Supporting new Opportunities for Waste Heat And cold valorisation Towards EU decarbonization

Project Information

SO WHAT

Grant agreement ID: 847097

DOI

10.3030/847097

Project closed

EC signature date 13 May 2019

Start date 1 June 2019

End date 30 November 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 4 195 357,50

EU contribution

€ 3 397 497,38

Coordinated by

RINA CONSULTING SPA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SO WHAT (Supporting new Opportunities for Waste Heat And cold valorisation Towards EU decarbonization)

Reporting period: 2020-12-01 to 2022-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

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. To do so SO WHAT has been capitalized the already existing tool and knowledge from previous research experiences. Moreover, the expertise of 11 industrial validation sites from different sectors have been involved in the project to validate the tool and provide relevant insights for its development. The SO WHAT tool has been built following a participatory approach involving both National clusters from Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Sweden, Romania, Italy and external stakeholder since the very beginning of the development. This for the purpose to have a wide, clear and structured promotion of WH/C also thanks to a robust training campaign and policy oriented dissemination actions.

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

During the first reporting period the theoretical foundations for the SO WHAT Tool development have been laid, providing the software developer much of the required material. Such work, which has been reported in various deliverables, focused specifically on:
(i) the auditing process, which have been performed for the industrial demosite to a different level of detail, (ii) the mapping algorithms for the renewable energy sources as well as thermal demand analysis, (iii) the extensive development of a techno-economic database, (vi) the development of algorithms for TES selection and integration, (v) analysis of current barriers and current contractual arrangement for WH/C recovery agreements, (vi) cost Benefit Analyses of possible investments, (vii) 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.
During the second reporting period the SO WHAT Tool (Online free version and Advanced commercial version) has been developed. The SO WHAT Online free Tool can be found at: https://sowhatproject.eu/sowhat-tool/
Moreover during RP2 the project has been disseminated and promoted, SO WHAT tool (advanced version) has been tested in real demo cases and replication sites (5), validation, studies and impact assessment have been carried out.
Within WP7, which is focused on tool promotion and exploitation, a specific training strategy (based on both traditional and e-Learning tools) to guarantee the autonomy use of the tool has been developed.

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)

SO WHAT main innovation is the developing of a first-of-its-kind simulation software that: (1) models an industrial facility and identifies potential with respect to WH&C and surplus RES, (2) models the community and its assets (e.g. local RES, storage, flexible loads etc) to understand the demand profile of the community, which can utilise the WH&C and RES, (3) identifies the delivery mechanism(s) for how WH&C and surplus RES can be provided to the community and/or other industries and the technical, commercial, legal and financial incentives for doing so. The tool developed by the SO WHAT project will deepen the understanding and make more effective the exploitation of heat and cold energy sources. The competitive advantage of SO WHAT project within the energy management software market will lie on the integration of these three aspects as multiple initiatives have dived into the separate fields.
The SO WHAT software that is divided in 4 different sub modules (i.e. So what online tool, the advanced version, the RES, WH/C, H&C demand mapping algorithms and technology database. ). Moreover, within the project other 3 exploitable results have been developed: (1) Consultancy Services on Energy efficiency analysis in industrial processes, (2) Data, knowledge and information, and (3) PLANHEAT tool and its integration/enhancement with the SO WHAT tool.
SO WHAT generated a positive impact in the field of Waste Heat/Cooling Recovery and Re-use, and District Heating/Cooling Design and Simulation.
1) Accurate prediction and holistic modelling of industrial waste heat/cold and/or surplus renewable energy from industrial or other sources from different geographical and market settings,
2) Better impact of the various factors/ variables on the cost-benefits of industrial waste heat/cold and/or surplus renewable energy from industrial or other sources,
3) Valorisation in assessments of cost-benefit of industrial waste heat/cold and/or surplus renewable energy from industrial and eventual other sources,
4) Number of industrial sectors/sites/parks, public authorities, large private facilities and DHC operators supporting the implementation of WH/C and/or surplus RES from industrial and eventual other sources recovery/use for process re-integration or commercial use.
6 out of 20 partners are SMEs and the project contributed positively for their growth and market positioning. For example, IES increased during the project their expertise in energy performance simulation that have been transferred and will be transferred in commercial tool. Moreover, thanks to the project IES had new knowledge in the filed of district heating and manufacturing. EULOKON, KELVIN, MPI and 2GOOUT as first users of SO WHAT tool had the possibility to increase their knowledge in WH/C recovery and gather new know how in Financing Schemes and ESCO Models. SIE thanks to SO WHAT has a huge impact in terms of communication, dissemination & networking and clustering. All these SMEs had the chance to build a strong network of stakeholders and international network as well as increase awareness on district heating and cooling and in sustainability.

Logo

Schematic of the tool