gbe factory final report

FINAL REpORT

Green Blue Energy Factory

Co-funded by the Intelligent Energy EuropeProgramme of the European Union

The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the au-thors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Nei-ther the EACI nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

Front page images, from left to right: Demo Realiztion in Momchil by Perpetuum Mobile (BG JSC)Man at work at Kosit company (SK) Office building & production hall of “SUN MASTER” (AT)

GREEN BLUE ENERGY FACTORY

Final RepoRt

Venice, June 2014

The structure and layout of this publication have been managed by: Donato Bedin, Prof. Senior expert, Unioncamere del Veneto

Erica Holland, Project manager, Unioncamere del VenetoLudovica Munari, Project manager, Unioncamere del Veneto

Lucia Zamperetti, Assistant, Unioncamere del Veneto

Acknowledgements:The data, fi gures, photos and tables contained in this publication have been supplied

by the partners of the Project GBE Factory (www.gbefactory.eu):

INdEx

1. Executive summary.......................................................................................................7

2. The GBE FACTORY approach: models and solutions ............9

3. Market analysis ................................................................................................................17

4. GBE factory brand and co: Awarding virtuous companies! ....................................................................20

5. Who needs what? A road map for promoting the GBE Factory concept ...................................................................................26

6. The creation of a European critical mass of exemplary cases ...................................................................................................32

7. The creation of a circuit of dEMO GBE Factory realizations: from Exemplary cases to demo realizations ...............................34

8. Enterprises for green tourism development: the final conference of the GBE Factory project .............................................64

9. After 3 years of GBE Factory: Lessons learnt .............................69

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GBE Factory Final RepoRt

FOREWORd

This document represents the Final Report of the IEE GBE FACTORY Project, a 36 month initiative supported by the Intelligent Energy Eu-rope programme of the European Commission and managed by EACI (The Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation). The project promotes the concept of “GREEN-BLUE-ENERGY FACTORY”: industrial and commercial buildings equipped with single or combined renewable energy sources, able to provide electricity and heating/cooling for the air conditioning of their premises, as well as for the business activities housed therein. A GBE Factory can be a single industrial or commercial building working with “zero carbon emissions”, or one or more buildings equipped with plants producing renewable energy, which can be distri-buted to the surrounding companies of the same industrial or commer-cial area. In this way, abandoned industrial or commercial buildings can become local plants for the production of renewable energy, favoring new business and employment.

Project Title: Green Blue Energy FactoryAcronym: GBE FactoryGrant Agreement Number: IEE/10/232/SI2.593827

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1. ExECUTIvE sUMMARY

The project promotes the concept of “GREEN-BLUE-ENERGY FACTO-RY”: industrial and commercial buildings equipped with single or combi-ned renewable energy sources, able to provide electricity and heating/cooling for the air conditioning of their premises, as well as for the busi-ness activities housed therein. A GBE Factory can be a single industrial or commercial building working with “zero carbon emissions”, or one or more buildings equipped with plants producing renewable energy, which can be distributed to the surrounding companies of the same industrial or commercial area. In this way, abandoned industrial or commercial bu-ildings can become local plants for the production of renewable energy, favouring new business and employment.

As the GBE Factory project aims at accelera-ting the deployment of bio-sources (Green), and natural sources (Blue), it is an important step to beco-me more sustainable and to help companies to take

an economic advantage out of this project.In this view the GBE Factory projects tried to boost the use of bio-sources, such as biomass, bio fuel, bio-gas and the use of other major natural sources (Blue) arising from the sky and the earth, such as sun, wind, the earth’s crust for heating, cooling and electricity production in the new or rehabilitated commercial and industrial buildings. Therefore, this project has represented the transition from fossil fuel warehouses to second generation industrial or commercial buildings.The GBE FACTORY allowed maximization of efficiency and effectiveness of the investments in renewable energy sources:• It helped to transform industrial and commercial buildings into self suf-ficient buildings with almost zero emissions.• It allowed economies of scale in energy production and a more partici-

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GBE Factory FINAL REPORT

pated involvement of local entrepreneurs.• Investors have had the possibility to explore the most advanced busi-ness models already examined and tested, being able to have a better evaluation of the effectiveness of the investment.The project has helped companies to identify investment plans integra-ting renewable energies into their production activities, with the aim of making direct profit through the abatement of costs and increased com-petitiveness of their products and service, and indirect profit through the increase in value of their requalified industrial/commercial sites.

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2. THE GBE FACTORY AppROACH: MOdELs ANd sOLUTIONs

The European economy depends on diff erent resources some of which will soon be completely exploited. This points to the urgent necessity of detection and adoption of additional resources. In order to save the resources and the environment, sustainability has become an important topic for the European Union.On December, 16th 2008 the European Council published the “Climate Ener-gy measures 20-20-20”, which have the goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 20%, increasing energy savings by 20% and enhancing the consumption of re-newable energy by 20%. This strategy should help the European Union to be-come more sustainable and should also lead to economic growth throu-gh cost savings.The aim of the project was not only to show how others have integrated RES technologies in their commercial or industrial activity, but also to stimulate economic and environmental opportunities for an upgrade of the state of the art.The starting point of the project in fact was that of providing the public with some existing best example among RES solutions/investments in the industrial and commercial sector, note worthily less targeted by RES refurbishment than domestic real estate.The fi rst step of the GBE Factory project was the collection of alrea-dy existing cases of RES use in industrial and commercial warehouses or factories throughout Europe, in order to have an overview of current achievements in the fi eld. Diff erent countries have diff erent BEST PRAC-TICES, because diff erent primary materials suit diff erent geographic are-as. Moreover, on the basis of partner’s technical skills and on the good practice examples, four types of GBE FACTORY BUSINESS MODELS that can be replicated all over Europe regardless the diff erences between the countries have been identifi ed.


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2.1 “ONE BY ONE”

The Business Model “One by one” sees the GBE FACTORY located within the firm satisfying only the firm’s energy needs. This simple business mo-del tries to cover the supply of cooling, heat and power for a company through a solar thermal or a solar photovoltaic plant installed on the firms roof or other free surface. The generated renewable energy should cover the local energy demand. The main target groups for the GBE FACTORY are owners of companies with suitable areas for the installation of solar panels, particularly in urban areas. The majority of entrepreneurs are ad-

versely affected by the ongoing ex-pensive energy supply and obsole-te H/C system. The firms which are looking for a sustainable long- term energy supply are good candidates for the GBE FACTORY.The value that the firms get by in-stalling the GBE FACTORY is high, since the investment costs together with the energy price would be lo-wer in comparison with the conven-tional energy systems. Moreover, the

company benefits from increased independence from fossil fuels, grea-ter security of energy supply and lower prices, based on a performance guarantee contract. In addition, the company can reinforce its corporate image by selling a new environmentally- friendly face.

Heineken Brewery- an example for a “one by one” business model:Heineken Slovensko is a brewery company with a strong and well known brand portfolio. The company has been the leader for over 11 years, with an ever increasing market share of approximately 45%.In the past years they have decreased their energy consumption from 153.1 MJ/hl in 2009 to 149,6 MJ/hl in 2010. From 2002 to 2010 Heineken has cut its energy consumption by 15% with the global “Aware of Energy”

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Programme. The savings are made by renovating a wastewater treatment plant, supplemented by anaerobic treatment. These improvements resul-ted with the increased capacity of waste water, but also with the produc-tion of renewable energy source. Heineken wants to reduce its thermal energy consumption by up to 77 MJ/hl or even less. To reach this goal additional investments are required. Heineken plans to invest in heat re-cuperation from brew house vapors. The example of Heineken shows that the utilization of the waste products in food and distillery sector could provide additional free sources for operating costs or for covering hu-man resource costs. The model of an energy self- sufficient firm allows a reduction of the negative impacts on the environment and a decrease of CO2 emissions.

Zerocenter- an example for a “one by one” business model:The Zerocenter is a shopping center in Italy, provided with the best ener-gy efficiency and heating savings solutions, in conjunction with renewa-ble resources. Though the size of the center is about 24,000 square me-ters, it has a centralized plant for the supply of heating and cooling. The plant is characterized by a co/tri/generation system based on methane and on renewable energy sources. Moreover the center is equipped with wood pellet boilers and cogeneration solutions, in order to avoid CO2 emissions.The initial idea was to create a commercialcenter with the best energy solu-tions. This is why the best model for supplying of the demand for heating and cooling was chosen. The primary energy transformation was of the particular interest so, forexample, the hot water heater is powered through a battery.From the economic perspective the initial investment is higher than the traditional one and is estimated on 2.7 million Euros. However, with re-gards to the energy supply of the center, the investment delivers savings

Figure 1 - The Zero center solution


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of 30%.

