The D2Grids project aims to develop a standard for 5th generation local energy loops (5G DHC) in North West Europe. These are intelligent energy networks based on a low-temperature local loop and renewable local electricity production, which, thanks to heat pumps located at the users’ premises, allows the exchange of energy, where flows are induced by demand for heating or cooling purposes. This concept allows the recovery of cold or heat emitted by supermarkets, datacenters, factories, offices, or housing and optimizes the local recovery of renewable energy sources.
The objective is to maximize the share of renewable energies in these local energy loops, via:
- An industrialization of the approach by a standardized technological model
- A clarification of the business model to strengthen the interest of these projects for third party investors
- The implementation of 5 demonstrators in North-Western Europe
Five pilot sites located in Paris-Saclay (France), Bochum (Germany), Brunssum (Netherlands), Glasgow and Nottingham (United Kingdom) will develop such energy loops. This €20 million project is financed by Interreg funds for 60% of the total budget, i.e. €11.6 million. These three years of intense collaboration between European partners will make it possible to deploy these technologies more widely.
The INTERREG North-West Europe (ENO) programme is a transnational European territorial cooperation programme funded by the European Union. The regions covered by the ENO programme are Ireland, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and parts of France, Germany and the Netherlands.
Among the project partners are four French actors: Greenflex, Construction 21, BRGM (Bureau de recherches géologiques et minières) and the Etablissement public d’aménagement Paris-Saclay.
GreenFlex will play a major role in this deployment by carrying out technical and economic studies, including a market study and identification of the obstacles and innovations required for their development. GreenFlex will implement a decision support tool for key stakeholders in these projects and will work closely with the Paris-Saclay pilot site in the design of their work programme. Thanks to its expertise in financing the energy transition, GreenFlex will contribute with Asper-IM to refine the business models of these 5th generation local energy loops in connection with “Smart Contracting”.
Sources :
D2Grids, rolling out 5th generation district heating and cooling :
Launch of the D2Grids project: Greenflex press release