Buildings constitute a vast, yet currently untapped, source of energy demand flexibility that can provide invaluable services to the energy system. This flexibility currently remains unattainable due to the lack of a technological framework that can connect the multitude of buildings and building systems with the energy system in a cost-effective manner as well as the reluctance of energy consumers to enroll in demand response programs. DRIMPAC offers a comprehensive solution to empower consumer to become active participants in the energy markets. It comprises three main pillars: a) A legacy and Standards-compliant interoperability framework to interconnect building energy loads/appliances and expose their demand flexibility as price-responsive demand to the grid or for market actors to aggregate and bid in ancillary service markets. b) A human-centric, intelligent building energy management system that will lift the burden of demand response from the consumers shoulders and reduce reluctance and fear of participation in DR programs. It will infer user comfort preferences and dynamically control building loads to minimize energy cost and use for the building occupant leveraging dynamic prices, while always preserving comfortable and healthy indoor conditions. c) Innovative business models and service offering for energy retailers in order to facilitate their transformation from commodity suppliers to digital energy service suppliers and kick-start the deployment of the DRIMPAC solution in the market. The DRIMPAC technological framework and business models will be validated by four retailers supplying three energy carriers – electricity, natural gas and district heating – in four different national markets across the EU - France, Cyprus, Germany and Spain. Pilot demonstrations will take place in a range of building types, including residential, office, educational and others, in order to validate the DRIMPAC benefits across most building typologies.

European process industries face significant challenges in a changing geopolitical landscape, under the threat of climate change and against fierce international competition. In this context, boosting the resilience and competitiveness of process industries, while taking surefooted steps towards climate neutrality is of existential importance. StreamSTEP is the vision of 31 organisations across EU, Switzerland, Norway and UK, aspiring to trigger significant improvements of how heating energy is managed within industrial processes. The project will address processes that generate waste heat across all temperature grades, from 135oC to over 1400oC, deploying five innovative heat exchanger prototypes for challenging applications and achieving flexible operation across multiple heat sinks. Heat upgrade will be managed through high temperature heat pumps, achieving outlet temperatures at 150oC and at 215oC, with improved performance through ejector technology and the capacity to operate dynamically across a range of required temperatures. Enablers of these innovations are advanced manufacturing techniques, achieving superior material performance through novel material alloys. The system will be demonstrated across five sectors: non-ferrous metals, ceramics, minerals, plastics and refining. The demonstrators will be supported by impact boosting resources, de-risking the investment and accelerating commercialisation. A holistic process digital twinning pipeline will be integral to these advancements, as it will provide the infrastructure to deploy powerful optimisation agents, addressing energy balance, intermediary storage, GHG avoidance and data-driven LCA. The effects of the StreamSTEP project will be significant, as the recovery and efficient reutilisation of the majority of waste heat (50%-over 90%) will be achieved, with systems boasting a payback below 3 years, with the added effects of increasing productivity in selected processes, as well as energy flexibility.

The Circular REDesign for a Resource-efficient, Innovative, and Transformative Built Environment (CRedIBlE) project aims to enable the design, adaptability, reuse, and deconstruction of buildings through a fully interoperable digital ecosystem. By integrating AI-driven decision-support tools, Digital Product Passports (DPPs), modular building components, and pre-dictive analytics, CRedIBlE provides a systematic framework for circular construction, material traceability, and lifecycle optimization. At its core, the CRedIBlE digital ecosystem will connect Building Information Modeling (BIM), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Digital Twin technologies, and AI-powered analytics, allowing stakeholders to make data-driven decisions on material reuse and circular renovation strategies. CRedIBlE will deliver: ▪ AI-powered Decision Support System (DSS) for material reuse prediction, modular construction, and renovation planning. ▪ Digital Product Passport (DPP) framework, ensuring traceability, embodied carbon tracking, and compliance with circular economy regulations. ▪ BIM-LCA integration tools, allowing real-time sustainability assessment of building components. ▪ A Digital Twin-based monitoring system, optimizing predictive analytics for adaptability and deconstruction. ▪ Modular and disassemblable building components, promoting low-carbon and circular construction methodologies. ▪ A Marketplace for secondary materials and components (HVAC, PV, solar collectors), facilitating material exchanges, refurbishment, upcycling and industry-wide circularity adoption. Additionally, CRedIBlE will introduce: ▪A policy framework for integrating Digital Product Passports into EU regulations. ▪AI-driven material flow simulations, optimizing deconstruction and material reuse scenarios. ▪Training programs and knowledge-sharing platforms, equipping industry professionals and policymakers with circular skills. ▪ Standardized modular construction guidelines, aligned with existing EU regulations

The large scale integration of renewable energy sources (RES) has introduced a new operating paradigm. Renewable energy sources are characterized by uncertainty and volatility. Moreover, overloading of transmission and distribution feeders have become more frequent. The curtailment of renewable power generation has thus increased, contradicting the goals for high shares of RES. A valuable solution to these challenges is the introduction of flexibility from flexible resources and loads. In this context, FlexCHESS project proposes cutting-edge solutions based on digital twin concept, Virtual energy storage systems (VESS) and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) to revolutionize the existing practices. Based on the aggregation of Connected Hybrid Energy Storage System (CHESS), FlexCHESS improves the grid stability while increasing the profitability of its installations by guaranteeing various ancillary services at the distribution and transmission network levels. FlexCHESS will also ensure the highest level of interoperability of the proposed solutions and enhance the innovation capacity and competitiveness of SMEs and Startups in Europe by unlocking access to meaningful information and co-creating new business opportunities. This will be achieved by the appropriate promoting of open innovation and making smart technologies an asset for intelligent business. In order to validate and evaluate the proposed solutions, five pilot sites demonstrations with diverse assets in different European countries are planned. The aggregation and optimization of different resources will be extended to take into account not only electrical energy storage systems (ESS), but also multi-ESSs. Thus, FlexCHESS project will define different scenarios allowing to evaluate the performances and flexibility capability of CHESS. FlexCHESS project Consortium gathers 3 universities, 2 large companies, 3DSOs, 4 SMEs, and 2 NGO.

DE-RISK aims at supporting the market uptake of renewable energy systems by fostering the adoption of LFMs and unlocking up to 100GW of flexibility in 2030 which will allow a safe and reliable integration of RES in the grid. DE-RISK will achieve this ambitious objective by minimizing the investments and implementation risk through an innovative customer behavior change journey that will increase end users' trust and willingness to participate in the flexibility markets. DE-RISK integrates building, citizen and grids digital twins in its flexibility platform capable of reducing the gap between simulation and real implementation thus mitigating potential technical risks during deployment and operational phase. To maximize DE-RISK impact, innovative multi-sided business models will be developed ensuring multi-benefits, fairness and sustainability for all actors while disruptive financial schemes will be validated for democratizing the access to sustainable investments. Finally, a set of experts will develop regulatory recommendations to support a fair, clear and transparent adoption of LFMs.