Advanced biofuels represent an important piece of the puzzle in the EU’s quest for climate neutrality as they contribute to decarbonising transport sectors and decrease the EU’s dependence on fossil fuels. Fuels-C aims to contribute to this quest by increasing the availability of two liquid and two gaseous advanced biofuels for maritime and road transports, produced from biogenic organic wastes and CO2. Fuels-C will develop an integrated platform of innovative energy-efficient conversion technologies validated at TRL5 including bioelectrochemically assisted CH4 production, bioelectrochemical NH3 production, gasification, microbial electrosynthesis, and electroreduction. Various biogenic residues (biodegradable and non-biodegradable) will be converted under mild conditions into CH4, NH3, formic acid and ethanol, by two main production routes, using renewable energy, thereby enabling efficient energy surplus storage as chemicals. The 4 biofuels can be used as drop-in, but Fuels-C will also test them in FCs for electricity production: gaseous NH3 and CH4 in SOFCs, liquid ethanol and formic acid in DLFCs. Power density, energy efficiency and stability of each process will be validated. The technologies will be modelled at process level, for the description of interfacial phenomena, and at system level, leading to an integrated processes Digital Twin. This second model, together with a feedstocks mapping tool, will provide relevant data for circularity assessment, cost calculation, benchmarking and replication in other relevant use cases. This is expected to create new businesses opportunities and strengthen the EU's leadership in science and technology and in the biofuels market. Fuels-C gathers an interdisciplinary consortium composed of EU’s prominent RTOs and Universities, a large industry providing feedstocks and four SMEs contributing to market uptake and global outreach. It will be supported by an international Advisory Board providing strategic advice.

The transition to a hydrogen-based economy necessitates a paradigm shift in design approaches. Traditional engineering practices must be augmented with a holistic perspective that considers safety, environmental, social, and economic principles in the whole life cycle of the target system. The safe and sustainable by design (SSbD) approach, recently recommended at the EU level in a specific framework, is the highest standard to reduce the negative life cycle impacts directly in the design phase. GUESS-WHy project aims to improve the sustainability and safety of the fuel cell and hydrogen (FCH) systems by promoting the SSbD methodology. GUESS-WHy will develop and publish seven SSbD guidelines of seven different FCH systems, covering different technology readiness level (TRL) along the hydrogen value chain (production, storage and utilization). Selected systems are (5+2): PEM electrolyzer, SOFC system, Alkaline electrolyzer, metal hydrides storage, H2 gas turbine plus PEM-FC and SOE electrolyzer based on the existing sustainable-by-design guidelines. The SSbD guidelines provide the impact assessment of the system as well as the recommendations and products concepts for safe and sustainable impact improvements along the whole life cycle. The project will start collecting inputs from previous projects, stakeholders and literature. The guidelines will be developed following a standard process: product definition, initial impact assessment, idea generation and scenario and benchmark analysis. Dissemination and exploitation will target both the regulatory field and the industrial stakeholders to promote the utilization of the guidelines. GUESS-WHy consortium is composed of universities and research centers, expert in safety and sustainability assessments, and by private companies with expertise in the design and production of FCH systems. GUESS-WHy is supported by a network of public bodies and industries interested in providing inputs and disseminating project results.

The H2AL consortium aims to address the challenges of adopting hydrogen (H2) in hard-to-abate industries (HTAIs) through a hybrid approach using digital tools and state-of-the-art experimental techniques. The consortium will develop an integrated H2 burner and support system for a heating furnace in an HTAI, specifically the aluminium scrap recycling industry. The project will investigate the impact of H2 combustion on the furnace structure and product quality while minimizing emissions. H2AL will apply Oxyfuel combustion of H2 as combustion technology, which will be combined with low-NOx combustion techniques, most likely the flameless/MILD combustion mode. This approach will allow us to benefit from the main advantages from oxyfuel combustion while minimizing its emissions (particularly NOx). The impact of H2 combustion on the refractory materials, overall furnace structure and product quality (aluminium) will also be investigated and measures to minimize its impacts will be implemented. To ensure widespread replication and exploitation of the technology, the consortium will perform techno-economic modeling, develop guidelines for technology integration, analyze geographic information, and develop new business models. The consortium comprises 10 partners from four countries, including 4 research organizations, 5 industrial partners, and an industry association, and includes an end-user association representing the aluminium sector in Europe. The H2AL project seeks to achieve TRL7 by running a full-scale demonstration for more than six months, with at least one trial of 100h at 100% H2 and with a thermal output of at more than 2 MWth.

