‘Putting buildings at the centre of integrated local energy systems’ – event organised by the PACE project with COGEN Europe

The PACE project, together with COGEN Europe, hosted a hybrid event on ‘Putting buildings at the centre of integrated local energy systems’ in Brussels on 29 September 2022, during the European Sustainable Energy Week (organised by the European Commission and CINEA). The purpose of the event was to contribute to the policy debate on the revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), and in particular to highlight the benefits of Fuel Cell micro-CHP.

This ‘Sustainable Energy Day’ event was opened and moderated by Hans Korteweg (Managing Director of COGEN Europe), who introduced the keynote speeches by Ciarán Cuffe MEP (EP Rapporteur on the EPBD) and Adela Tesarova (Head of Unit ‘Consumers, Local Initiatives, Just Transition’, DG Energy in the European Commission).

Following the keynote speeches, there came a series of 3 presentations focusing on case studies under the heading of ‘Smart Synergies for Green Buildings’. Jeremy Harrison (Principal Analyst, LCP Delta) gave a presentation on ‘The Future of Smart Energy: from smart appliances to transactive energy’ (see slides). Kamila Waciega (Director of Energy & Public Affairs, Veolia) gave a presentation on ‘Delivering decarbonisation at local level’ (see slides). The PACE Project was represented by Alexandra Tudoroiu-Lakavičė (Head of Policy, COGEN Europe) who gave a presentation on ‘Stationary Fuel Cells for homes and small businesses’ (see slides).

The presentations were followed by a panel discussion on the theme of ‘Unlocking systems integration for an ambitious Renovation Wave’. The panellists included: Aurelie Bauvais (Managing Director, Euroheat & Power), Eva Hennig (CEDEC), Marion Malafosse (Policy Manager, SmartEn) and Dries Acke (Director, SolarPower Europe). The discussion focused on the revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and explored different paths to building decarbonisation, including smart appliances, stationary fuel cells and district heating networks.

The video recordings are available on the COGEN Europe YouTube channel.