The technological solution used in this project is one of the best mixes of

energy efficiency and renewable resources. The total reduction of CO2

emissions is around 400 Tons per year. So the results, seen from techno-

logical and environmental

perspective, show that it is possible to merge different kinds of energy

sources, traditional and renewable ones.


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2.2 “ONE BY ONE pLUs”

This business model is characterized by a GBE FACTORY which creates enough energy to satisfy the companies needs and a surplus which can be sold. This means that the overproduction of energy can be sold back to the grid, in case there is no partnership with another com-pany in need of the energy.The renewable energy supply plant is located in the same bu-ilding as the firm. A photovol-taic plant provides energy to meet the energy needs of the company while the surplus can be sold. Hence, not only the GBE factory energy costs are saved but by selling the surplus additional profit can be made. This means that the firm with the GBE FACTORY has a higher perceived value, while also other companies in-volved in the project could benefit as well.

sofiyska voda Ad, City of sofia- an example for a “one by one plus” business modelSofiyska Voda JSC provides the services for the water supply, sewerage and wastewater treatment on the territory of Sofia. The company was founded in October, 2000 under the 2-year Concession Agreement. The concession stipulates that the Municipality of Sofia grants the company

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Figure 2 - An high view of waste water treatment of Sofia


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the operation and maintenance of the water supply and sewerage system in Sofia for around 1,400,000 people.The wastewater treatment plant for Sofia deals with industrial and storm water, which comes from the city’s sewerage network. Although the plant was already commissioned in 1984 it was reconstructed and improved in the last few years. In December 2009, Sofiyska Voda JSC commissioned the largest co-generation installation in the Bulgarian water supply and sewage sector for production of electricity and thermal energy from bio-gas. In order to achieve this they implemented an extensive investment project to modernize and renovate the current facilities and gas mana-gement.


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2.3 “ONE TO MANY”

This business model is designed to provide energy for a group of dif-ferent firms. The GBE FACTORY is located in industrial area where the envisaged business model foresees a biomass power plant construction and a pipe network, supplying a number of firms with energy.The main target groups for this business model are industrial warehouses, logistic centers, shopping centers, greenhouses and Hotels. Advantages of this system are high energy productivity and independence from fossil fuels. The owners of the GBE FACTORY are be fully competitive to other EU com-panies and are capable of pro-viding sustainable growth.Through utilization of wood biomass at attractive prices it is possible to provide enterprises with the opportunity to use highly effi-cient, environmental friendly products and the technologies for the new generation of thermal energy.

HTMAs - an example for a “one to many” business modelHTMAS is a Slovak Industrial Park, located between Banska Bystrica and Zvolen in the village of Vlkanova. The industrial park hosts 7 companies of various branches. The park opened in 2008 and has invested in green energy by installing the sun collectors on the rooftops of the industrial park buildings. The output of the sun collectors in 2010 was about 855 MW/H. The produced energy is distributed to all end-users in the park, but also to additional 4 companies through a local grid. In 2012 the new water power plant was constructed in order to further satisfy the needs of the park. Hence, the sustainability of the companies in the industrial park has increased by minimizing the risks that could derive from the energy supply through the national grid. The companies in the industrial park are not dependent of any possible shortage from the national grid as well as well as weather drop-offs in the utility system.

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2.4 “MANY TO ONE”

This business model implies that partners and their customers can join into a network where each one is participating in the production and consumption. The extra energy production can be sold to other partici-pants outside the network.The goal of this model is to promote the replacement of the old asbe-stos roof while benefiting from the special government incentives. It is a well known fact that most of the in-dustrial warehouses constructed up to 1992 are have asbestos roofs. This model develops the plan of investing in disposing of the old roofs, replacing them with new solar panels (PV or so-lar thermal).This model increases the quality of life in the area and creates new jobs, as well as produces renewable green power that can been used by both the industrial processing plants and the local inhabitants.The project involves different partners, such as local authorities, owners of the reclaimed warehouses, the companies which will remove the asbe-stos roofs, the companies which will install the new solar panels and the inhabitants who will benefit from increased life quality. Also, they will be able to make use of the generated green power.

paderno Network - an example for a “many to one” business modelThe Paderno network consists of five factory owners positioned in the same area which have installed 5 PV plants. The Paderno network is lo-cated in the industrial area near Milan, a place in need of large quantities of energy.The factories have installed five singular photovoltaic plants that produce energy for their own production and for the others. In case a company in the network needs more energy, it will be received via “smart grid” through which all of them are connected. Any unused surplus is sold to the national grid while the gained profit is distributed to all the partners in the network.

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3. MARKET ANALYsIs

In order to identify the strategic area for the implementation of the GBE Factory approach, a market analysis of industry and commerce was de-veloped for each country involved in the project (Italy, Germany, Slovak, Austria and Bulgaria). For downloading the full version of all the market analysis, go to this link http://www.gbefactory.eu/category/download/market-analysis/ The market analysis was targeted on the market areas

with intense use of heating and cooling consumptions, addressing the regions in-volved in the project. These areas were of strategic im-portance since their main fe-ature was the significant use of electricity and heat from fossil fuels. Within the fra-

mework of the GBE Factory project five market analysis were developed and for each partner the energy needs for producing heating and cooling have been calculated.The market analysis developed in Germany focused on the region of Brandeburg, on the Food industry, where high energy intensity meets absolute high figures of energy consumption, and the Tourist sec-tor (thermal baths and hotels). This last sector is particularly promising in terms of potential investments in RES (coupled with Energy effi-ciency measures), and stakeholders proved to be very interested in the study.The Italian market analysis was about the energy consumption of two specific sectors: the wood and furniture cluster of Livenza and the food cluster of the Veneto region. The po-tentiality in term of RES investments was inve-


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stigated and analyzed. From the indicators of energy consumption calcu-lated for the food sector the market analysis showed that the two most relevant items are the natural gas consumption and electric energy, with per capita consumption higher than what have been calculated for the furniture’s sector in Livenza District in Veneto Region, while the energetic expenses for each turnover unity are much more similar.

The Slovak market analysis was focused on the timber and wood processing industry in-cluding pulp and paper factories, in which the possibility of replacing in thermal power plants boilers using fossil fuels with new ones using wood chips/sawdust. Overall conclusions were that during the reporting period there has been an expected increase in electricity pro-duction from renewable sources, which means that negative trend in terms of RES, and in terms of energy security of Slovakia. The lar-gest share of electricity from renewable ener-gy sources all have large hydroelectric power

plants (more than 90% share), because the amount of electricity pro-duced from renewable energy sources in Slovakia is fully dependent on suitable conditions for hydropower.

The Bulgarian market analysis addressed sec-tors with intensive use of energy.For industry: chemical industry, food, textile, metal processing, brick, ceramics.For commercial activities: shopping malls, di-rectional centers, spa, leisure and water parks.The results was the identification of the most suitable sectors for GBE Factory installations that are commercial buildings and companies with wood processing within.


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The Austrian market analysis is composed by three parts: the first one is an overview of the actual figures regarding energy in Austria and Upper Austria based on official statistical data. The second part is a que-stionnaire to detect the need of RES in indu-stry circulated to local stakeholders, and the third part were personal interviews obtained during meetings with local authorities and companies. The final result of the market analysis for companies is an high interest and demand of technical solutions for using energy efficiency and renewable energy in

production buildings as well as in the production process itself.


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4. GBE FACTORY BRANd ANd CO: AWARdING vIRTUOUs COMpANIEs!

The GBE FACTORY brand has been created for em-phasizing and characteri-zing enterprises involved in commercial and industrial processes generating su-stainable energy from bio-sources according to the GBE Fcatory approach.Therefore, to be awarded with the GBE Brand and Pla-te, a company is subjected to certain conditions that ensure their virtuous behavior. Detailed EU valid rules have been established. A threshold of 100 kW minimum production of h/e/c, installed within the company’s building was established: the entrepreneurs which have undergone this investment, often with own resources, are considered to deserve a public recognition at the EU level, favoring their public appraisal and also occa-sions for their virtuous behavior to be imitated by others.The main aim of the GBE Brand hence is to promote and make visible the companies which have significantly invested in the use of renewable

energy sources and to encourage others to do the same.The building chosen for the installation of the ge-nerators for production of renewable energy, i.e. a GBE Factory, does not have to be a new one; it is more likely it may be a pre-existing one within which the owner/s decides to invest for rationa-lization purposes or profit purposes. This implies some changes or a total refurbishment of the building which can often be rather complex.


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The GBE Factory Brand has provided the com-pany owners with a tool for gaining visibility thanks to a tangible reco-gnition from an interna-tional community of or-ganizations (the 9 project partners) of the green im-pact of their actions.The focus of the GBE Brand has in fact been on highlighting the commit-ment of investors in re-

newable energy sources for industrial/commercial heating or electricity consumption, not the creation of any certifi cation scheme or other com-plex mechanism. The Brand has actually revealed to be a simple mecha-nism for providing “green visibility” to small and medium entrepreneurs, and also to some number one industries such as BMW.

