Scope:
Specific Challenge: The EU policy and regulatory framework in the sectors of energy, transport and ICT supports the development of sectoral solutions, i.e. solutions with a limited degree of integration. However, for successful and accelerated implementation in real environments such as urban ones - that also have to take into account local specificities the test of integrated measures will pave the way for faster market roll-out of technologies. The key challenges for Smart Cities and Communities are to significantly increase the overall energy efficiency of cities, to exploit better the local resource both in terms of energy supply as well as through the demand side measures. This will imply the use of energy efficiency measures optimising at the level of districts, the use of renewables, the sustainability of urban transport and the needed drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in urban areas - within economically acceptable conditions - while ensuring for citizens better life conditions: lower energy bills, swifter transport, job creation and as a consequence a higher degree of resilience to climate impacts (e.g. urban heat islands effects) etc.
Scope:To identify, develop and deploy replicable, balanced and integrated solutions in the energy, transport, and ICT actions through partnerships between municipalities and industries.
These solutions at the intersection of the three sectors will have a holistic approach and are still facing first mover risk. These will be the lighthouse projects as identified by the Communication on Smart Cities and Communities. Lighthouse projects will target primarily large scale demonstration of replicable SCC concepts in city context where existing technologies or very near to market technologies (TRL 7 and more, see part G of the General Annexes) will be integrated in an innovative way.
The proposals should address the following main areas:
(Nearly zero) or low energy districts: through the integration and management of: i) the supply of energy with predominant exploitation of local resources (e.g. waste heat, renewables, storage) and the active participation of consumers (e.g. use of aggregators); ii) the cost-effective refurbishment of existing buildings without significant disruption for tenants (use of sustainable materials) with a special focus on residential buildings iii) the cross-cutting ICT solutions for the design and overall management of energy/ transport systems
Integrated Infrastructures: through the integration of physical infrastructures such as core networks, street scenes, lighting, industrial sites etc to create new forms of value through re-use and repurposing. This should lead to quantifiable benefits such as reduction of capital /operational expenditure as well as reduced carbon / energy footprints. This might also imply exploitation of synergies between requirements for smart grids, broadband infrastructures and in general poly networks (e.g. district heating and cooling).
Sustainable urban mobility: through the integration of energy/ fuelling infrastructure with vehicle fleets powered by alternative energy carriers for public and private transport, including logistics and freight-distribution. Implications on energy management, and in the case of electromobility, the impact on the electricity grid, of the deployment of high numbers of vehicles and/or the alternative fuel blends performance must be assessed.
The proposed proposals should address in addition to the main areas presented above a strategy that addresses appropriate enabler actions to support the commercial exploitation of the proposal. This includes (indicative list): commitment of authorities (even if changes of politicians/ majority, in the course of the project); citizens' engagement and empowerment; optimising policy and regulatory frameworks; open, consistent data and performance measurements; dissemination and unlocking the market potentials worldwide.
According to the Communication on Smart Cities and Communities the light house projects should look for creating partnerships between industries, academics and cities, empower citizens and ensure the replicability of the solutions, ensure the funding from various sources[1].
Therefore each project should:
Besides economic sustainability, proposals must also commit to scientific and technical requirements in support to reliability:
The grant will be composed of a combination of the reimbursement of eligible costs, and flat rate financing determined on the basis of unit costs[2] only for the building-related demonstration activities.
The building components of the proposals will be supported through the unit cost/m⊃2;.
The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of between EUR 18 to 25 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.
Expected Impact:
The proposals are expected to have the impacts described below:
It is envisaged that the proposals will also bring societal benefits:
Type of action: Innovation Actions
[1] C(2012)4701 final
[2] The unit costs for the Energy societal challenge actions have been established in line with the methodology set up by the Commission Decision n° C(2013)8196.