The flexibility of the industrial electricity demand has been identified as a potential that through innovative business models can facilitate further growth of variable renewable energy, while reducing the industrial electricity costs and contributing to the European energy policy goals. In this project the large industry is working with the renewable energy community to identify and implement business models for supplying variable renewable electricity to industrial users with flexibility in their demand, creating win-win situations. Several variations of the business models will be described covering different options like on and off-site renewable energy production. The business models will be adapted to 5 industrial sectors (Chemicals, non-ferrous metals, cold storage, steel, and water treatment) and 6 target countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK). Tools will be developed to facilitate adoption of the business models: Model contracts adapted to the target countries and the different business models and a methodology that assesses the flexibility in industrial units and its value within the business models. The methodology will be transferred to third parties and will be applied in 6 case studies covering all target sectors and countries. Recommendations for improvements in the regulatory and market framework will be formulated and promoted. A top-down and a bottom-up methodology will be used to quantify the potential for further cost-effective grid integration of variable renewable electricity by the exploitation of the industrial electricity demand flexibility. The use of a sophisticated power system model and detailed analysis will provide reliable data on the impact the policy recommendations could have. An ambitious campaign will be carried out for engaging the target groups in direct action implementing the business models and informing the interested actors about the project activities and results.

streamSAVE will support Member States in harmonizing accurate, bottom-up energy savings calculations of technical priority actions under Article 7, as well as Article 3 of Member States’ EED reporting. The actions will be targeted to those measures with high energy saving potential and considered as priority issues by Member States. To understand Member States’ priorities, the consortium performed an online survey in May 2019 (explained below). For each of the identified priority actions, streamSAVE is fostering transnational knowledge exchange between public authorities and other key-stakeholders along the following axes: - Axis 1: Knowledge facility where Member States are guided through the status of energy saving methodologies in the EU28 and how they can streamline and improve their bottom-up energy savings calculations. - Axis 2: Peer-to-peer dialogues among public authorities and other key-stakeholders to share experiences, reflect on and validate the streamlined calculation methodologies. - Axis 3: Capacity support facility assisting Member States in implementing streamlined energy savings calculations for specific requests to improve their obligations under Article 3 and Article 7 of the Energy Efficiency Directive An online streamSAVE platform will be set-up to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experiences among Member States according to the three axes, which is illustrated in the next figure. The project would assist Member States to deliver rapidly scalable savings and hence maximize their chances of successfully meeting the EED energy savings targets. Methodologies developed in this way would be eligible for use on a voluntary basis, but would benefit from the pooling of European expertise and experience and thus support best practice while avoiding duplicative effort.

The ReFreeDrive project is focused on contributing to avoid the use of rare earth magnets through the development of a next generation of electric drivetrains, ensuring the industrial feasibility for mass production while focusing on the low cost of the manufacturing technologies. This proposal intends to study and develop simultaneously two solutions for the power traction system of electrical vehicles. Both solutions are brushless AC electrical machines: induction machine with fabricated and copper die-cast rotor (IM) and synchronous reluctance (SynRel) machine. Through their configurations these machines not only are rare-earth magnet free, but also share common features that can be exploited during the design step, as well in the manufacturing process. These common features lead to a complex synergy between the two technologies, which justify the development of different topologies of electric machines in just one project. The design of the ReFreeDrive motors will take as a premise the reduction of use of materials, as more than half of the final price is formed by raw materials cost. Also, a minimization of manufacturing costs will be ensured by an early involvement of manufacturers, from the design stage. ReFreeDrive motor topologies have good room for cost reduction by off-setting permanent magnet use. However, it is not feasible to change the commodity prices for copper and steel. Therefore, one of the key avenues for cost reduction is the reduction of size through different techniques (outer rotor, higher rotational speed, compact winding…). An optimized use of copper on the project provides technical design with a higher efficiency due to lower losses regards other alternatives, and more efficient heat management. Beyond the motor design, ReFreeDrive also consider an integrated design of the power train that allows the optimization of the electric connections, the cooling systems and the housing.

There is a need to strengthen the capacity of Market Surveillance Authorities (MSAs) to conduct Ecodesign related market surveillance activities with respect to new and pending industrial and tertiary sector products. Especially in the case of customised products which are unsuitable for testing in laboratories. There is a lack of expertise, experience, and resources available across Europe for such kind of testing. An increasing concern is that new regulations addressing these products risk being unenforceable. The aim of the INTAS project is to address these concerns and provide technical and cooperative support, as well as capacity building activities, to MSAs charged with enforcing these regulations. The need for the INTAS project arises from the difficulty that MSAs and market actors face in establishing and verifying compliance with energy performance requirements for large industrial products subject to requirements of the Ecodesign Directive. The focus of the project is to support compliance for very large industrial products, specifically transformers and industrial fans, with the requirements of the Ecodesign Directive. The energy consumption of transformers and industrial fans is very significant and thus the risk of losses due to poor compliance cannot be ignored. The project aims to: a. support European Member State MSAs deliver compliance for large products (specifically for transformers and large fans); b. support industry to be sure of what their obligations are under the Ecodesign Directive and to deliver compliance in a manner that will be broadly accepted by MSAs; c. foster a common European approach to the delivery and verification of compliance for these products. The INTAS project involves 16 partners among them there are 11 organisations, which are National MSAs or cooperating closely with the National MSAs, targeting 10 European countries (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Italy).

The HELIOS project aims at developing and integrating innovative materials, designs, technologies and processes to create a new concept of smart, modular and scalable battery pack for a wide range of electric vehicles used in urban electromobility services, from mid-size electric vehicles to electric buses, with improved performance, energy density, safety, lifetime and LCoS (Levelized Cost of Storage). Novel developments that integrate hardware and software solutions for the smart control of electrical and thermal management systems that exploit advanced materials, power electronics, sensors and cutting-edge ICT, such as cloud-based Big Data Analysis, Artificial Intelligence and IoT (Internet of Things) technologies running in the cloud are investigated and implemented within the HELIOS action. These combined approaches enable: i) increase energy and power density; ii) enhance key characteristics like ultra-high power charging; iii) improve safety; iv) improve E fleet control and health management strategies to extend lifetime; v) create optimised EV charge and discharge procedures and predictive maintenance schedules; vi) monitor SOC (State of Charge), SOH (State of Health) and carbon footprint for each battery pack throughout its entire life cycle, which allows an effective integrated supply chain for the manufacture, reuse and recycling of Li-ion battery packs to be established; viii) improve battery pack design and performance with reduced LCoS, based on a circular economy approach where the modular battery packs can be easily re-used in a range of 2nd life applications prior to EoL recycling and ix) assessment of HELIOS solution effectiveness in different urban electromobility models such as car-fleets and e-bus fleets.