Construction BUSINESS

The European Commission’s Horizon 2020 has selected the International Energy Research Centre (IERC) to coordinate the energy research project NOVICE to develop a new business model in energy efficiency investments and achieve energy savings throughout building renovation.

According to a report in Irish Tech News, the project has officially been launched in summer 2017, its duration is 36 months and it has a total budget of €2.041M.

“This energy efficiency research award recognises the importance of industry driven, collaborative energy research and its contribution to our future sustainable energy systems. It acknowledges the IERC’s international pedigree in sustainable energy systems research, and its innovation will enable both Irish ESCOs and aggregators to seamlessly collaborate in exploiting economies of scale, while providing a platform for both to share risk in the implementation of building energy renovations,” said Professor Tony Day, Executive Director of IERC.

The International Energy Research Centre (IERC) is an industry led, Irish Government supported Energy Technology Centre. Hosted in Tyndall National Institute at UCC, the Centre delivers world leading collaborative research to meet global societal needs for secure, affordable and sustainable energy services. It addresses energy demand side efficiency and systems integration challenges.

More than €20.8million of investments in building renovation will be unlocked throughout its three year duration. This potentially will result in primary energy savings of more than 25.2 GWh/year (25.2 million units of electricity) or the equivalent of electrical power for over 5,600 homes

NOVICE introduces new actors (energy aggregators) in building energy upgrade projects, and fosters their collaboration with Energy Supply Companies (ESCOs), financing institutions, facilities management companies and engineering consultants to facilitate the roll out of a grid and energy efficiency services model.