The SWS-HEATING project will develop an innovative seasonal thermal energy storage (STES) unit with a novel storage material and creative configuration, i.e. a sorbent material embedded in a compact multi-modular sorption STES unit. This will allow to store and shift the harvested solar energy available abundantly during the summer to the less sunny and colder winter period thus covering a large fraction of heating and domestic hot water demand in buildings. The targeted benefit of this next generation solar heating technology is to reach and overcome a solar fraction of 60% in central/north Europe, reaching 80% in the sunnier south of Europe, with a compact and high-performing STES system at low cost, realising solar-active houses throughout EU. The SWS-heating system is based on a multi-modular sorption seasonal thermal energy storage (STES) unit, using novel sorbent materials of Selective Water Sorbents (SWS) family characterised by superior heat storage density compared to the state of the art, making it possible to drastically decrease the storage volume with negligible thermal losses. These materials are employed in a sorption module with dedicated heat exchangers. Solar heat is provided to the storage modules by high-efficiency evacuated tube solar thermal collectors. Intensive research activities will deal with an advanced vacuum combi-storage tank, with the aim to further minimise thermal losses. A smart and adaptive control will be developed for efficiently managing heat supply and demand sides, including advanced features aiming at user-friendliness. A building prototype will be commissioned including the SWS-heating system, which will be tested and validated in Germany and Sweden and proof all challenging objectives. The project also includes dissemination and communication activities to ensure outreach of its results. Moreover, exploitation activities include long-term deployment path development through a technology roadmap.

The overall objective of this project is to develop a new advanced solar cooling and heating product, using advanced heat exchanger technology and integrating a heat pump for covering peak demand. This new product is based on the further improvement and integration of the products already commercialized by Fahren and Akotec. It uses synergies between the technologies of thermal chillers (heat to cooling technology) and heat pump (electricity to cooling technology) and combines know-how on design and manufacturing of adsorption chillers and solar thermal collectors in Germany, with the know-how in heat pump and dry cooling systems of CNR and NTUA. The main innovation of the project is the adsorption chiller unit based on Fahren’s patented zeolite coating technology, reducing the unit’s volume and cost by about two times. This new product is expected to become cost-effective and with high flexibility for providing both cooling (during summer) and heating (during winter) from the same compact product, being more competitive than existing mainstream solution, reducing energy costs of the end-users and leading to short ROI. The main target market is the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) market, with the ambition to become front-runners and provide the first cost-effective product, with low maintenance requirements. The target cost is to reach just 2000 €/kW (with solar field and cooling, heating and thermal storage included) and secure a short return on investment. The new product will be commercialized by a new joint venture established between Fahren and Akotec with Diadikasia being a strategic partner for promotion and sales in south Europe. The initial target markets are in Greece, Italy and Germany, while further expansion steps will follow once sales increase.

The SolBio-Rev project will develop a flexible energy system suitable for building integration based on renewables for covering a large share of energy demand (heating/cooling/electricity). Its flexibility is derived from the long-term collaboration of key industrial partners with research organisations, having in mind the large variety of EU buildings, especially non-residential (types, uses and sizes). The overall objective is to develop a configuration based on renewables that allows covering all heating and cooling demand and a variable electricity demand (from zero up to even 100%) in a cost-effective manner. This configuration is based on solar, ambient and bioenergy, while it is suitable to be installed in various buildings types and sizes without any geographical restriction. The main technologies included have already proven their performance and they are combined with the aim to exploit all possible energy flows/sources, ensuring their cost-effectiveness compared to standard solutions. The SolBio-Rev concept is based on solar thermal collectors with vacuum tubes combined with thermoelectrics, a cascade thermal chiller with electrical-driven heat pump for very high performance under cooling operation even at extreme hot conditions, a reversible heat pump/ORC for enhancing flexibility and switching operating modes between summer and winter, exploiting all available solar heat, and an advanced biomass boiler coupled with the above ORC for CHP operation. A smart control is also envisaged to manage and optimise the system operation with user-friendly features. The project also includes dissemination and communication activities to ensure outreach of its results, as well as an active participation of end-users and installers in the technology development. Moreover, exploitation activities include long-term deployment path development through a technology roadmap.