The International Energy Research Centre (IERC), hosted by Tyndall National Institute, was selected by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 initiative to lead a €2million energy research project focused on energy efficiency programme development, targeted at SMEs through the delivery and implementation of energy audits.
The project, known as SPEEDIER, is a highly innovative one-stop shop solution that applies an integrated approach to energy management, providing:
- Information
- Advice
- Capacity building
- Energy auditing
- Financing
- Implementation of energy efficiency solutions
- Monitoring of impacts.
SPEEDIER will address the current barriers and low uptake of energy audits and energy conservation measures by providing a self-financing outsourced energy management service to SMEs by energy consultants, auditors and experts. This will allow for subsequent implementation of energy efficiency measures in both SMEs and large enterprises and will target groups of SMEs in 4 EU pilot regions, namely Ireland, Spain, Italy and Romania via both location based and sectorial based approaches.
Coordinated by Jo Southernwood, Senior Research Engineer in the IERC, the project will train experts to continue to deliver the SPEEDIER service with their own clients beyond the life of the project, and trainers to train additional experts in other EU countries. In order to achieve this outcome, SPEEDIER brings together a highly experienced consortium that consists of six research organisations, three SMEs and one Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) from five member states, who represent the relevant stakeholders from the entire value chain.
Martin O’Connell, European Program Officer in Tyndall, welcomed the award stating “The timing of this award could not be more opportune from a national viewpoint as it is recognised that scale-up efforts are necessary to improve energy efficiency in the commercial sector by tapping into more of the energy efficiency potential in the SME sector. Furthermore, recognition by the international review panel as the number one ranked project in Europe illustrates the innovative thinking that lays behind the SPEEDIER concept”
Project partners include: University College Cork (IE), Sustainable Innovations Europe (ES), Limerick Institute of Technology (IE), Corporación Tecnológica de Andalucía (ES), Science and technology Park Cartuja (ES), Vertech Group (FR), Politecnico di Milano (It), Institut De Tecnologia De La Construccion De Catalunya (ES), TFC Research and Innovation Ltd (IE), The Local Energy Agency of Bucharest (RO). The project runs from June 2019 and will continue until December 2022.
SPEEDIER is a project funded by Horizon 2020, the European Union Framework Programme for Research and Innovation under grant agreement no. 847034