Cities and towns have developed along rivers, lakes and seashores, which provide access to environmental heat. In addition to this, waste heat sources are widely spread within the built environement.

With this in mind, the main aim of the EU-funded REWARDHeat project is to develop a new generation of low-temperature district heating and cooling networks that will recover low-grade renewable and waste heat available at low temperatures. Its ultimate vision is to enable new ways to provide heating and cooling to buildings, making thermal energy a service, not a commodity.

It is in urban areas that the demand for heating and cooling demand assumes highest density. At the same time a huge amount of low-grade waste heat is diffused within the urban texture, the largest amount being rejected by air-conditioners, cooling systems in industrial processes and tertiary buildings (i.e. dry coolers and wet cooling towers), datacentres’ chillers and supermarkets’ refrigeration systems.

Moreover, for historic reasons, cities have born along rivers, lakes and seashores. All these sources make low-temperature renewable energy available, which utilisation is highly replicable because it is accessible right where it is needed.

Having this in mind, the overall objective of REWARDHeat is to demonstrate a new generation of low-temperature district heating and cooling networks, which will be able to recover low-grade renewable and waste heat available at low temperature. Focusing on the exploitation of the energy sources available within the urban context allows to maximize the replicability potential of the decentralized solutions developed in the project.

REWARDHeat will promote punctual metering, thermal storage management, network smart control as means to enable and optimise the exploitation of renewable and waste heat in DHC networks.

At the same time, this approach permits a change of paradigm with respect to the business models devised: thermal energy will not be seen as a commodity anymore, rather it will be sold as a service to the customers.

Partners

• ACCADEMIA EUROPEA DI BOLZANO
• IVL SVENSKA MILJOEINSTITUTET AB
• RINA CONSULTING SPA
• FUNDACION CARTIF
• EUROHEAT & POWER
• SVEUCILISTE U ZAGREBU, FAKULTET STROJARSTVA I BRODOGRADNJE
• DANFOSS A/S
• DANFOSS POLAND SP. Z O.O
• DANFOSS SRL
• THERMAFLEX INTERNATIONAL HOLDING BV
• AALBORG UNIVERSITET
• ENISYST GMBH
• ELECTRICITE DE FRANCE
• ARTELYS
• A2A CALORE & SERVIZI SRL
• HAMBURGER ENERGIEWERKE GMBH
• DALKIA
• ALBERTSLUND KOMMUNE
• ARVALLA AB
• LJECILISTE TOPUSKO
• KWA CONTRACTING AG
• HAWK HOCHSCHULE FUR ANGEWANDTE WISSENSCHAFT UND KUNST FACHHOCHSCHULE HILDESHEIM/HOLZMINDEN/GOTTINGEN
• OCHSNER PROCESS ENERGY SYSTEMS GMBH
• EUROPEAN HEAT PUMP ASSOCIATION
• HOCHSCHULE FUR TECHNIK STUTTGART
• INDEPRO AB
• ENERGIE PLUS CONCEPT GMBH
• HULLERAS DEL NORTE SA
• SAMPOL INGENIERIA Y OBRAS S.A.
• MIJNWATER WARMTE INFRA BV
• E.ON ENERGILOSNIGAR AKTIEBOLAG
• SZCZECINSKA ENERGETYKA CIEPLNA SPOLKA Z OGRANICZONA ODPOWIEDZIALNOSCIA
• MIJNWATER ENERGY BV
• ENERGIE SOLIDAIRE

Start date: 1 October 2019 - End date: 30 September 2023

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 857811.