Store4HUC

Project “Store4HUC- Integration and smart management of energy storages at historical urban sites” is financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERFD) under Programme Interreg Central Europe. The project is carried out by a partnership composed by the Development Agency Sinergija (Slovenia), as lead partner, the City of Cuneo (Italy), Environment Park (Italy), the Energy and Innovation Centre of Weiz (Austria), CES Clean Energy Solution GMBH (Austria), the University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (Croatia), the Municipality of Lendava (Slovenia), 4Ward Energy Research Ltd. (Austria), Regea North-West Croatia Regional Energy Agency (Croatia) and Climate Alliance (Germany).

Store4HUC aims to improve territorially based low-carbon energy planning strategies. The project addresses this challenge by providing solutions for adaptation of low-carbon energy supply and storage in historical urban centers and providing tailor-made tools to assess both the impact of energy storage and energy independence. The project pilots its tools in 4 historical urban buildings in Croatia, Italy, Slovenia and Austria.

In Croatia, the Bračak Manor near the city of Zabok is a historic building under cultural heritage protection. It will see the installation of a photovoltaic system and battery storage, as well as upgrade in existing building management system.

In Slovenia, Lendava’s library, a neo-baroque villa (1906), will be connected to the district heating network and a paraffin cell buffer-based energy storage system will be implemented.

In Weiz, Austria, the listed church and parish will be supplemented with a hot water storage tank to enhance the energy management provided by the city’s biomass heating plant.

In Cuneo, Italy, for the inclined elevator connecting a parking lot with the main square of the city center in the city of Cuneo, a new storage system linked to a photovoltaic plant will replace the conventional chemical-based battery, which will make it partially independent from the traditional grid.

The actions carried out in the City of Cuneo have been allocated a total budget of € 160.915,50, 80% of which coming from European funding and 20% from national funding.

One of the most important achievements of project Store4HUC is the development of the so-called Autarky Rate Tool, a New online tool that calculates savings through urban electric storage solutions.

This easy-to-use online tool is available for everyone who considers installing electrical storage solutions in combination with renewable energy sources. With only a few numbers and clicks, you can get an evaluation of the technical, economic and ecological effects of a chosen combination. It is now possible for everyone who plans to change to renewable energy use and needs electrical storage to learn how self-sufficient the planned change will make them.

 

Our role

Within project Store4HUC, Environment Park is responsible for defining the specifications and the performance indicators that are relevant for preparing and monitoring the pilot energy storage systems installation actions.

Envipark supported the project partners, in particular the City of Cuneo, in the preparation of the necessary documents for launching solutions based on the integration of renewable energy power plants and energy storage systems.

Within the indicators system, a number of sheets have been created, containing a prior and subsequent assessment of energy consumption, energy costs reduction and CO2 emissions, energy autarky levels, use of renewable energy and management optimization deriving from lower service interruptions, following the employment of energy storage systems.

Furthermore, Envipark has organised a series of workshops and opportunities for confrontation with the stakeholders, aimed at stimulating the deployment of energy storage systems at regional level and overcoming technical and legal barriers for their large-scale use.

The Autarky Rate Tool is available online via: https://www.interreg-central.eu/Content.Node/news/2.html