Figure 3 - Awarding moment in Sofi a

Figure 4 - The GBE Factory stand at LINZ’s fair


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The BMW’s success storyThanks to the valuable work of the Italian German Chamber of Commer-ce during the promotional events and during one-to-one meetings set up in Leipzig, and also to the promotional material produced during the project, the BMW Werk in leipzig has adopted the GBE Factory approach accepting the honourable role to represent one of the two exemplary cases for the GBE Factory for Germany. Accord to the models presented above, BMW can be classified as a One by One GBE FACTORY Model. The wind farm allows BMW to satisfy its own Energy needs to a great extent. Through the Wind farm, BMW has now set up a production that is not dependent on the conventional power supply grid.The energy created entirely covers the energy needs of the production plant for the new electric BMW i3 vehicle series. Even more importantly, the wind plant is emission-free, guaranteeing a minimal environmental impact.BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke) is a German auto and motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Munich that started out in the 1900s as an aircraft manufacturer. In the 1970s, BMW established itself as a full-fledged car company and as a pioneer for emerging technologies, such as turbo charging and advanced vehicle electronics. Innovations, like the latter, gave BMW its well-known reputation for quality and leading edge auto performance technology. Since the 1990s, BMW has been expan-ding worldwide. In the second half of the 1990s, it also opened its first U.S. manufacturing plant and expanded its brand empire which now also includes Mini and Rolls-Royce. Today, BMW is still building motorcycles just as they did in the 1920s. BMW is one of the “German Big 3” luxury car manufacturers, and the bestselling car manufacturer worldwide. BMW nowadays is an extremely innovative manufacturer that has a renowned reputation for excellence, design and car quality . Today, the BMW brand is often cited as one of the “best” in the world, and the company conti-nues to launch a stream of innovative products.BMW has the vision of basing the whole production process for its new electric cars on the use of sustainable energies. In July 2013, the BMW Leipzig plant activated four wind turbines on the factory premises. These Nordex Wind Turbines have a total power output of 10 MW and produce


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around 26 GWh per year. The wind farm is operated by wpd, an external developer of wind power projects and one of Germany’s leading desi-gners and operators of wind parks headquartered in Bremen. The electri-city produced by the wind turbines is entirely used at the plant. It is not fed into the public grid but wholly distributed to the many factory are-as through a central power supply facility. Power is spread across more operating hours; in other words, the turbines do not have a greater ge-nerating capacity, but rather run near capacity for more hours per year. The four installed wind turbines cover about a fi fth of the overall power requirement at the BMW Leipzig plant, making it possible to utilize wind power in many factory areas, in particular to cover the base load when, for example, the productionof electric vehicles is halted. The energy vi-sion of the company is based on environmentally friendly electricity (the generated green power, which is fed directly into the factory grid, is as an auxiliary system for the conventional power supply); power generation (with the installed green power plant facilities, the company produces 100% renewable energy and covers for 100% of its energetic needs with it); more energy produced (the standard tower height in Germany is 100 meters, but the tallest tower annually produces up to 20 percent more energy); no environmental impacts (during power generation, neither chemical nor physical processes, which can lead to environmental chan-ges and damages, are applied).

Figure 5 - The Italian German chamber of Commerce awarded BMW Werk


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4.1 THE GBE FACTORY sUCCEss sTORIEs: THE FIRsT AWARdEd COMpANY: ICM s.p.A COMpANY, MARON dI BRUGNERA, pORdENONE pROvINCE, ITALY

Within the framework of the GBE-Factory project, in march 2012 Unionca-mere del Veneto started a collaboration with ICM company, one of the few companies of the Livenza’s cluster that demonstrated openness to consider RES investments even in this bad period of economic crisis. ICM consequen-tly tuned its plans to the idea of becoming a zero-emission factory in line with the GBE factory approach for the sector. The company represents a great example of GBE Factory, in which EE measures have been matched with RES investments.A dynamic and highly qualified company for furniture of doors and windows equipments founded in Maron di Brugnera in 1967, ICM core-business is the production of the components for doors and interiors, and the main material utilized for the production is wood. At the beginning, its production was di-rected only to the Italian market, but now product choice has been amplified and is reaching the market of 20 different countries. Fifty-five people work in

the firm, and the annual sales volume reaches 18 Ml€. With its two plants, I.C.M. occupies a 15.000 sqm surface, of which 11.000 are for the production process.The Company’s goal was to use all the scrap of wood powder produced, in order to ge-nerate electricity through cogeneration. The plan was to use the high-tech boiler for bur-ning all the scrap of wood powder produced, getting rid of the outside contributions and producing energy with the use of ORC tur-bines. From raw planks of different wood’s

types or its derivatives in MDF, through automated and synchronized for-ming machines, veneer machines, coating and packaging are produced kits/lots for mounting different kinds of interior doors for civil and commercial complex.In the last years, the management of ICM has intensified its focus on energy saving measures with meaningful internal actions, renewing its equipments and components.


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ICM company represents a great example of GBE Factory, in which EE me-asures have been matched with RES investments. The company is a case in point of a North-eastern Italian Company, which combines fl exible strategies for access to the global market, in parallel with actions of environmental and energetic sustainability. The sensibility of the company for issues concerning the environment is constant and systematic, and has allowed to obtain du-ring the past years the environmental certifi cation ISO 14000. Furthermore, ICM implements programs of rational use of energy in the processes and of effi ciency of the plants through the new equipment’s installation and reno-vation. ICM is focused on the production of renewable energy from the scrap of wood powder resulting from the processing, a resource that otherwise would be wasted. ICM is a meaningful example of green-energy committed company.The ICM company has been awarded with the GBE Factory plate on De-cember, 12 2012 during a workshop for the promotion of the GBE Factory approach hosted at the premise of the Industrial Association of Pordenone (Udine,Italy)Here below see the owner of ICM spa with the president of the Industrial As-sociation of Pordenone.

Figure 6 - The fi rst Gbe factory awarding


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5. WHO NEEds WHAT? A ROAd MAp FOR pROMOTING THE GBE FACTORY CONCEpT

In each country a widespread action involving many relevant actors and potential investors has been carried out in order to promote the GBE Factory approach, focusing on identified main sectors of the market. This has lead to important results: the development of demonstrative cases of GBE Factories (DEMO GBE Factories); the drafting of replicable project proposals for specific sectors (e.g. the wine sector), and, last but not le-ast, the triggering of real GBE investments on the ground.Each region involved in the project drafted a Road Map, that is a struc-tured program including events and actions that would lead to harvest results in terms of stakeholders sensitized to the concept of GBE Factory and of investments triggered. The five Road Maps created for the five regions targeted by the project have focused on the market sectors that had the greatest potentialities in terms of increasing their competitive-ness through RES. A brief focus on each Road Map follows in the para-graphs below.


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5.1 THE vENETO REGION ROAd MAp: THE WINE sECTORThe Veneto Region Road Map started with the participation of the GBE Factory team in the most important Italian fair of the wine sector: Vi-

nitaly, held annually in Verona. A number of companies and Wine producer’s Consortia have been met and sen-sitized on the GBE ap-proach thanks to this international event, and round tables have been organized for the pre-sentation of the GBE factory project. The most successful event organized in the fra-mework of Veneto Road map was “The utilization of by-products of the wine sector for the pro-

duction of renewable energy”, hosted by the consortium of Prosecco doc of Treviso. The event saw the participation of many local stakeholders, and had regional resonance. A number of events was organized such as for example: 20 one2one meetings; 12 face to face meetings and open sessions.A big results was the creation of a standard project proposal called ERI-CA, specifi cally tailored to an average wine company and presented to the Consortia, for boosting renewable energies investments in the wi-neries sector; such investments have a maximum limit of 10-13 years for benefi t returns accompanied by high levels of technological innovations which have the eff ect of improving and extending the machinery perfor-mance. A good productivity potential allows winery enterprises to ask for funding in order to pursue their business projects.


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5.2 THE sLOvAK ROAd MAp

Being Slovakia not so extended as a country, local partners addressed the whole area with their Road Map. The programme adopted for Slo-vakia saw fi rst the identifi cation of the companies that installed or plan-ned to install technologies to modernize their facilities producing electric power and/or heat based on RES and companies providing services for the energy sector. A structured action through open sessions has been carried out to inform these companies about the strategic potential ap-plication of the GBE concept. Two open sessions were organized – one in Trnava in March 2013, one in Bratislava in June 2013, and digital commu-nication and phone contacts created a high involvement in the project of local investors.


