Periodic Reporting for period 2 - frESCO (New business models for innovative energy service bundles for residential consumers)
Période du rapport: 2022-03-01 au 2023-11-30
frESCO pursuits the development of innovative business models on the basis of novel integrated energy service bundles to combine and remunerate local demand flexibility and energy performance optimisation savings in residential buildings. This objective is achieved in frESCO by the proposal of new business models to enable a new bundle of data-driven energy services for building residents carried out by ESCO and aggregators on a Pay for Performance approach to boost the development of the energy service market in residential buildings, tackling existing barriers to unleash the huge potential of the residential building sector in Europe.
The project has successfully achieved all 10 milestones as planned, with 52 deliverables submitted on time across two reporting periods. Objectives outlined in section 1.1 of the Technical Report have been met. Notable achievements in communication and dissemination include increased social media and website followers, video interviews, posts, newsletters, scientific papers, and organized events. The consortium has developed an exploitation strategy covering various aspects for each Key Exploitable Result (KER), including market assessment, development plans, barriers, enablers, business models, market segmentation, value proposition, and IP management. The IP matrix assigns foreground IP and access rights to interested partners, facilitating the protection of project results through patents and establishing initial commercial discussions for service continuation. Initial conversation between partners were launched to use project results.
Section 1.3 of the Technical report gathers all the impact based on D6.2 and D6.4. Results are highly satisfactory as they largely comply with the initially set objectives, albeit some differences among demo sites due to building type and usage profile. The final results of the project measured in the three final demo sites are described hereby:
1.Primary Energy savings triggered by the project.
Energy efficiency in frESCO is assessed holistically per dwelling and year. It comes from different sources: the personalised energy analytics module providing real-time behavioural change recommendations and strategies to building residents, tested in Madrid, the PV self-consumption tested in the three demo sites and optimization strategies at ESCO portfolio level, tested in the Thasos hotel bungalow. Aggregated results in the three demo sites account for 86 MWh/y savings in primary energy, which exceed the committed corrected target (3-demos) by 16%. The extended demo site estimations increase these savings to 557 MWh/y in the three extended demo sites, 45% over the initial corrected target. Further savings could be made by larger and more continuous occupation and higher generation and storage capacities in the buildings.
2.Investments in sustainable energy triggered by the project.
Investments in sustainable energy prioritize digital infrastructure to enhance localized energy production and residential demand management, aiming for higher building self-sufficiency. Excluded are investments in PV generation and storage assets, factored into payback calculations. With the Madrid demonstrator shifting to a PV-equipped community, planned PV investments were unnecessary, documented in a GA amendment. Initial setup costs for frESCO data architecture in 29 apartments totaled €20,732, 44% lower than estimated, indicating cost-effectiveness. Investment per dwelling ranged from €605 to €886 due to troubleshooting and island remoteness. Extended demo site investments for 260 apartments are estimated at €166,120.
3.Improved viability of innovative energy services: they vary greatly depending on the building profile and the service. In Madrid both PV self-consumption and personalised energy analytics were tested with an average payback of 3 years, below the 4.4 years target. Flexibility services were tested only in Madrid and contribute to a little extend to the overall results. Being prudent in the estimations, the payback time of the hybrid combined services can go down to just 2.7 years, again below the 4 years target (PV asset investment included). In Thasos the payback time of the efficiency services is estimated in 9.6 years due to seasonality of the hotel (only 4 months of occupancy), but below the 11.2 years target. Flexibility estimates reduce it slightly to 9.4 years. In Croatia, were the lack of enough PV assets and the low generation – demand matching hinders the potential of the services, we still can expect very acceptable paybacks of 7.5 years, below the target of 12.4 years.
4.A growing offer and up-take of services that combine energy efficiency with other energy services, technologies and non-energy benefits.
29 apartments and monitored spaces were involved with up to 258 users, above the target of 23 apartments and 90 users (corrected targets to 3 demos). The extended demo sites include 260 apartments (target 90 apartments) and nearly 8,000 users. A total of 14 services were offered from monitoring and energy efficiency to explicit demand response aggregation services. The service bundles include four non-energy services, of which the comfort preservation and the air quality monitoring were tested in Madrid and Thasos. All these services were accepted by the end users although the interest on explicit demand response was low due to the current situation of closeness for demand response markets in the demo site countries.
5.A growing up-take of innovative data gathering and processing methods in the monitoring and verification of energy savings and flexibility.
