D7.3 - Preliminary analysis of the project impact

This report presents the preliminary analysis of task 7.3 – Interdisciplinary impact assessment and replicability. The task started in M19, and this report corresponds to the intermediary deliverable D7.3 Preliminary analysis of the project impact, due by M22. The final deliverable D7.6 Report & fact sheets on project impact, and good practices with replication potential is due by M36.

The general objectives of the task aim at providing a comprehensive analysis of project results from technological, economic, social and policy aspects to assess scalability and replicability of the demonstration cases and analyse the project impact and replicability potential in comparable buildings/energy networks in the local and national context to estimate the benefits of their deployment.

This report categorises the multiple interventions and use cases implemented in the demonstration business cases into four BlueBird services: EV charging control, Heating and cooling optimisation, Multi-asset and renewable energy optimisation without storage, and Multi-asset and renewable energy optimisation with storage, for which their impact can be analysed. The report also presents how their impacts and benefits are being measured and captured combining the KPIs framework, cost-benefit analysis, and interviews and workshops with the demonstration business cases, with the benefits being categorised in three main groups: environmental and technical, economic, and social benefits. Those categories include impacts and benefits such as Climate mitigation, Increased role of buildings as active energy assets, Contribution to grid improvements, Cost savings, Social/culture shift, and Energy security.

Furthermore, the report presents a preliminary analysis of the replication potential of these services in contexts similar to the demonstration business cases showing that there are multiple opportunities for replication including for instance 3 geothermal residential networks, 20 existing energy communities, 269 grid station buildings, 8 major waterworks, 14 hotels, and even around 3100 public buildings. The preliminary replication potential is also discussed in relation to its relevance to achieve different EU targets in the context of EU policies and directives such as the Electricity Market Design (EMD), Renewable Energy Directive (REDIII), the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), and the more recent the Electrification Action Plan (ACP). The report closes with the plan for the impact assessment and the activities for the second half of the project.