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5.3 THE UppER AUsTRIA REGION ROAd MAp

The Austrian team has selected and coordinated a panel of internal ex-perts for implementation of the Upper Austria Region Road Map, focu-sing on the promotion of GBE Factory approach. Three open sessions have been organized for presenting GBE factory project. In each of the-se sessions a special energy and/or renewable energy related topic was added to increase interest and potential of future cooperation. After the open sessions, 12 face to face meetings with interested actors have been held, leading to the signature of letters of interest for investing in GBE Factories.The so called open sessions saw the participation of around 130 people, and 39 people participated to the technical training. These activities lead to the awarding of 6 GBE Factory companies and to the fi nding out 6 GBE Factory reference cases.


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5.4 THE NIEdERsACHsEN REGION ROAd MAp

The Niedersachsen Region Road Map started with the organization by the GBE Factory team of two important events in Braunschweig and Han-nover, introducing GBE Factory best-practice examples for boosting re-plication by investors and local entrepreneurs. Local partners also seized the opportunity of matching well known initiatives with the GBE promo-tion as vehicle to maximize the diff usion of the GBE-Factory approach. In particular, RES has been matched with energy effi ciency, exploiting a local campaign for more energy effi ciency in enterprises (http://www.rkw-energieeffi zienz.de/). The Road Map concluded with a meeting with the ministry of environment and energy of Lower-Saxony, to present pu-blicly the results of the Niedersachsen Region Road Map.


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5.5 THE sTARA ZAGORA REGION ROAd MAp

The Stara Zagora Region Road Map has seen the realisation of a number of open events, dedicated to relevant market sector stakeholders (e.g. chemicals and plastics), yet it is important to stress that in Bulgaria, at the beginning of the project there were big obstacles in implementation due to the fact that the Bulgarian society has developed a negative atti-

tude towards the production of renewable energy, bla-med to have lead to higher production costs for compa-nies and higher domestic bills for citizens. Gradually, the

Bulgarian partners changed the perception of groups of stakeholders with the crea-tion, during the Road Map implementation, of a GBE Factory “Club of Promo-ters”. This “Club”, reunites active professionals and in-vestors which created a ha-bit to gather and discuss is-

sues related to the production of energy from renewable sources, to seek together ways to resolve them, and to exchange information on the latest developments in this fi eld. With the assistance of members of the club, proposals have been made about the preparation of letters of intent, and eight of the twenty one GBE Factory investments triggered in Bulgaria have been realized with the active involvement of club members.

tude towards the production of renewable energy, bla-med to have lead to higher production costs for compa-nies and higher domestic bills for citizens. Gradually, the

Bulgarian partners changed the perception of groups of stakeholders with the crea-tion, during the Road Map implementation, of a GBE Factory “Club of Promo-ters”. This “Club”, reunites active professionals and in-vestors which created a ha-


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6. THE CREATION OF A EUROpEAN CRITICAL MAss OF ExEMpLARY CAsEs

The GBE FACTORY exemplary cases, are considered to be top-runners and best examples in Europe due to their advanced technology, return of in-vestments and mid-term sustainability. These cases, detected and described in detail by partners and made available to public through the project website (http://www.gbefactory.eu/exemplary-cases-report-to-download), represent now a EU wide database of success ca-ses ready for being replicated. In order to choose these 10 top-runner cases, the

knowledge gained in each country through the previous project phases and the existing cases has been used. The exemplary GBE FACTORY ca-ses have been selected on the basis of the following criteria:

1. MOST ATTRACTIVE ECONOMIC RETURN2. DEGREE OF MID-TERM SUSTAINABILITY3. DEGREE OF TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION

Technological Parks, RES PARKs, Waste area platforms, Ecologically Equipped Areas, RES district Areas, ports or other intermodal/logistic centres with warehouses for food or other storage; large industry areas, big shopping malls were all potential targets, since they are all ideal locations for the intelligent ex-ploitation of RES and hence the implemen-tation of GBE Factories. Partner countries also investigated the opportunity for tax breaks, grant funding and other local sup-port measures, as additional features that could qualify the exemplary cases as good return of investment opportunities.


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The selected 10 GBE Factory exemplary cases belong to different sectors such as the meat industry, the machinery sector, the forest industry, the textile industry, transport and logistics, the food industry, the tourist sec-tor, etc., and all use high technology equipment, system and processes. On the other hand these proposed exemplary cases in many cases also show remarkable potentiality for energy savings achievement and hence a further greenhouse gas emission reduction.sectors of the EU like There is significant interest of different type of sta-keholders like producers, logistics, suppliers, project sponsors, promo-ters, advisors, distributors and local and regional authorities to support energy customers to reduce their energy consumption.Each exemplary case was evaluated based on a detailed analysis of the technical design and proposed technology. The financial project indica-tors and the green houses gas emissions reduction after the projects im-plementation were taken into consideration too. The financial analyses of the 10 GBE Factory exemplary cases indicates that each case is very promising. The exemplary case’s pay back period is in the range betwe-en 5.0 – 12.0 years, including the construction period for separate cases. This base projects cost includes the costs for project design, equipment delivery and its installation and construction works.A risk and sensitive analyses as a part of the evaluation of 10 GBE Factory exemplary cases was made. Different scenarios for all presented exem-plary cases based on expert’s assumptions have been included in data sheets for each case.


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7. THE CREATION OF A CIRCUIT OF dEMO GBE FACTORY REALIZATIONs: FROM ExEMpLARY CAsEs TO dEMO REALIZATIONs

Within the aim and scope of the GBE Factory project, it was foreseen that partners would work to lead investors and stakeholders to the plan-ning of five demonstrative realisations of highly advanced RES-equipped industrial or commercial buildings. The five cases were enriched in a se-cond moment with another five proposals, hence now the public can be-nefit from ten EU excellent cases from different sectors, some of which have actually been invested in by stakeholders following to the action ofpartners (http://www.gbefactory.eu/category/download/demo-gbe-fac-tory-collection).Each partner drafted a proposal for the realisation of a demonstrative case of GBE Factory, not addressing the construction of a totally new building (which would have been very difficult to see following throu-gh with a concrete realisation), but addressing existing companies that already were located in buildings equipped with advanced technologies, describing the state of the art and proposing how to further exploit RES technologies and other solutions for making even more excellent the conditions of the building and/or productive process.The project proposals, that represent the shiniest examples of GBE reali-zations in Europe, take into account the following features:• Technological and system characteristics (design of system/process);• Economic issues (expected benefits and savings, compared with project costs);• Operational issues, how well the DEMO GBE FACTORY takes advantage of the opportunities identified during the requirements analysis phase;• Scheduling, estimating how long the GBE Factory will take to develop, and showing detailed timetable of activities;• Sustainability – how the DEMO GBE Factory will continue to have its role in the middle long range.In the technical publication called “Demo collection” the technical fea-tures, numbers and figures have been deeply described. Herewith just a brief description of some DEMO Realization has been reported, for ad-ditional information about the DEMO GBE Factory, consult the following website www.gbefactory.eu.


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7.1 THE dEMO pROjECT pROpOsALs dRAFTEd IN ITALY

7.1.1. THE dEMO sUN NZEB INdUsTRIAL/COMMERCIAL BUILdING

SUN nZEB is a new building nZEB (nearly zero energy building) sponso-red by Rossi DUE S.n.c. based in Marostica (Vicenza) with the collabora-tion of the team of Unioncamere del Veneto involved in GBE FACTORY project. From a technical point of view the evaluations and proposals for the new building are the result of a collaboration with:-Construction: VS asso-ciati – Marostica-Thermographic analysis: Geom. Dal Cortivo Diego-Air conditioning system and PV plant: Ariaclima Marostica Italy.The building, located near the premises of Company Rossi Due, at the foot of the hill fortified with me-dieval walls that embrace the town of Marostica,

Figure 7 - Computer renderings of the building


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took place during the development of the project GBE FACTORY.The realisation of an executive commercial nZEB (Near Zero-Energy Bu-ilding) building designed while maintaining its costs within the average rate (€/cm) of what is usually spent for regular industrial/commercial bu-ildings in the area of the Veneto Region - piedmont area of Vicenza, Italy.The average costs are considered with reference to a building that has an underground floor designated for machine parking activity and three surface floors that will host directional and commercial activities.The involved area is around 1.000 sqm.The new building will include a commercial storage, offices, executi-ve offices, multifunctional rooms for exhibitions/conferences/training courses, a meeting room, a technical office and a concierge room. The roof will host demonstration settings showing renewable energies-rela-ted technologies and a panoramic restaurant.Specific criteria are at the basis of the construction of the new building, given the following needs as specified by the customers:HIGH ENERGY EFFICIENCY: the building itself and the plants have to be harmonised in order to create a comfortable environment which, at the same time, is environment-friendly in terms of low heating emissions and high plant efficiency.SELF CONSUMPTION: on the roof a PV plant will supply most part of the energy needed for running the entire building and its activities.SPACE FLEXIBILITY: rooms need to be spacious and suitable for possi-ble different uses in accordance with future needs. The building has to be suitable to permit the installation of elevators aimed at an easy move of the exposed items. The roof will be destined as an accessible part for visitors where exhibitions and guided tours will take place. The elevators will cover all storeys – from the basement to the roof – and they will be capacious enough to permit heavy loads. The new headquarters will host educational events together with commercial and cultural exhibi-tions, conferences, guided tours for schools and also for professionals. The main concept is a building in which environment protection, energy saving and living wellness are condensed and perfectly matched.NO GAS: given the willingness of the owners to have no connections with the gas network, the whole plant will have to work to guarantee hot wa-ter using other energy sources: this implies the use of electric energy and the auto-consumption of the energy produced by the PV plant.


