This proposal aims at supporting the work which has been carried out by the secretariat of the European Technology and Innovation Platform on Renewable Heating and Cooling since 2011. The role of the secretariat is to assist the stakeholders of the RHC-ETIP in coordinating activities related to the definition and implementation of an innovation strategy to increase the use of renewable energy sources for heating and cooling, and to foster the growth and the market uptake of the relevant industries. The secretariat provides support to the structure of the RHC-ETIP, by organising meetings, events, and relevant consultations, and by assisting with the preparation of relevant documents (both of technical and of political nature) to raise the profile and importance of the renewable heating and cooling sector, and its related technologies. This proposal also addresses the need to enlarge the membership of the RHC-ETIP by involving more closely national policy makers, as well as other relevant stakeholders (related industries, and socio-economic experts) in its work. By supporting interactions between several stakeholders representing industry, research and academia, from different renewable heating and cooling technologies, and by gradually including complementary sectors and expertise, the SecRHC-ETIP will assist the RHC sector in strengthening its growth and competitiveness both vis-à-vis traditional heating and cooling technologies, as well as with respect to competitors coming from non-EU countries.

BioRES is proposed by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in cooperation with the European Biomass Association, the Agricultural Chamber of Styria/Austria, C.A.R.M.E.N marketing network for renewable resources (Germany), the Finish Forest Technology Centre METLA, regional energy agencies in Croatia and Slovenia, and the national biomass associations in Bulgaria and Serbia. BioRES aims at introducing an innovative concept of Biomass Logistic and Trade Centres (BLTCs) in Serbia, Croatia, and Bulgaria on the basis of cooperation with technology leaders from Austria, Slovenia, Germany, and Finland. This will help increasing the demand for woody bioenergy products (processed fire wood, wood chips, wood pellets, and wood briquettes) in these countries and contribute to the achievement of EU targets set out in the RES Directive (2009/28/EC). BioRES identifies priority locations for new BLTCs, assesses regional potentials for the production and use of woody bioenergy products, and initiates local stakeholder dialogues involving both producers and potential users of woody bioenergy products (WP3). BioRES initiates the establishment of community-based investor groups, conducts feasibility studies and provides support for BLTC business plans as well as for sale agreements on supply and demand side, and helps for the start of operations of new BLTCs (WP4) on the basis of EU best practices (WP2). BioRES promotes local consumer information and awareness building (WP7) as well as the development (WP6) of local capacities at all stages along the regional supply chains for quality-controlled woody bioenergy products from sustainable forestry (WP5). Outcomes of BioRES will be exchanged with stakeholders in all EU28 Member States (WP8). The innovative concept for new BLTCs builds upon the results of numerous previous and on-going European programs, in particular BIOMASS TRADE CENTER II, FOROPA, SolidStandards and BIOREGIONS.

The EU has started a progressive decarbonisation with the aim to become carbon neutral by 2050. Energy Intensive Industries (EII) are expected to play an important role in this transition as they represent 24% of the final energy consumption, but a clear long-term vision and strategy is required in order to remain competitive while contributing to the decarbonization targets of the EU. RE4Industry has been conceived under this framework with a twofold objective: to support EII in the identification and integration of renewable energy (RE) solutions together with the definition of Action Plans for decarbonisation, and to transform the EU industrial landscape into a large market niche for the uptake of RE while defining the appropriate framework conditions for short- and long-term scenarios. To this end, RE4Industry will set up and empower a comprehensive network of stakeholders and market actors who will identify feasible RE technologies and their market barriers and will interact with industry representatives to gather their needs, expectations, drivers and barriers towards the implementation of these technologies. Such an approach will be accomplished through a strong engagement strategy and the creation of RE4Industry Collaborative Network, who will receive from the project partners knowledge transfer material such as success cases, best practices, policy recommendations and technological roadmaps for promoting RE adoption. In parallel to the networking activities, RE4Industry will develop a baseline methodology for the design of Action Plans for decarbonisation in EIIs that will be developed and validated together with 3 representative industrial use cases from the steel, aluminium and chemical sectors. RE4Industry solid replication strategy will enable the roll out of this methodology in at least 8 additional use cases of different sectors within the project lifespan and the initiation of cross-border knowledge transfer activities to a total of 12 EU countries.