Making distributed Combined Heat and Power (CHP) generation with zero pollution convenient

Project Information

EGG1

Grant agreement ID: 875864

DOI

10.3030/875864

Project closed

EC signature date 25 July 2019

Start date 1 August 2019

End date 31 January 2020

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

EGG TECHNOLOGY SRL
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EGG1 (Making distributed Combined Heat and Power (CHP) generation with zero pollution convenient)

Reporting period: 2019-08-01 to 2020-01-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The increasing need to reduce the impact of Particulate Matter (PM) pollution caused by fuel combustion for residential space and water heating in cities represents the starting point of the EGG1 technological solution.
Egg Technology, spin-off at Camerino University and innovative startup, has patented an innovative configuration which combines a Solid Oxide Fuel cell (SOFC) with an electric driven heat pump and an innovative control system able to optimize and make the application of SOFC for residential and small commercial applications profitable; the system is capable to decouple the heat and electricity production from the user demands, thus making it able to respond to the electricity price signals or demand/response in smart grid configurations.
Egg integrates and sells the EGG1 micro-CHP for up to 10 apartments block, integrating BlueGEN 1.5 kW SOFC under partnership agreement with SOLIDpower, the world’s most advanced producer of SOFC m-CHP. The EGG1 will be installed by a network of certified installers and sold to private users (B2C) or to ESCOs (B2B). The resulting product is EGG1, the world’s most advanced m-CHP configuration able to supply power and heating demands using natural gas without any combustion, thus without any harmful smog and PM emission into the atmosphere. EGG1 also makes SOFC technology economically profitable even in very cold climates, thanks to reduction of the energy bill of >50%.

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

In PH1, EGG Technology performed:
o Product fit analysis: discussions were engaged with ESCOs regarding EGG1 technology and the defined product specifications and layout. A plan for the demonstration tests to be extensively carried out to test the functionalities of the unit in 3 different EU countries and key partners covering the value chain selected;
o Self-learning and optimization analysis and manufacturing analysis: a plan for the introduction of self-learning and optimization algorithms to maximise profitability in different weather and country conditions was developed.
o Refinement of the Business Model: the original, drafted business model was revised to deliver a complete, optimized system to the engaged ESCOs.
o Regulatory Framework: EGG technology carried out a comprehensive study of the EU Directives in force and of its recent revisions and transpositions by Member States, including emerging opportunities on the potential of the energy community models.
o Business Plan and the Investment strategy: the Business Plan was refined with a quantification of the investment needed for the product development and demonstration to be carried out and of the future investments for access to market.
o Customer validation: discussions were engaged on the technology with key partners and ESCOs in Italy; available prototypes were shared with these companies to show their key features and expected benefits. Preliminary agreements for future exploitation of the technology were prepared.

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)

Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) technology offers many potential benefits as a distributed generation system in residential applications:
1. It makes use of natural gas available from the gas network to produce electricity and heat, with no combustion: (no PM emissions as hydrocarbon is broken down into hydrogen and carbon dioxide);
2. It has low heat-to-power ratio and electrical efficiency up to 60%, optimal for buildings with higher electricity use and low space heating demand and also for buildings with increasing electricity use and lower heating demand;
3. SOFCs are small and modular with capital costs relatively insensitive to scale.
Thanks to the combination with the HP and optimal control, EGG1 can satisfy the thermal and electricity need of the users and provide excess electricity to the grid whenever possible/profitable. EGG1 is a black box system that provides users all the energy needed, self-optimizing to the specific condition and operating with no vibrations and no noises. EGG1 maximizes the working hours of the SOFC m-CHP during the year, making the use of this solution become economically profitable. Combining HP with SOFC, EGG1 makes it economically advantageous to use the heat pump for heating even in very cold climates. Contrarily to existing m-CHP, EGG1 is dimensioned to cover with the heat produced by the SOFC only the heating demand for domestic hot water, which is limited and almost constant over the year. The space heating is covered by the heat produced by the Heat Pump, which is fed by the electricity produced by the SOFC and for the rest by the grid. Hence while in other solutions a back-up gas boiler is always required, EGG1 is meant to completely replace boilers in households (and cut to zero emissions), thanks to the coupling of the SOFC with the Heat Pump.
The EGG1 technology under development is meant to replace boilers in new and existing residential installations in building blocks. In the light of the recent EU-RES Directive revision, outstanding opportunities for mass introduction of micro-CHP technologies are envisaged, and the expected market potential is likely to increase respect to the one assessed in the past years.
Market potential will be concentrated in few countries, with the largest 3 markets (Germany, Spain and Italy) representing 66% of the considered segment.

EGG1 for houses

EGG1 for SMEs