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LOW MANAGEMENT COSTS AND LONG-LASTING DURABILITY OF THE BUILDING: low costs have to be guaranteed in terms of energy efficiency as well as maintenance of the structure and of the whole plant. In order to create a building in line with the described functional needs, whose construction costs will be on the average of the ones expected for similar buildings and what management expenses will be fairly low, it was ne-cessary to analyse the environment where the structure will be placed: this study included solar exposure, shadow, winds etc. together with the analysis of the lot, its building capability and planning restrictions. The building structure was then chosen in order to minimize the thermal los-ses and special attention was given to appropriate inner environment and climatization.

Why is it a dEMO GBE FACTORY?

NZEB Rossi Due is a high value project, since the renewable energy source (PV) plays the main role in a civil/industrial structure which will be “nZEB” (nearly zero energy building). Such buildings follow the goal of reducing nearly to zero the energetic consumption of the building and using solar power for the building’s main needs. As no gas connection may be seen, this nZeb building model is also very suitable for those are-as where gas pipelines are not available, see e.g. some mountain areas. The feasibility study was not limited to the use of RES sources, but invol-ves the entire building structure including materials, air conditioning and lighting solutions. The importance of such proposal is due not only to the number of RES investments and nZEB features, but also to the high potentiality to be exported in the context of industrial/commercial buil-dings of small-micro enterprises in Veneto region and in most of North Italy as well as in other European regions.


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7.1.2 THE dEMO FERTITALIA s.r.l.

Fertitalia S.r.l., is a com-pany operating in the fi eld of composting of the indu-strial organic waste in mu-nicipalities and fractions. The company has integra-ted the composting pro-cess with a system toproduce energy from orga-nic waste and uses the ro-ofs of buildings to produce electricity from the sun.Fertitalia Srl, headquar-tered in Italy, Villa Bar-tolomea of Verona, was founded in 1994. It boasts a long experience and a consistent “know how” about the disposal of organic waste. This knowledge has led to the realization of a composting process that guarantees a high level of reliability and does not require any interruption of operations, even for maintenance. This gua-rantee of continuity is essential to ensure with a high level of order and public health in the municipalities which collect the waste.The main company activity is the urban organic waste disposal (biowaste) and industrial food waste by the fermentation and the composting of mate-rial. The industrial site Fertitalia S.r.l. covers an area of about 30,000 m2 and it is approximately 150,000 tons of material per year, of which about 120,000 tons come from the collection of municipal organic waste (biowaste or wet fraction) in Veneto, Trentino Alto Adige and Lombardy from scraps food pro-duction. The remaining 30,000 tons come from the collection of cuttings and prunings. The disposal process does not require plants to be shut down or storage for the waste collected that begins the process of transformation within 24 hours after collection from users. This technology therefore gua-rantees the continuous delivery of waste of Fertitalia S.r.l. without postpone-ments, or emergency destinations. This has been strongly supported by the early investors involving an increased initial capital, but willing to stand out for its reliability, keeping the plant available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Figure 8 - Exact location of Fertitalia Srl in Veneto


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The company’s energy needs are mainly electric, with an annual consumption of 4,500 MWh necessary to the treatment of air (suction and blowing) and changes in the organic mass. The heat demand is mainly related to the need to heat the air blown in heaps of organic material during the process of ae-robic composting and in small part to the heating of offices. The hot air is now produced by a diesel fired boiler with an annual consumption of 42,000 liters, or about 410 MWh/year. Then there is a heat demand of about 6,500 MWh linked to the production of biogas to maintain digesters at the right temperature. This requirement is met by using part of the heat recovered from the cogeneration engines.

Figure 9 - Traditional composting process

Figure 10 - Process with anaerobic digestion


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The company produces clean energy through a 1 MWp photovoltaic plant, built on the building roof in 2012. The energy produced by the photovoltaic system is used in large part to the company electricity needs while the avai-lable rare temporary energy surplus is introduced into the national grid.Fertitalia S.r.l. has also created a biogas cogeneration plant of 2 MWe. About 50% of the conferred organic waste follows a traditional process of aerobic composting while the remaining 50%, before the step of composting and maturation, undergoes a phase of anaerobic digestion necessary to extract biogas. The biogas generated is used in two internal cogeneration combu-stion engines of 1 MWe each, made in 2010 and 2012.Anaerobic digestion is a collection of processes by which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. In this process there is a recovery of the organic substance otherwise lost as CO2 in the classical processes of aerobic stabilization. Once extracted, the matter (or DIGESTATE) is separated from the residual water content, by a mechanical centrifugation following the traditional process of composting mixed with the original organic waste.

Concerning affordability, related to the Italian incentive legislation, the electricity produced by the two engines is fed into the national electricity grid and sold to the Manager of Energy Services. The heat produced by a co-generator is currently used in winter to maintain the right tempera-ture in the digesters.The heat produced by the second cogeneration plant is part of the project: Fertitalia S.r.l. is considering the opportunity to realize a recove-ry system to heat the air blown into the aerobic stabilization process and to heat the air in the compost storage buildings avoiding the use of the a diesel boiler.The GBE FACTORY DEMO is inspired to the “ONE to ONE PLUS” mo-del (GBE Factory Guide) with renewable energy production dedicated to business use and the surplus ceded to the grid. The amount of energy produced from biogas and roof photovoltaic solar are greater than the consumption and make the company Fertitalia S.r.l. “RENEWABLE POSI-TIVE ENERGY”.There is the possibility to transfer the heat recovered from the CHP throu-gh a small heating network district that connects the company to the nearby units. In this way the DEMO GBE FACTORY model could become


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“one to many”. All different design options taken into consideration for the additional project in order to eliminate the use of diesel showed a limited investment (less than 200.000 € ) and an attractive return of in-vestment ( Pay back = 3 years, IRR > 20%). The result of the GBE Factory DEMO is an annual production of approximately 34,000 MWh from rene-wable sources, of which 1,000 electrical MWhe coming from the photo-voltaic, 15,000 electrical MWhe and 18,000 thermal MWht coming from the two cogeneration engines.


Fertitalia s.r.l has the features to be a GBE Factory DEMO because :• Fertitalia model allows to take advantage of the potential energy from the organic waste fraction even before turning it into compost, through the extraction of BIOGAS and the resulting cogeneration of electricity and heat;• It allows to exploit the large surfaces of buildings to produce electricity or hot water from the sun;• it produces more renewable energy compared to how much the com-pany needs, in order to run the entire production platform (company POSITIVE ENERGY) then the company is not only able to meet its energy needs but it can also produce clean energy for the surrounding commu-nity;• Fertitalia model is attractive and replicable for the European territory wherever there is an urban waste collection plant.(The project can be an example for other organic waste disposal platforms, showing how it is possible to make more profitable the com-posting process, enhancing waste. The Fertitalia DEMO may contribute to create the necessary mood to push other organic waste platforms in Europe to adopt the proposed solutions becoming “RENEWABLE PO-SITIVE ENERGY” companies. In fact, the extraction process of biogas before the composting step does not alter in qualitative and quantitative terms the production of the final compost.


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7.1.3 The dEMO Cantina sociale di Castelnuovo s.r.l.