EnergyGuard aims to develop, kickstart and sustain an open, green and robust Testing Experimentation Facility operating under real-world conditions to empower innovators in bringing trustworthy AI products to the energy market in a cost-effective manner. It will integrate five significant European large-scale testing and experimentation facilities that cover the full energy value chain,supported by European’s greenest HPC infrastructure (Meluxina). This includes a digital twin (DT) of the Portuguese Transmission Network (RDN), the CEDER-CIEMAT Microgrid with its Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), the Hydrogen testing platforms at CEA LITEN, CARTIF, BER and CIEMAT, a high-fidelity local DT of Riga's multi-apartment residential buildings and the Antrodoco Renewable Energy Community. This includes a wide range of elements to cover diverse AI test needs,including wind power, photovoltaic systems, hydropower plant, AEM,PEM and SO eletrolysers, fuel cells, EV charging stations, electric and public buses and battery storage systems. The facilities will be accessible to EnergyGuard end-users through a set of properly configured Digital Twins (DTs) and curated assets, including data, models, inference APIs, services, and applications through a AI development Testing environment. It will enable easy seamless access to assets from the EU ecosystem including AIOD, Data Spaces, DIHs and other TEFs; Moreover, EnergyGuard facilitates users to validate their products with an Acceptance Environment and a common open AI risks database for a wide range of cybersecurity and trustworthy AI assessments. The TEF will serve as full infrastructure to support national AI regulatory sandbox initiatives and deliver 5 pilot cases for the private and public sector. EnergyGuard will build upon a long-term, self-sustainable business model driven by a new entity, incorporating market-ready features early in the design, such as a subscription/plan framework, billing, and professional support

EVELIXIA brings together 36 high profile organizations from 12 EU countries envisioning to realize Buildings as Active Utility Nodes (BAUNs), rendering the EU Building stock as: a) energy efficient; b) connected, by facilitating a two-way communication between the grid and the occupants, capitalizing on flexible technologies; c) smart, by utilizing analytics supported by sensors and controls to co-optimize efficiency, flexibility, and occupant preferences; and d) flexible, reducing, shifting, or modulating energy use according to occupant needs, while considering utility signals. EVELIXIA structures the advancement of its solutions along five Innovation Pathways: IP1: Building-to-Grid (B2G) Services; IP2: Grid-to-Building (G2B) Services; IP3: Human-to-Building Interfaces & Interactivity; IP 4: Systems Interoperability; and IP5: Innovative HW as Flexibility Enablers, which will be integrated, deployed, and validated at 7 large-scale, real-life pilots (GR, RO, FR, FI, ES, AT, DK). During the EVELIXIA platform deployment and validation, different actors (i.e., DSOs, DNOs, ESCOs, aggregators) from various sectors (electricity, heating/cooling, mobility) will exchange data for providing B2G and G2B services and they will participate in the development of Business Models showcasing the economic viability of the solutions proposed. EVELIXIA puts a large focus on social engagement empowering citizens as not only adopters of solutions, but also, as their co-creators applying methodologies for citizen and consumer engagement and advanced human to building interfaces. Key expected outcomes include: 14 scalable B2G/G2B services demonstrated including DSF (implicit, explicit, shifting, etc.), P2P energy trading, portfolio management (day ahead/intra-day), TSO/DSO/DHO, and system planning services; GHG emissions reduced by 17%, increase of flexibility by up to 25%, increase of self-consumption up to 100%, reduce energy consumption by 13.5%, and increase RE generation by 11%.