Act!onHeat has
launched a new call for applications for its Europe-wide
Support Facility, which provides municipal energy planners with tailored guidance and resources to facilitate district heating and cooling (H&C) planning. Through its Facility, the Horizon 2020 funded project, led by the Fraunhofer Institute with support from ICLEI Europe, Eclareon, TU Wien, the Centre for Sustainable Energy, CREARA and e-think,
will offer 120 European municipalities strategic support as well as the chance to advance affordable and sustainable energy transitions within their communities.
“Act!onHeat offers municipalities a free opportunity to gain initial experience with heating and cooling planning or to intensify ongoing work. For the current call for applications, we will focus on providing technical support and help municipalities develop, or deepen, relevant case studies,” shares Ali Aydemir, Act!onHeat’s Project Coordinator.
Since its launch last year, the Support Facility has advised municipalities from across Europe on how to begin, refine and finalise their district H&C planning. Zelzate (Belgium) received a best-practice approach, based on research conducted by the Support Facility, on how to heat the highest number of connected buildings within the municipality’s budget. Meanwhile, the State Energy Agency of Hessen (Germany) invited its municipalities to participate in a workshop organised by Support Facility experts on how to develop a local heating plan.
The Facility offers a wide range of services, including guidelines for tendering services for H&C planning, data analysis and support developing specific case studies. New applicants will be selected based on their ambition, interest and needs. The selected municipalities will also gain exclusive access to Hotmaps and THERMOS, H&C planning softwares that will help accelerate local energy transitions.
The EU currently wastes 2,860 TWh of heat per year - the equivalent of 11 billion barrels of oil and 650 billion cubic metres of natural gas. The Act!onHeat Support Facility will help municipalities capture wasted heat - which Act!onHeat Ambassador Danfoss estimates could save the EU up to €67 billion per year - and guide participants in line with the European Commission’s REPowerEU Plan and decarbonisation targets.
The call for applications is open until 31 July 2023.
Apply via EUSurvey.