The Cantina Sociale di Castelnuovo S.r.l. is one of the most important winery consortium of the West Veneto region. Sin-ce 2010 the company has been planning the reco-very of bioenergy from grape pruning and the presidents are now deter-mined to proceed with an updated economic evaluation for the begin-ning of the process.Cantina Sociale di Castelnuovo Srl, headquartered in Italy, Castelnuovo del Garda of Verona, was founded in 1958. It gathers a long and consoli-dated experience in winery and its strength is based on the strong net-work of more than 250 associates. These strength points led the Com-pany within the leader wineries of the north Italy and to the certification of the areas of Bardolino, Custoza and Lugana.The main company activity is the production of wine: the most important wine produced in these facilities are Lugana, Custoza, Bardolino and Bar-dolino Superiore. Nowadays Cantina Sociale counts more than 250 asso-ciates with more than 1200 hectares of vineyard surface. Every associate provides its grapes to the central facilities where the production process takes place. Every year the winery transforms more than 16.000 tons of grapes into wine: about 75% of these grapes come from Denomination of Controlled Origin lands which is one of the most important Italian certifi-cations for wines. The company pays attention to the environment in or-der to reduce the wine production footprint and thanks to GBEFACTORY initiative is going to develop a project for the recovery of the renewable energy available in the wood from wine pruning to produce heat by com-bustion or piro-gassification. The innovation lies in the utilization of the wooden biomass that is produced after grape pruning, and represents a huge energy resource for the consortium. The company’s energy needs

Figure 11 - View of the Cantina Sociale


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are mainly electric, with an annual consumption of 1,583 MWh necessary to cool down rooms of grapes and wine processing, handling of grapes and wine especially during the fermentation period that is usually in the months of September and October. The heat demand is mainly related to the need to heat the steam up for sterilization and washing processes and to heat offices. These requirements need two different enthalpic le-vels for hot water: for sterilization and washing processes low pressure (0.6-0.9 bar) steam is used, while hot sanitary water is used for heating up offices during cold seasons. This heat demand is provided by two diesel fuel burners. The diesel consumption every year is 26.000 liters for the domestic diesel and 37.000 liters for the agricultural diesel for a total thermal energy production of 410 MWh/year. The cooling ener-gy demand is related to temperature control for wine and must during stabilization and storage period and the temperature set point for the room-temperature is 15° C. The cooling energy is required only from May to October and the measured requirement is 1100 MWh/year, which is obtained with two refrigerating units.The utilization of the residual biomass from grape pruning would allow the saving of 48.200€ and 98.500€ for the fuel expenses of heat and cold production, respectively. The total savings per year would be 146.700€ for fuel purposes.The project proposal aims at the production of thermal energy for heat and cold purposes via biomass combustion. The requirements of the wi-nery are 410 MWh/year for heating energy and 1100 MWh/year for refri-gerating energy. An assessment on the productivity of the field is now required: we will define wood chips as a fine cut wood at 30% humidity in weight. We will start from a couple of assumption: the first one is that the productivity of wood is 1.2 tons of wood chips/hectare and a calorific value of 3 MWh/ton of wood chips. With these assumptions, the required vineyard surface is about 450 hectare, while the consortium has 1200 hectares among all its associates. In Table 1 the comparison between the available energy in the fields and the required thermal energy for make the winery working. This Project proposal aims to consider also the piro-gassification of the biomass. Piro-gassification is particularly indicated for low quality biomass, to produce Hydrogen, Carbon.


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The process would include both the heat and the cold production via an absorption plant. This process has already been developed and has spre-ad all over the industrial facilities that requires both heat and cold. The energy production may be done in two different ways: biomass combu-stion and piro-gassification of the biomass. Attention will be focused on the combustion, but an economic overview on the piro-gassification will be also provided.From the financial point of view the investment has features compatible with a SME with figures like Pay Back of less than 5 years and IRR more than 15%.


Cantina sociale di Castelnuo-vo s.r.l has the features to be a DEMO GBE Factory because:• it allows the recovery of wood from grape pruning that would be otherwise discharged;• it reduces the fossil fuel con-sumption for heating and coo-ling processes;• the eventual integration of the piro-gasification for wood valo-rization, would make the Cantina Sociale the first user within a winery contest among Italy.• its model is replicable in the European territory wherever there is a wi-nery or wine factory. The project aims to be an example for other winery consortium, showing how it is possible to make the process of wood recovery more profitable, enhancing the energy efficiency of the whole process of wine production, and potentially allowing a cost reduction of wine production. Wood recovery from vineyard allows the reduction of diesel fuels, the reduction of the environmental impact and the possibili-ty to become a virtuous model for other wine consortium.

Figure 12 - Vineyard


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7.1.4 The dEMO COAL Cooperative

The Livenza Agricultural Coo-perative Company (COAL) re-presents an interesting territo-rial reality of the easternmost part of the province of Treviso, in the Veneto region, 60 km north of Venice. Started up in 1976, the cooperative is he-adquartered in Motta di Liven-za (TV) and it currently counts about 150 members, including farmers and growers. The agricultural area pertaining to the company amounts to about 3,000 hectares, including 1,000 hectares of vines and the remaining 2,000 of arable land, especially of corn and soy. It aims to provide shareholders and farmers of the Opitergino-Mottense district with assistance in agricultural practices and in harvesting agricultural crops.The various activities include grain drying and storage, marketing of technical materials (seeds, fertilizers, agro-chemicals, etc…) and of local farm products. In the last decade the COAL Cooperative has started to address the use of wood-energy, sensing in this field astrong potential as a source ofincome for farms.In addition to promoting the diffusion and the installation of Short Ro-tation Woodland (SRW) plantations, specialized in biomass energy pro-duction (use of various fast-growing species, including black locust, foxglove, and hybrid poplar), the cooperative is working onthe themes of collection and use of different kinds of supplies for energy purposes. In this context, the activity of COAL is the result of many expe-riments regarding all stages of collection and transformation of sprouts (packing, chipping).Besides having about 1,000 hectares of vineyards owned by its members, the cooperative have some other local vineyards in which they carry out

Figure 13 - a view of COAL Cooperative


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the fruit picking, equivalent to other 4,000 hectares. It can therefore be estimated that a total of about 5,000 hectares of land can be organized and optimized for the annual collection of sprouts and for the setting of both the logistics of intermediate processing and storage locations, and for placing energy conversion facilities.In order to try to internalize the added value, the cooperative is structu-ring a new business by way of the heating supply company “AGRIVITE-NERGY (A.V.E) Ltd”, through the installation of high efficiency modern boilers, powered by vine chips (Biocompact form). The A.V.E. is a com-pany with widespread participation whose shareholders are COAL mem-bers, enterprises, professionals, citizens, and also associations and orga-nizations for public benefit. Some COAL members are currently using the Biocompact form and other members are planning to install it in the near future. In this perspective, the company aims to provide its users with not only the biomass (vine chips) but with everything the user needs for benefiting directly from the heat. The users do not have to worry about finding fuel, installing the boiler or maintaining it, because everything is managed by A.V.E. The company, indeed, deploys to customers the BIO-COMPAT modules for the generation of thermal energy, provides for their continued operation by refuelling of biomass in form of vine chips (as an alternative to briquette), and keeps their maintenance over time.To achieve this goal, the new company A.V.E is setting up a new site with a large yard and a building designed with GBEFACTORY criteria for lo-gistics and manufacturing of biomass (vine shoots) and for the manage-ment of BIOCOMPACT modules.In the situation described above, it should be identified the very inte-resting and replicable A.V.E model of DEMOGBEFACTORY: “ONE TO MANY”, or rather, “ONE TO MANY DIFFUSED” consists of the GBE FAC-TORY HEAD OFFICE (or MOTHER COMPANY) star connected to many MINI GBE FACTORIES throughout the area. For the moment, these MINI GBE FACTORIES mainly consist of the agricultural processing branches of its members, who benefit from the heating service through the BIO-COMPACT’s new boilers for heat and cold production, which A.V.E de-ploys. (See figure below).


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The basic version of GBE FACTORY MOTHER COMPANY has significant potential for future developments related to the processing and the sto-rage of biomass: they have been planning the building duplication, the diversification of raw material entering the shredding plant, and of the typology of combustion outputs (loose wood chips, briquettes, pellets - see figure below)

Figure 14 - Closed-Loop Biomass based A.V.E. Energy Supply System

Figure 15 - Closed-Loop Biomass based A.V.E. Energy Supply System


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Diversifications are provided also for BIOCOMPACT stations, both in terms of new applicable technologies and service forms that include the selling of electricity and thermal energy. As shown the figures below, a BIOCOMPACT module was also installed at the office building and at some warehouse of the COAL Consortium headquarters, which, thanks to the additional contribution of the photovoltaic system installed on the roof of the building, has become a site with nearly Zero-Carbon Buildings (nZCB) which has been recognized the GBE FACTORY label.Concerning the MINI GBE FACTORY, the purpose is the 100%-satisfac-tory functioning of thermal needs through renewable energy, and on a later stage it will be the satisfaction of electricity needs. This involves the launch of A.V.E. with the promotion of the BIOCOMPACT product, in single configuration or in the “COMBINED” version, which consider the addition of an absorber for cold production. A.V.E bucks for charge its customers the 10-15% of thermal energy per KWh less than retail prices given on the market. To achieve this and to exercise on your user very competitive caloric ener-gy prices, the system must be characterized by groundbreaking combu-stion technologies, quality biomasses and a telemonitoring system of the performance of BIOCOMPACT stations in the different configurations. An interesting evolution will see the use of pellet boilers and smart absor-bers.


