Transition to low-temperature heating solutions in multi-apartment buildings

¿De qué trata esta convocatoria?

The topic funds demonstrations of low-temperature district and building heating, including heat pump systems, in existing multi-apartment buildings. It supports the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission.

¿Qué financia esta convocatoria?

Scope

Low-temperature district heating in urban areas can integrate more renewable energy and waste heat, but deployment is slowed because many existing buildings were designed for high-temperature heat. The topic supports the conditions needed to convert existing district and individual heating to low-temperature alternatives, while reducing and optimising building heat loads. It calls for demonstration of solutions supporting district heating at supply temperatures below 70°C, and of heat pump systems that replace central and individual fossil fuel boilers in existing residential multi-apartment buildings.

What proposals are expected to address

Proposals are expected to address at least two of the following:

• System design and technical solutions at district and building level that integrate different heat sources, particularly renewables and waste heat, and enable the move to low-temperature district heating, together with refined digital tools for control, monitoring, planning decisions and standardised replication.
• Building-level hot water and heating solutions with supply temperatures of up to 50°C that meet water safety rules, in at least four residential multi-apartment buildings of at least 1000 m2 each, designed to be transferable and standardised.
• Building-level solutions in at least four such buildings that use on-site renewables, an ambient or geothermal loop shared with other buildings, or a district heating connection.
• Approaches at building, district or city level for connecting buildings through district heating networks and ambient or geothermal loops, including heat storage and the involvement of energy communities.

Participation of local energy communities should be ensured so that socio-economic benefits can be assessed. Projects are expected to demonstrate solutions in two different climate zones, with assessment of environmental, social and economic benefits, and the system design must include advanced controls that use the energy flexibility of individual heating systems collectively. Projects must give a concise state of the art drawn from EU-funded projects and are expected to contribute to Climate City Contracts or sustainable energy and climate action plans.

Expected outcomes

Projects should deliver one or a combination of: faster transition of district heating systems to low-temperature operation, faster transition of building heating systems to low-temperature operation, and greater use of renewable energy and waste heat. Collaboration with the Cities Mission Platform is essential and must be formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding soon after the project starts, with clustering activities under its guidance. Activities are expected to reach technology readiness level 7-8 by the end of the project.

¿Cuándo termina el plazo?

8 de octubre de 2026

8 October 2026. This is a single-stage call.