The EU wastes 2,860 TWh of heat per year - this equates to wasting 11 billion barrels of oil and 650 billion cubic meters of natural gas! It is argued that just by capturing the wasted heat, the EU would save €67 billion.

Heating and cooling (H&C) accounts for about half of Europe’s total energy needs, with 75% still dependent on fossil fuels. Thus, rapid and significant change is needed to reach the EU 2050 goals. Due to the local nature of H&C systems, action has to be taken at the local level, involving a variety of stakeholders. However, as strategic H&C planning requires extensive know-how, resources and experience, it is still in its infancy in most countries. This is where the Act!onHeat Support Facility comes in.

The Act!onHeat Support Facility aims to boost the optimisation of thermal systems by implementing an accelerated number of district H&C projects across Europe, enabling local authorities, utilities and industries to reach their decarbonisation goals. For this purpose, have been opened a Call for Application to all local and regional governments, energy agencies, and city planners interested in receiving strategical support to establish or improve their H&C infrastructure.

The Act!onHeat Support Facility offers participation and direct support for two different sets of support modules. You can choose which modules to request support for in the application form:

•  The modules on 'H&C transition strategy development' relate to general strategic heating and cooling planning. 
• The modules on 'Project Feasibility' relate to Project Feasibility Studies. 

 Overall, Act!onHeat will support up to:

• 120 municipalities will be supported to start, continue or improve strategic H&C planning;
• 30 pre-feasibility studies will be carried out for individual projects within the municipalities;
• 15 projects will benefit from an additional performance analysis and the development of financing options.

Applicants will be selected based on their ambition, interest, and needs. Once the relationship is established, clustered and individual advice will be given on planning, pre-feasibility and finance. Specifically, applicants will gain an exclusive access and insight to the H&C planning software Hotmaps and THERMOS, based on their need to realise or optimise a thermal system.

The Call for Applications is open until 31 July 2023 via EUSurvey.

Guidelines and selection criteria - Call for applications

More information can be found on the https://actionheat.eu/Call_for_applicants

Source: Act!onHeat