from REEMAIN and PLANHEAT past experiences. For examples, the challenges faced with data gathering have provided pivotal material for the next phases of the project;
2. Engagement, analysis and feedback from the SO WHAT demosites, both for the purpose of defining the scope and outcomes of the above mentioned activities and to gather feedback and desiderata on the functionalities of SO WHAT tool;
3. The definition of the software architecture, workflow and interaction among the different modules.
The software development will follow the Agile methodology, therefore changes, improvements and modifications are expected and foreseen, however at the present moment all pieces to proceed are in place and such activity is ongoing.
The work foreseen and main objective of the next period will consist in finishing such development, testing and validating the SO WHAT integrated tool and promote the actual investments.
• The auditing process, which have been performed for the industrial demosite to a different level of detail;
• The mapping algorithms for the renewable energy sources as well as thermal demand analysis;
• The extensive development of a techno-economic database;
• The development of algorithms for TES selection and integration;
• Analysis of current barriers and current contractual arrangement for WH/C recovery agreements;
• Cost Benefit Analyses of possible investments;
• Financing and ESCO models for WH/C recovery.
As such analyses and theoretical work were developed, 3 pivotal macro-activities have been performed:
1. Testing, analysis and improvement of existing tools, which should represent the basis of SO WHAT integrated tool, mainly those derived from REEMAIN and PLANHEAT past experiences. For examples, the challenges faced with data gathering have provided pivotal material for the next phases of the project;
2. Engagement, analysis and feedback from the SO WHAT demosites, both for the purpose of defining the scope and outcomes of the above mentioned activities and to gather feedback and desiderata on the functionalities of SO WHAT tool;
3. The definition of the software architecture, workflow and interaction among the different modules.
The software development will follow the Agile methodology, therefore changes, improvements and modifications are expected and foreseen, however at the present moment all pieces to proceed are in place and such activity is ongoing.
The work foreseen and main objective of the next period will consist in finishing such development, testing and validating the SO WHAT integrated tool and promote the actual investments.
SO WHAT develops a single, integrated, accurate and holistic simulation platform to model the industrial environment and its surrounding Community. It will upgrade existing modelling tools and newly developed modules to obtain a multi -level analysis addressing: industrial energy and asset audit, process and network analysis and
management, built environment simulation, business models, end-user engagement and decision-support capabilities. In a truly complementary approach, SO WHAT aims to develop an integral simulation platform able to deliver cost-benefit analysis (CBA) that will tackle the compatibility of WH/C source(s) and sink(s), along with economic and environmental benefits of available heat/cold exchange technologies and surplus RES, in order to compute feasibility studies and propose a streamlined heat/cold exploitation strategy.
As a result, SO WHAT aims to trigger a reduction on the primary energy use of EU industries derived from the use of the integrated tool, which will facilitates the adoption of energy efficiency measures and RES integration at industrial sites, based on the results of techno-economic feasibility analyses and decision support dashboards, including the proposition of appropriate business models.
management, built environment simulation, business models, end-user engagement and decision-support capabilities. In a truly complementary approach, SO WHAT aims to develop an integral simulation platform able to deliver cost-benefit analysis (CBA) that will tackle the compatibility of WH/C source(s) and sink(s), along with economic and environmental benefits of available heat/cold exchange technologies and surplus RES, in order to compute feasibility studies and propose a streamlined heat/cold exploitation strategy.
As a result, SO WHAT aims to trigger a reduction on the primary energy use of EU industries derived from the use of the integrated tool, which will facilitates the adoption of energy efficiency measures and RES integration at industrial sites, based on the results of techno-economic feasibility analyses and decision support dashboards, including the proposition of appropriate business models.