RESTORE – Renewable Energy based seasonal Storage Technology in Order to Raise Economic and environmental sustainability of DHC – is a HORIZON 2020 project financed under the SOCIETAL CHALLENGES – Secure, clean and efficient energy programme.

The main objective of the RESTORE project is to develop a solution, based on the combination of two key innovative technologies, that allows integrating a wide variety of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in District Heating and Cooling (DHC) networks.

RESTORE provides efficient and innovative solutions for the decarbonisation of the heating and cooling needs, using an optimal integration of different renewable energies via an innovative thermochemical energy storage (TCES) combined with a heat pump (HP) and an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), hence paving the way towards the renewable-driven DHC transition and having a direct environmental impact on GHG emission, air pollutants and fossil fuel reduction.

The innovative combination of a TCES and the HP/ORC technology makes it possible to overcome the intermittency among the supply of thermal energy and the fluctuating demand for heat or cold present in DHC networks, thus increasing the availability and reliability of energy distribution on the grid.

In summary, the RESTORE project provides a clear break-through thermal energy storage technology for the decarbonisation of the district heating sector, enabling the use of RES, especially solar heat, and waste excess heat collected in summer for heating purposes in winter in a very competitive way.

Consortium of the RESTORE project

The RESTORE project involves 12 partners spread over 7 different countries in the EU. Fundación CENER, with large experience in the renewable and energy storage fields and in coordinating H2020 projects, leads the consortium, which encompasses an interdisciplinary group of entities. Universities with long experience in the concepts proposed assist companies specialized in the industrialization of the developed technology. Additionally, SME specialized in simulation tools ensure the reliability of virtual use cases analysis supported by industrial companies with large experience in sector coupling in DHC networks. Moreover, the consortium involves experienced entities, which carry out the assessment of the proposed technology in various areas as well as the dissemination and the exploitation of the project results.

Partner Role and Subject Area
Aalborg CSP AS DHC and Seasonal Storage
Andritz AG Paper Industry
Fundación CENER Coordinator
Enerbasque SL Small-scale HP/ORC
POLIMI HP/ORC research
Prospex Institute Stakeholder Engagement
SimTech GmbH Virtual Use Cases & Platform
Solites Dissemination & Communication
Steinbeis Europa Zentrum Exploitation
TU Wien TCES experts
Turboden SPA Large-scale HP/ORC
Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai Life Cycle Analysis

RESTORE Consortium spread over Europe

The RESTORE project started in October 2021 and will have a duration of 4 years.

This website gathers the results of the work of the project and provides further information on the integration of renewable energy sources in district heating and cooling.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101036766.

The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the views by the institutions of the European Union. Neither the European Commission nor the authors are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.