REgENEraTE

REGENERATE will:

• map the tunnel heritage in one urban area among the partners’ cities (Torino), highlighting the heritage values and historical developments, design traditions, climatic constraints and the socio-economical contexts;
• develop solution concepts (low TRL, except for Germany) to retrofit and transform tunnels into heat exchangers for H&C of buildings to store and deliver thermal energy upon need;
• preliminarily quantify by monitoring (in Torino, Bregenz, Wien, Darmstadt, Muenster, Otzberg, Cluj-Napoca) and numerical modelling the average amount of energy that can be produced for European cities with the new REGENERATE technology to understand its viability;
• analyze how such tunnels can be integrated as heat exchangers and storage systems in future municipal heating networks, providing information to the local regulatory authorities and decision-makers for further development and implementation;
• evaluate how property owners perceive the connection to such heating/cooling networks and, possibly, enhance public acceptance of energy tunnels.

REGENERATE has the potential to:

• deliver substantial benefits to the community, with the provision of cost-effective thermal renewable energy and an increase of the citizens comfort in terms of air pollution, land use and energy costs reduction;
• provide local renewable thermal energy, independent from prices fluctuation;
• contribute to reducing dependence on energy imports and promote intra-European energy security;
• deliver economic benefits to concessionaires and public authorities that own tunnels;
• support local businesses that could use the knowledge gained from the project on technologies and solutions for energy production from underground spaces to innovate their products, processes, and services, increasing their competitiveness, reaching new markets and improving their sustainability.

Therefore, REGENERATE provides a smart solution to create local energy systems that can be integrated in heating networks and would positively impact the community and help its transformation towards sustainability and PEDs.