Innovative methods for data gathering and processing enhance monitoring and verification of energy savings and flexibility. The frESCO services, reliant on data, introduce novel physical and digital infrastructure to support innovative business models for energy service providers. Development includes applications for energy monitoring, personalized energy analytics, ESCO portfolio management, demand response aggregation, and Virtual Power Plant configuration. Two supporting modules for automation and contract management were also developed and tested, alongside a Big Data Platform and advanced analytic pipelines for forecasting demand, generation, and comfort.
6.The application of methods and concepts to ensure that: (i) innovative energy services are reliable and verifiable, (ii) service providers are trustworthy and accessible.
The project employs methods and concepts to ensure the reliability of innovative energy services and the trustworthiness of service providers. Key developments include the PMV methodology and digital contract systems. PMV was used to assess energy efficiency and demand flexibility in Madrid, with notable results. It also facilitated non-energy service performance assessment, supporting the Pay-for-Performance contracts in the new frESCO business model.
1.Primary Energy savings triggered by the project.
Energy efficiency in frESCO is assessed holistically per dwelling and year. It comes from different sources: the personalised energy analytics module providing real-time behavioural change recommendations and strategies to building residents, tested in Madrid, the PV self-consumption tested in the three demo sites and optimization strategies at ESCO portfolio level, tested in the Thasos hotel bungalow. Aggregated results in the three demo sites account for 86 MWh/y savings in primary energy, which exceed the committed corrected target (3-demos) by 16%. The extended demo site estimations increase these savings to 557 MWh/y in the three extended demo sites, 45% over the initial corrected target. Further savings could be made by larger and more continuous occupation and higher generation and storage capacities in the buildings.
2.Investments in sustainable energy triggered by the project.
Investments in sustainable energy prioritize digital infrastructure to enhance localized energy production and residential demand management, aiming for higher building self-sufficiency. Excluded are investments in PV generation and storage assets, factored into payback calculations. With the Madrid demonstrator shifting to a PV-equipped community, planned PV investments were unnecessary, documented in a GA amendment. Initial setup costs for frESCO data architecture in 29 apartments totaled €20,732, 44% lower than estimated, indicating cost-effectiveness. Investment per dwelling ranged from €605 to €886 due to troubleshooting and island remoteness. Extended demo site investments for 260 apartments are estimated at €166,120.
3.Improved viability of innovative energy services: they vary greatly depending on the building profile and the service. In Madrid both PV self-consumption and personalised energy analytics were tested with an average payback of 3 years, below the 4.4 years target. Flexibility services were tested only in Madrid and contribute to a little extend to the overall results. Being prudent in the estimations, the payback time of the hybrid combined services can go down to just 2.7 years, again below the 4 years target (PV asset investment included). In Thasos the payback time of the efficiency services is estimated in 9.6 years due to seasonality of the hotel (only 4 months of occupancy), but below the 11.2 years target. Flexibility estimates reduce it slightly to 9.4 years. In Croatia, were the lack of enough PV assets and the low generation – demand matching hinders the potential of the services, we still can expect very acceptable paybacks of 7.5 years, below the target of 12.4 years.
4.A growing offer and up-take of services that combine energy efficiency with other energy services, technologies and non-energy benefits.
29 apartments and monitored spaces were involved with up to 258 users, above the target of 23 apartments and 90 users (corrected targets to 3 demos). The extended demo sites include 260 apartments (target 90 apartments) and nearly 8,000 users. A total of 14 services were offered from monitoring and energy efficiency to explicit demand response aggregation services. The service bundles include four non-energy services, of which the comfort preservation and the air quality monitoring were tested in Madrid and Thasos. All these services were accepted by the end users although the interest on explicit demand response was low due to the current situation of closeness for demand response markets in the demo site countries.
5.A growing up-take of innovative data gathering and processing methods in the monitoring and verification of energy savings and flexibility.
Innovative methods for data gathering and processing enhance monitoring and verification of energy savings and flexibility. The frESCO services, reliant on data, introduce novel physical and digital infrastructure to support innovative business models for energy service providers. Development includes applications for energy monitoring, personalized energy analytics, ESCO portfolio management, demand response aggregation, and Virtual Power Plant configuration. Two supporting modules for automation and contract management were also developed and tested, alongside a Big Data Platform and advanced analytic pipelines for forecasting demand, generation, and comfort.
6.The application of methods and concepts to ensure that: (i) innovative energy services are reliable and verifiable, (ii) service providers are trustworthy and accessible.
The project employs methods and concepts to ensure the reliability of innovative energy services and the trustworthiness of service providers. Key developments include the PMV methodology and digital contract systems. PMV was used to assess energy efficiency and demand flexibility in Madrid, with notable results. It also facilitated non-energy service performance assessment, supporting the Pay-for-Performance contracts in the new frESCO business model.