Overview
PACE is a five-year Horizon 2020 project that will deploy more than 2’800 of the next generation FC-mCHP units in ten European countries by 2021. The focus lies on the application in the building sector, simultaneously producing heat and electricity in homes and thus allows overall efficiencies of over 90 percent. The aim of the project is to improve market development for FC-mCHPs in order to exploit economies of scale and reduce costs in the longer term.
The PACE project brings together five of the leading European suppliers (BDR Thermea, Bosch, SOLIDpower, Sunfire and Viessmann). The consortium is complemented by utilities, associations, consultancies, and research community providing specific expertise (COGEN, DTU, Element Energy, EWE, HSLU).
What is our role?
The HSLU leads Work Package 4, in which the FC-mCHP technology is subjected to a detailed economic analysis. The Competence Center Power Economy (CCEW) quantifies the financial potential from participation in European grid service markets. The basic idea behind it is that hundreds of FC-mCHP act as a pool and support the power grid by providing flexibility. The Competence Center for Integrated Building Technology (ZIG) supports the project with broad expertise in energy demand modelling in the building sector.
The HSLU is responsible for the following tasks:
- Develop and calibrate a model-based optimization environment for the determination of the flexibility potential of residential buildings based on the hot water storage tank, the thermal inertia of the building envelope considering the power and heat demand of the building.
- Conduct an economic value analysis of FC-mCHP to quantify revenue streams associated to participating in grid service markets. The analysis will be conducted for Germany and two additional countries.
- Analyse the market attractiveness for FC-mCHPs in European countries using a multi-criteria evaluation method.
- Establish a platform for direct exchange between grid and FC-mCHP experts, fostering the introduction of the technology.
The aims and objectives of the project align with many of the existing research projects that are already underway at HSLU. The activities coincide with the CCEW’s fields of action in power grids, energy and flexibility markets, modelling of energy systems, business model innovation for energy technologies in the built environment, and energy efficiency.
New and flexible business models, built around customer’s needs, support the transition towards a higher share of renewable energy in buildings and districts. PACE’s focus on small scale, consumer-led flexibility is innovative and represents and exciting opportunity for applied research in the energy transition.
PACE project has received funding from the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 700339. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and Hydrogen Europe and N.ERGHY.
