The Annual Event “Innovation in the Renewable Heating and Cooling sector” of the European Technology and Innovation Platform on Renewable Heating and Cooling (RHC-ETIP) was successfully held on Tuesday 20th June, in Brussels, Belgium. Over 50 experts attended the event at CENELEC with the aim to discuss the conditions to increase innovation in the renewable heating and cooling (RHC) sector in the European Union as well as the role of RHC technologies in the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan of the European Commission (EC).
“We are happy that both the EC and national governments have recognized that Europe won’t achieve its GHG goals without a strong contribution of the RHC sector. Only holistic solutions with a strong contribution of all energy sectors will allow the goals to be achieved”, said Mr Gerhard Stryi-Hipp, President of the RHC-ETIP. “However, despite the increased awareness, RHC industry and markets are still suffering from a lack of dedicated policy initiatives that are able to accelerate innovation and market deployment in the RHC sector”, he continued.
The Directorate General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission (DG RTD), represented in the event by Mr Piotr Tulej and Mr Piero de Bonis, highlighted the EC’s ambition for Europe to become the world number one in renewable energy. Several initiatives and strategic actions are in line with this ambition, such as the Energy Union and the legislative package of November 2016, which includes RHC topics. Also, the EC mentioned that the activities of SET Plan Temporary Working Group (TWG) on heating and cooling will kick-off next week and announced, that RHC has a great chance to benefit from the 2018-2020 Energy work programme of the Horizon 2020 Programme.
“It’s great news that our impressions on the Horizon 2020 Programme have been heard”, said Ms Paola Mazzucchelli, Coordinator of RHC-ETIP Secretariat. “In the design of the current programme the level playing field for the RHC sector is missing. We are looking forward to seeing how a fair competition between the different technologies is established”, she continued.
The event had also a panel discussion composed by DG RTD and representatives from the five technology panels of the RHC-ETIP (Biomass, Solar Thermal, Geothermal, Heat Pumps and Cross-cutting), which focused on the main conditions to increase innovation in the different technologies of the RHC-sector.
ABOUT THE RHC-ETIP
The European Technology and Innovation Platform on Renewable Heating & Cooling (RHC-ETIP) brings together stakeholders from the biomass, geothermal, solar thermal and heat pumps sectors – including related industries such as District Heating and Cooling, Thermal Energy Storage and Hybrid Systems – to define a common Research, Development and Innovation strategy for increasing the use of renewable energy technologies for heating and cooling.
CONTACTS
RHC-ETIP Secretariat
Place du Champ de Mars 2, 1050 Brussels
info@rhc-platform.org | +32 2 318 40 50 | www.rhc-platform.org
BE SOCIAL & SHARE