Despite the large economic energy saving potential in the EU, the energy service companies (ESCOs) market for residential buildings is much less developed than in other demand sectors (e.g. the industry or public/service sectors). Besides sector cross-cutting barriers (e.g. low energy prices, lack of information and awareness, lack of appropriate forms of finance) there are specific barriers which make a large-scale application of the ESCO model for residential buildings particularly difficult (e.g. lack scale or lack the necessary energy intensity to justify investment within the structure of present-day EPC model). In this context, frESCO aims to engage with ESCOs and aggregators and enable the deployment of innovative business models on the basis of novel integrated energy service bundles that properly combine and remunerate local flexibility for optimizing local energy performance both in the form of energy efficiency and demand side management. Such new service and business models will bring under common Pay for Performance Contracts (extended form of current EPCs) two currently differentiated service offerings to enable the realization of next-generation smart energy service packages. The strong presence of the industry in the consortium (2 ESCOs, 2 aggregators, 3 ICT and technology providers and 2 engineering companies) and the end-users (1 Cooperative and 1 Hotel), supported by 3 knowledgable RTOs, will ensure the market uptake of frESCOs new business models. frESCO's new business models will be demonstrated in 4 different pilots (Spain, France, Croatian and Greece) with complementary characteristics in terms of building typology (single-/multi-family), climate, regulation, energy consumption, energy assets, consumer groups, etc., thus facilitating the replicability of frESCO's solutions across Europe. Overall, frESCO aims to directly achieve a primary savings of 464 MWh/yr and a reduction of 108 tCO2/yr and trigger 28.3M€ investment during the replication

The expected increasing share of variable RES is challenging the electric grid in terms of reliability, stability and security of supply. Indeed, the European renewable target for 2030 (32% of total energy consumed) means that more than 50% of electricity will be generated from RES, most of which will be connected to the MV and LV grids. As an answer to these present and incoming challenges, FLEXIGRID project proposes to improve the distribution grid operation making it more flexible, reliable and cost-efficient, through the development of 4 HW and 4 SW solutions. Furthermore, a single open source platform will integrate the different solutions making them interoperable with the IT systems used by the energy stakeholders, increasing its replication potential. With the aim of increasing the project’s replication potential, 8 use cases have been identified to address EU most common distribution grid problems. These use cases are represented by 4 complementary demo-sites ready to upgrade FLEXIGRID solutions towards TRL8: a rural and peri-urban network in Spain with a RES share of 39%; a resort in the Greek Island of Thasos able to integrate 10% of RES; an urban grid in the city of Zagreb with congested areas, and an isolated valley in the South-Tyrol region of Italy with more than 50% of hydroelectric energy. To reach the project objectives, the consortium counts with partners representing all the energy system value-chain. In this sense, 2 RTOs and 2 Universities will work together with 5 technology providers to develop the project solutions and deploy them in the four demo-sites, represented by 3 DSOs and 2 large companies. Finally, 2 associations will ensure the exploitation and dissemination of the project results along the EU energy community. Finally, FLEXIGRID will support the ‘Clean Energy for All’ Europeans package while actively cooperating with BRIDGE initiative thanks to the presence of the consortium in 10 of its projects