Pilots sites

H2 CoopStorage focuses on three different living labs located in different European regions to develop the tools regardless of regional / national contexts. Indeed, these tools must be flexible and robust enough to be deployed in Europe, and more generally in the world.

The development of tools on different living laboratories increases their robustness and their efficiency by considering a wider range of:

1. Nature and types of members who are part of the EC - More end users (citizens, tertiary sector, hotel, industry) may have very different consumption profiles and expectations depending on their geographical, social situation , economic and cultural. In addition, the tools must also be able to communicate with other stakeholders (ensure compatibility of the communication protocol with DSO or TSO).
2. Renewable energy production means - The storage solution must make it possible to attenuate daily and seasonal intermissions from the greatest variety of sources possible. Solar, wind, hydraulic and geothermal sources must therefore be considered so that the tools consider their specificities. Iceland has renewable energies mainly from hydropower and geothermal energy. Belgium has an energy mix mainly derived from wind power, biomass and solar power.
3. Specificities of national regulations - The electricity and gas markets may be different depending on the country (in Iceland, a single player in charge of the transmission and distribution of electricity; in Belgium, a single TSO and several actors for distribution; in Norway, existence of a hydrogen distribution network). The tools must then be designed to adapt to different national regulatory contexts.