Worldwide Data centers (DC) are estimated to account for 1 to 2% of electricity usage. Regarding the European context, it is expected that data centres will account for 98.5 TWh/year in 2030. So it is evident that there is an important potential to recover waste heat from the cooling processes of DCs. The THUNDER project aims to overcome existing barriers hampering a wide adoption of DCs waste heat recovery strategies, providing an innovative, efficient and cost attractive Seasonal Thermal storage based on Thermochemical Materials. THUNDER solutions stretch across the value chain (data centre innovative storage providers, heat pump manufacturers and district energy company operators). The THUNDER solutions will be validated in field conditions at the Demosite in Bulgaria where the practice of WHR from DC is not widely diffused thus boosting the market also in those areas. Deepened replicability assessment will be done and pre-feasibility analysis developed in 10 further Demosites across all over Europe. Co-design and training workshops will be organized at the replicability identified sites to promote stakeholders engagement and social awareness thus unlocking barriers and make it real THUNDER replication.

REEFLEX aims to generate niches of opportunities for new cross-sector energy services provided by SMEs and start-ups in demand side flexibility markets and to increase participation of energy consumers in demand side flexibility markets. The project develops a central interoperability platform and a catalogue of services with the capability of maximising distributed energy resources' flexibility while respecting the different end user profiles and needs along with the physical limitations of existing infrastructures. Additionally, the generation of a common operation market model together with AI-driven intelligence services and automation systems, enabled through the utilization of distributed ledger technologies for enhancing transparency and trust, will reduce market entry barriers and costs and achieve a higher participation from energy consumers. They will benefit from new revenues obtained through data and flexibility transactions, while enjoying innovative, personalized, data (intelligence)-driven services for smart, human-centric control of their assets in the frame of demand response or self-consumption. REEFLEX solutions, they will be demonstrated and cross-tested in 4 main demonstrators (Spain, Greece, Switzerland, Bulgaria) with different characteristics, allowing evaluation of their impact under alternative scenarios and integrating a variety of sectors, such as residential buildings, mobility, commercial establishments, industrial sites or data centres, among others. In addition, the services catalogue will be further replicated in three additional replicators across Europe to achieve wider coverage (Turkey, Portugal, Denmark) and adaptation, ending-up in a total of 7 countries for the whole project execution. These cross-tested demonstrators and additional replication campaigns are structured around 8 different use cases that cover a comprehensive set of consumer groups to participate in up to 12 demand side flexibility services.