The wider goal of the project is to develop a concept to reduce the usage of primary sources and energy to zero and by doing so, enabling the creation of a new generation of zero energy districts. To achieve this goal, the development and implementation of the E-hub concept is crucial. The project aims at developing and demonstrating the E-hub concept, including system components, by means of:
- developing the E-hub as a system;
- developing an ICT management system for matching of energy demand and energy supply via the E-hub, that can incorporate in a flexible way both existing and new centralised and decentralised renewable technologies (solar, wind, geothermal,…);
- developing components that are necessary to realize the system. In particular, the development of an advanced compact thermal energy storage based on thermochemical heat storage will be a main topic, as well as the further development of thermal foundations for heat torage and pavement collector systems suitable for large scale application, also in renovation areas;
- developing business models and service concepts in order to overcome institutional and financial barriers;
- demonstrating an E-hub in the form of a real situation and in a number of case studies/feasibility studies. This will be realised in the demonstration project Tweewaters, and three to four scenario studies (for the city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the city of
Freiburg and the city of Dailin in China, if possible complemented with a fourth case to be determined within the project).