USES4HEAT project launched to enable the decarbonisation of European heating and cooling through innovative seasonal Thermal Energy Storage
The USES4HEAT project kicked off in December 2023 to enable decarbonised and reliable heating supply through innovative large scale seasonal thermal energy storage solutions.
USES4HEAT (full name: Underground Large Scale Seasonal Energy Storage for Decarbonised and Reliable Heat) will demonstrate two innovative, cost-effective, large-scale seasonal underground thermal energy storage (TES) units to maximise the availability and resilience of heating supply, reducing significantly both energy losses and environmental impacts. The two TES units will be fully connected to large-scale district heating networks (DHN) able to accumulate various sustainable sources of heat (waste heat, solar thermal and hybrid, geothermal, power-to-heat).
Six additional key enabling innovative technologies ensuring maximal optimisation as well as sector and system integration will also be developed along the TES. AI, big-data analytics driven and cloud-based O&M algorithms will maximise the efficiency of the TES, ensuring a more reliable and efficient future heating system.
“The project will be a cornerstone for the full market uptake of large-scale seasonal thermal energy storage as a key solution for modern heating systems. We will be able to explore and exploit the enormous potential for further large-scale replications, pushing towards a soon carbon-neutral economy in Europe. The deployment of large-scale seasonal TES harvesting important amounts of renewable and waste heat and excess electricity, and their full interaction with district heating networks, is crucial for the decarbonisation of the heating system in the current green transition context in Europe’’ says Silvia Trevisan, researcher at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and scientific and technical manager of USES4HEAT.
Today, residential, commercial and industrial heat needs below 150°C account for more than a third of the EU’s total energy demand and are mainly based on fossil fuels. Achieving a climate neutral economy by 2050, as set out in the European Climate Change Act and the European Green Deal, is a major challenge requiring the decarbonisation of European heating and cooling. In this sense, district heating and cooling is recognised as a key solution as it allows the integration of renewable energy sources and the use of various forms of excess and waste heat, while contributing to the stability and coupling of energy systems. To fully capitalise on this untapped high potential of DHN, the vast deployment and integration of large scale, seasonal TES solutions will be essential.
In line with the Horizon Europe’s (HE) Cluster 5 Strategic Plan, USES4HEAT is going to contribute to the “Clean and sustainable transition of the energy and transport sectors towards climate neutrality facilitated by innovative crosscutting solutions” developing and demonstrating solutions which could be exploited also for other sectors. USES4HEAT has received more than 9.7 million euros in funding from the EU’s HE Programme and will run from December 2023 to November 2027.
Coordinated by KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), the USES4HEAT outstanding consortium is composed of 27 partners spanning the entire innovation value chain from all over Europe:
- Kungliga Tekniska Hoegskolan (Sweden)
- Svenska Miljöinstitutet AB (Sweden)
- Università degli Studi di Genova (Italy)
- Fundación CARTIF (Spain)
- Fondazione Bruno Kessler (Italy)
- Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden)
- Haflsund Oslo Celsio (Norway)
- Hallingplast AS (Norway)
- Bengt Dahlgren Stockholm Geo AB (Sweden)
- Absolicon Solar Collector AB (Sweden)
- Cartiere del Garda S.p.A (Italy)
- Alto Garda Servizi S.p.A. (Italy)
- Alto Garda Power S.r.l (Italy)
- HiRef S.p.A. (Italy)
- Energenius S.r.l. (Italy)
- HYDRA S.r.l. (Italy)
- Endef Engineering (Spain)
- Euroheat & Power AISBL (Belgium)
- Energy Institute Hrvoje Požar (Croatia)
- Hrvatska Elektroprivreda Dionicko Drustvo (Croatia)
- Yugoiztochnoevropeyska Tehnologichna Kompania ood (Bulgaria)
- AquaTonic Ltd. (Bulgaria)
- Smart Sustainable Social Innovations Single Member P.C (Greece)
- Ethniko Kentro Erevnas Kai Technologikis Anaptyxis (Greece)
- Dimotiki Epicheirisi Ydrefsis Kai Apochetefsis Kozanis (Greece)
- Kvarnholmen Utveckling AB (Sweden)
- Veolia (Spain)
Contact
Project coordinator
Andrew Martin, KTH
Scientific & Technical Manager
Silvia Trevisan, KTH
Press and media inquiries
Martin Stroleny, Euroheat & Power AISBL