Spill-over effects sought by the “AGRIVITENERGY (AVE) Ltd” company have ethical and environmental features: - encourage the use of waste materials coming from the process of vine cultivation to produce energy for the benefit of the actors of the process themselves; - help in transfor-ming the wine cultivated plains of North-eastern Veneto in areas with lower CO2 emissions. The A.V.E energy model is based on a Circular Sup-ply Chain, from scratch, with an array of transport logistics both as input and output that does not come from the local area, and which therefore gets high environmental and ecological implications. Significant is then


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the ambition to link the agricultural supply chain with the SMEs’ energy one. The A.V.E business model presents some deliberately not-brilliant economic characteristics, but acceptable if you consider that part of the valuable potential goes for the customers’ benefit, through a heating pri-ce that must be competitive on the market, compared to the price of fossil fuels. This is even more understandable, if you consider the nature of ‘widespread participation’ in a company well-established in the terri-tory. A growth-based company. By 2015 A.V.E will achieve the doubling of GBEFACTORY MOTHER; it aims for selling heat to 50 MINI-GBEFAC-TORIES and to some companies of the nearby industrial areas for an in-stalled thermal capacity of 5 / 7 MW-thermal. The equivalent CO2 saved amounts to a million of Kilograms.


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7.2 THE dEMO pROjECT pROpOsALs dRAFTEd IN AUsTRIA

7.2.1 THE dEMO FOR A CURE OIL ANd GAs COMpANYAustria represents an attractive place for investments in crude oil & gas companies.The core areas of business of the company addressed by the Austrian DEMO proposal are oil and natural gas explo-ration and production, and oil and gas storage. Through its own storage capacity and its role as an operator, the com-pany considered plays an im-portant part in the security of supply for Austria and the whole of Central Europe.The activities also include cru-de oil stockpiling, natural gas trading and transportation,and renewable energy projects.

Figure 17 - High view of gas company


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The GBE FACTORY demo plant investor operates a CHP plant, for cove-ring their own electricity demand. The generated heat is used for heating up their oil which has to be kept at 30°C, and for feeding into the nearby district heating grid. The district heating grid is connected with private households and commercial and industrial enterprises.The crude oil & gas corporation owns a gas-powered combined heat andpower plant with 3 pcs. of gas engines, each of a capacity of 800 MW. The heat capacity of the CHP is 6 MW. Most of the generated electricity by the CHP is used for their own electricity grid with a total demand of approx. 14.3 GWh/year.The generated heat will be used to feed into the local heating grid and to heat up 3 oil tanks with a capacity of each 60,000 m³ up to 30°C.


The general benefit of the GBE FACTORY will be savings of natural gas, greateroperation independence of the CHP plant (heat available from the solar thermalFigure 17: High view of gas companyplant) and a high efficiency operation of the solar thermal and CHP plant in combination with the seasonal storage tank (100% use of surplus heat -> possible use shift to winter months). Below you can find an overview of the benefits of this demo plant:a) Solar plant produces free heatb) The CHP produce valuable electricityc) The CHP enables a fast capacity regulation on the production sided) The seasonal storage enables a lot of flexibility in operating the CHP plant and makes the combination of these technologies possible


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7.3 THE dEMO pROjECT pROpOsALs dRAFTEd IN sLOvAKIA

7.3.1 THE dEMO K2 NEW sTEAM GENERATORThe proposed investment project of energetic valuation of waste for the City of Košice in eastern Slovakia proposal has become part of the Eu-ropean DEMO GBE Factory circuit, due to its efficient use of communal waste and distribution of energy obtained from incineration. A major be-nefit represents increased energy recovery of waste. Besides heat incine-rator the company will produce so-called green (renewable)energy. Energy recovery from waste is part of the non-hazardous waste management hierarchy. Converting non-recyclable waste materials into electricity and heat generates a renewable energy source, reduces car-bon emissions by offsetting the need for energy from fossil sources, and reduces methane generation from landfills.The purpose of the project is to build a new steam generator boiler K2, which will be located inside the existing building using the area of the rubble treatment building, located by the boiled building. Existing fire grate will be retained and connected to the new boiler K2.Along with the boiler, a compatible flue gas filtering device will be instal-led in line with parameters which ensure the discharge of air pollutants, in accordance with current legislation (a separate project proposal will be prepared for the flue gas cleaning system). The above-mentioned so-


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lution will be applied in Kosit urban wastes incineration plant, in order to

obtain a safe and economical way of energy recovery

from civil and industrial wastes.

The main purpose of the investment is to use the residual steam in or-

der to generate electric energy and produce additional steam, operating

two lines simultaneously through the use of residual biomasses and civil

sludges, i.e. renewable sources. This energy production will contribute to

maintaining the existing prices for the disposal of municipal waste. The

investment will bring security and stability operations as well as lower

maintenance costs for the facilities and thus contribute to a thriving city

property.

The project is located in the cadastral area of Barca 827,380, deed 2626

parcel number 2705/1, owned by the investor. The municipal waste in-

cinerator, including related operations, is located at a distance of about

4 km from the southern edge of the urban area of the city, belonging

to the land register of the Kokšov- Bakša village. From the north-west,

the area of operation is adjacent to the municipal wastewater treatment

Figure 18 - Kosit after the realization


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plant Bakša, from the south-eastern side it is neighbouring with a broad gauge railway line. On the south side it boarders with farmed agricultural land. An integral part of the area of operation is a waste transfer station with capacity of 18 000 m3. There are no protected or environmentally sensitive areas in the place of interest.Košice is the second largest city in Slovakia. It is a metropolis of eastern Slovakia situated near the borders of Hungary (20 km), Ukraine (80 km) and Poland (90 km). The town disposes of production sphere, shopping network, services, schools, scientific and research base, sport, recreation and other technical infrastructure. The city itself has an area of 242,768 km2, 240 688 inhabitants and a residential density reaching 991 people/km2.

Why is it a dEMO GBE Factory project?

The integration of this kind of project will increase the total environmen-tal impact and financial results of the company. The production of elec-tricity for own purpose will result in a benefit concerning the decrea-se in the external purchase of power and decrease in operational costs. The additional energy production will contribute to maintaining existing prices for the disposal of municipal waste and the company’s compe-titiveness. The investment is large and amounts to 27 404 000,- EUR. However, the payback period of the investment is 8,7 years compared to its lifetime which is 30 years. As for the positive environmental be-nefits, emissions, expected after K2 line operation fed by sludges and biomasses, are supposed to be lower than in the present, with reference to greenhouse gas emissions. Techniques of denitrification, electrostatic separation and smoke filtering make it possible to greatly decrease the emission rates (of nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide, and mobile particles in particular), which are thereby much lower than the national standards. The additional emissionsper unit of energy produced are practically equal to zero, if considering they are for the first half recovery of energy nowadays wasted in the atmosphere, and for the remaining part connected to energy acquired


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from renewable sources.Another positive effect to be mentioned is that more attention is now being paid to monitoring the environment around the incineration sta-tion. The Regional Public Health Office in Košice admitted that the pollu-tion around the enterprise originates in the past rather than from the cur-rent operations. The company is, nevertheless, acting very responsibly in order to achieve the best possible environmental results. The emissions have decreased, company covers costs for regular monitoring of the en-vironment and employees. The employees are obliged to follow all the safety regulations in the company as well as the safety regulations given by the Slovak legislation. In order to deal with soil pollution, common flax has been sown around the establishment. The plant is well known for its ability to detoxicate soil of the pollution by heavy metals. Next, by its ac-tions, the company also contributes to the revitalization of the region by completing the infrastructure, which is undoubtedly a valuable strategic investment.


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7.4 THE dEMO pROjECT pROpOsALs dRAFTEd IN BULGARIA

7.4.1 THE dEMO pERpETUUM MOBILE BG jsCThe proposed investment project is in the town of Balchik. The project sponsor and owner is the Bulgarian company Perpetuum Mobile BG JSC. The main company’s activities are connected with investigation, con-struction, financing and operation of installations for utilization of wa-stes, production of electric and thermal energy by indirect use of the biomass, etc. The joint stock company’s shareholders of the Perpetuum Mobile BG JSC are more then 50% property of Albena JSC.The biogas plant and cogeneration facilities built up an area of 2 300m2, which in the investments plans will supply energy to the near breeding premises, are situated in the terrain of Momchil in an old industry aban-doned area with rehabilitation in progress, near to the town of Balchik, North-East Bulgaria. The Perpetuum Mobile BG JSC invests in construc-tion installation for production of electricity and thermal energy by indi-rect utilization of biomass. The electric power of the installation is 1000 kWel. The thermal power of CHP plant is 1000 kWth as well.The project comprises the mounting of completely new facilities on an existing concrete site. According to the project a module will be mounted that includes: one tank for destruction (fermentor) (diameter: 26.00m, height 8.00m); one secondary tank for destruction (secondary fermen-


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tor) (diameter: 26.00m, height 8.00m); one tank for storage of the wor-ked-off biomass/residual substances (diameter: 32.00m, height 8.00m); one solid gondola “MT Alligator” 96m³.The installation works with substrates (raw material) of plant origin – si-lage corn. The biogas-installations usually work in continuous mode of operation. They are comprised of fermentors, tanks for additional slow fermentation/post-fermentors and tanks for storage of the products from the fermentation process. Inside the post-fermentor the same conditions of the liquid-media are prevailing as in the fermentor. The worked-off biomass is specially prepared for use in the agriculture with parameters similar to liquid natural manure.The fermentors operate in mesophyle-gama fermentation under tempe-rature of about 40°C. After the residual mass has stayed in the fermentor for certain period of time and has relieved the gas, it is transferred into a gas-resistant tank (second fermentor) through a gas-resistant pipe sy-stem. From there, again through the pipe system, the mass passes to the end tank, where it stays until it is transported for the spreading on the agro-land.

