Gradyent, a Dutch technology provider within district heating, recently secured project funding of EUR1.7 million from the EU’s LIFE programme. In the project, energy utilities will develop solid investment plans to modernise and decarbonise district heating networks. The successful project proposal was supported by Spinverse’s experts.
Do you want to learn more about the upcoming LIFE call and how the innovation journey of Gradyent has evolved? Join our free webinar on 29th April 2025! Register here.
Providing a unique overview of the energy system
District heating provides an important opportunity for the European green transition. However, the systems are complex where a small change in one end of the system can impact another part of the system or in a later stage, which can be difficult to foresee. As there is a great need to do sustainable investments in the energy systems, the energy companies need a tool that can help them make the right decision. This is where the LIFE-funded project Green Heat LIFE, led by Gradyent, will contribute.
A digital twin to make the right investment
Gradyent supports their customers to understand more about their heating and cooling network, making it possible to upgrade it into a more sustainable and efficient system. With the help of their digital twin technology, they can run virtual tests to measure the effects before implementing the changes in the real system.
In the Green Heat LIFE project, the technology will be implemented in seven district heating networks, in five European countries. This allows for the testing of new technologies, sometimes as spearhead users, to make informed decisions about what to invest in.
Optimising Europe’s heating and cooling systems
Dutch company Gradyent leads the consortium that consists of five energy companies from Germany, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Sweden. The consortium is also joined by EuroHeat and Power, the European network for sustainability in heating and cooling, which will be supporting in outreach activities. With a start in the autumn of 2024, the project will be running for three years.
Spinverse led the consortium to a successful proposal
Gradyent used Spinverse’s full proposal service, including project management, consortium building, administration and budgeting, as well as proposal preparation, contributing with writing skills and expertise in what is necessary for a competitive and successful LIFE proposal. The Spinverse team consisted of project manager Antero Vesterinen, LIFE expert Mikko Tiira, and impact and communication expert Mats Tiborn.
From Gradyent’s side,Product Market Lead Ard de Reus played an essential role for the success of the proposal. He says: “LIFE is a programme which requires international collaboration and a joint mission, and a high-quality proposal is a complex challenge to write. Spinverse’s experience with writing proposals helped us on managing this process and meet all the requirements for this programme, enabling Gradyent to embark on the LIFE journey. In the GREEN HEAT LIFE consortium, decarbonization and digitalization are the shared drivers for all the participating partners. Together with Spinverse, we shaped this mission and laid the groundwork for what will be 3 years of digital twins, low temperatures heat pumps and more.”
Main impacts of the project will be to get district heating systems running with optimal settings and generate more investments in renewable energy. These will trigger emission reduction of greenhouse gases, large investments in greener energy systems and reduction of operational costs as well as boost the sharing of knowledge, bringing along more actors to invest.
Partners:
Gradyent (the Netherlands), Euroheat and Power (Belgium), Klaipedos Energija (Lithuania) E.ON, (Germany), SEI Mantova (Italy), Ennatuurlijk (the Netherlands), Umeå Energi (Sweden).
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