THE SEEDS PROJECT
About the SEEDS project
SEEDS is the acronym of “Cost-effective and replicable RES-integrated electrified heating and cooling systems for improved energy efficiency and demand response”.
The SEEDS project is co-funded by the European Commission and aims to boost the electrification of thermal systems in buildings through an integrated approach leveraging energy efficient renovation and smartification of HVAC sy stems.
The SEEDS project solutions aim to reduce the thermal energy demand of buildings and enable the deployment of energy flexibility to increase the RES share (in particular, locally produced) thereby enhancing grid stability in a cost-effective way and with low life cycle environmental i mpact.
This strategy will now be tested in six pilot sites throughout Europe.
The SEEDS project aims to demonstrate replicable heat pump solutions integrated with renewable energy to decarbonize buildings’ thermal demand.
Energy in European households is mainly used for heating, cooling, and the production of hot water. Heating is the dominant use of energy, responsible for about 70%, and gas is the most common fuel used in buildings. To rapidly reduce the dependency on (Russian) gas and other fossil fuels and fast forward the green transition, the building sector should replace thermal systems with renewable energy-based solutions complying with energy efficiency first principle, large degrees of electrification and smart energy systems. There is a need to find cost-effective, highly replicable, and integrated systemic solutions that will significantly speed up the electrification of thermal systems through energy renovation and system smartification in the building sector.
The SEEDS project unites a multidisciplinary and complementary team of SMEs, LEs, RTOs, and stakeholders that constitute the whole (local) value chain of energy efficiency in buildings and thermal demand electrification, from planning, design, and construction to operation and commissioning. The SEEDS project is built upon the consortium’s vast experience in developing, testing, and valorizing decarbonization solutions, supervising real-life demonstrations of building renovation and smartification, and deploying energy flexibility. Thus, the challenge for the SEEDS project consortium is to innovate solutions to be replicable, exploitable, and scalable.
Addressing that every building is unique and requires tailored solutions to be cost-efficient and energy efficient, we develop scalable and generic design and operational optimization methodologies, deploy multiple proven heat pump technologies at scale, and optimally integrate them into the building and broader energy system.
The SEEDS project demonstrates these solutions in six pilot sites in Denmark (CDK), Belgium (SWECO), Hungary (EMI), Slovenia (PETROL) and Greece, providing real-world settings spread across the different climate zones and European construction markets.
The SEEDS project is centered around 3 key themes:
- Cost efficiency through optimization,
- System integration through holistic design and control,
- Replicability through configuration modularity and scalable building types.
These are addressed in 7 focus areas:
- Iterative design of the component and integrated system,
- Secure and interoperable data platforms and IoT,
- Integrated system optimization for energy efficiency and flexibility,
- Deploying energy flexibility to enhance grid stability,
- Replication strategies, exploitation, and business models,
- Decision making support framework for replication,
- Dissemination, communication, and stakeholder outreach.
“We are excited to coordinate this ambitious project which combines the expertise of partners from 8 European countries representing 5 local value chains with a strong background in design, construction and optimal operation of RES-based heating and cooling systems. We will demonstrate grid services by activating energy flexibility of these systems and accelerate the decarbonization of energy use in buildings with SEEDS project solutions, which are beyond the physical boundaries of buildings.”
Rongling LI – Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark, and coordinator of the SEEDS project.
Thanks to the 26 partners’ wide-reached field of impact and networks, the SEEDS project is set out to boost the electrification of thermal demand in buildings.