Figure 19 - The biogas plant


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As a result of the fermentation of renewable sources (corn silage) high-energy gas is obtained. The gas produced is transferred to a combined electricity and heating plant in the form of fuel for production of energy by generators. Hot water is produced from the heat produced from the exhaust gases and water cooling, by heat-exchangers.The worked-off biomass that remains after the anaerobic treatment is used as an agro-fertilizer and in this way is returned to the biological cycle of the farms that have supplied the initial raw-material.The electric energy is transferred to the distribution grid and managed by the local energy provider - the company Energo Pro AD, which ope-rates in North-East Bulgaria. The heat produced is used as heat energy that participates in the production process of the biogas installation. The biogas installation is manufactured and is delivered by the German Com-pany MT Energie GmbH. The Italian company AB Energy has supplied the CHP energy facilities and equipment. The construction of all facilities will be implemented by Eko Stroy AD, Bulgaria.One of a kind in the country, this project represents our understanding of the concept „renewable energy”. The substrates we will use in the be-ginning are of plant origin – silage corn, but in the future we are planning

Figure 20 - The fermentor


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to use the food waste from our mother company Albena JSCo. Using it we will not plant our fertile land with energy crops. With the technology we are using there is no waste from the process. At the end of the line we have high quality organic fertilizer which can be used directly on the fields.The facility for combined electricity and thermal energy generation will be constructed near the biogas plant which will use organic waste, pro-viding:• Electricity for local consumers and grid;• Thermal energy for a factory for processing fruits and vegetables;• Thermal energy for a greenhouse;• Heating and cooling of an administrative building.The total generated electricity by the CHP Plant is 5100 MWhel/yr. The annual expected electricity sales revenues are in the amount of 651897 EUR.58% or 4852 MWhth of generated thermal energy will be used for techno-logical needs of the factory for processing fruits and vegetables and gre-enhouse per annum. The premises of the administrative building will con-sume about 650 MWhth (8%) of thermal energy for heating during the heating season. 24% or 2050 MWhth will be used for the cooling of anFigure 20: The fermentoradministrative building. The biogas plant and CHP facilities will use 10% of the produced total thermal energy for its own needs.The processing plant for fruit and vegetables owned by Eko Plod AD and for the greenhouse will be consumers of the generated thermal ener-gy. The project sponsor has a preliminary agreement for selling thermal energy to customers. The processing of the plant biomass is not only an ecological approach but it is economically profitable and valuable mar-ket process regarding the environment protection and with high energy value as well.The implementation of the present GBE Factory project will improve the life quality and thermal comfort of the occupants at the administrative building.


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The implementation of the present GBE Factory project will improve the quality of the life and thermal comfort of the occupants of the admi-nistrative buildings of the surrounding industry area. As a result of the implementation of this energy efficiency project, the competitiveness of the manufactured products at the fruit processing and vegetables’s gre-enhouse factories will be expected. As a result of the energy carrier’s costs decrease, an increase in the productivity and sales of final pro-duction in these two factories is also expected. As a result of the DEMO GBE Factory project implementation the expected annual savings of the conventional fuels used in the factory for processing fruit and vegeta-ble’s greenhouse and administrative building are 2,500 MWh. The cost savings achieved after the project completion in will be of the amount of 250,000 EUR .In view of the sufficient remoteness from villages and towns and from places included in the national environmental network, the additional ac-tivity – utilization of the energy from biomass is a prerequisite for the realization of the investment offer in accordance with the state policy for waste management and energy policy.Other circumstances determining the expedience of the project are the following: Valuable and fertile agro-lands are not affected; There is no impact on protected territories and breaking of the network of protected zones; Enough proximity to main road and to the permanent routes of the existing infrastructure; Remoteness from other project sites requiring zone for health protection.The GBE Factory project cash flow analysis indicates that the project’s financial indicators are sufficient to serve debt (pay loan interest and re-pay loan principal) within the loan terms negotiated with the bank.The project cash flow analysis indicates that the project has very impres-sive financial indicators: the project payback period is 8.0 years plus 1 year grace period, IRR is 12.0% and NPV amounts to EUR 4,800,000.


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7.5 THE dEMO pROjECT pROpOsALs dRAFTEd IN GERMANY

7.5.1 THE dEMO dEMO j. sCHMALZ GMBHJ. Schmalz GmbH is headquartered in Glatten, Germany and was founded in 1910 by Johannes Schmalz. Today the third entrepreneur generation is managing the company: the founder`s grandsons Dr. Kurt Schmalz and Wolfgang Schmalz. Schmalz is one of the worldwide leading providers of automation, handling and clamping systems, providing customers in numerous industries with innovative, efficient solutions based on vacuum technology. Schmalz products are used in a wide variety of production processes – for example, as grippers on robot arms in the production of car bodies, in CNC machining centers as clamping solutions for fur-niture pieces, or used by an operator to lift items ranging from boxes to solar modules. Schmalz customers can either choose from a diverse line of components or they can benefit from a complete solution that is custom-tailored to their requirements. Schmalz is dedicated to its cu-stomers, providing groundbreaking innovation, exceptional quality and comprehensive consultancy. The company is headquartered in Glatten (Black Forest region of Germany) and is active in 15 additional countries with their own subsidiaries. Schmalz employs a total of around 750 per-sons worldwide.


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The Schmalz company has been collecting experience in the sustaina-ble use of natural resources for three generations. The use of renewable energy was a permanent part of the company philosophy right from the early years. Schmalz increased its investments in sustainable energy ge-neration proportionally to its energy requirements. Today Schmalz is a Positive Energy Company, generating more energy from renewable re-sources than it consumes. This commitment has already been awarded multiple times.The company produces more electricity and heat from regenerative, re-newable energy sources than is consumed by all operations. In addition to the buildings realized to date, Schmalz is currently planning the con-struction of two further buildings which are to run on 100% self-genera-ted, renewable energy. The objective of the present project proposal is to provide specifi c and overall RES confi gurations forFigure 21: An high view of Schmalz companynew buildings along with the existing in order to let them become a com-plex of DEMO GBEFACTORIES.

Figure 21 - An high view of Schmalz company


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In this way Schmalz becomes a GBE FACTORY DEMO since it provides:• the generation of both electricity and heat through renewable sources• the exploitation of diversified sources to produce renewable energy• the use, within the company, of the renewably produced energy•the production of more renewable energy compared to how much the company needsThe supply of electricity and heat to the Schmalz company comes directly from their own energy sources whenever technically possible and econo-mically reasonable. As the supply of electricity from renewable energies rarely corresponds to the electricity demand, a part of the self-generated electricity is fed into the public network. For this purpose, Schmalz has been cooperating with the electric company Elektrizitätswerke Schönau, a multiple-award winning supplier of pure CO2-free green energy. Sch-malz has the features to be a GBE Factory DEMO because:· Schmalz creates ecological compensatory measures whenever tech-nically possible and economically reasonable – despite strong business growth which makes the construction of new buildings inevitable;· Schmalz does not only focus on the production of regenerative energies but saves on resources wherever possible;· Schmalz serves as an exemplary role model and enables the public to inform itself on the measures;· Schmalz allows to exploit the large surfaces of buildings to produce electricity or hot water from the sun;· Schmalz produces more renewable energy compared to how much the company needs, in order to run the entire production platform.


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8. ENTERpRIsEs FOR GREEN TOURIsM dEvELOpMENT: THE FINAL CONFERENCE OF THE GBE FACTORY pROjECT

On May 9th, the Bulgarian city of Albena hosted the international forum

“Enterprises for Green Tourism Development”. The event was organi-

sed within the framework of the EU Project “Green-Blue Energy Facto-

ry”, which promotes investments in industrial and commercial buildings

equipped with renewable energy sources for their internal energy con-

sumption.

Aim of the conference was to highlight on the role of touristic entrepre-

neurship for the future perspectives of a more eco-friendly development

model, which builds on energy effi ciency but also on a wider use of re-

newables.

By now, the sector of tourism suff ers from quite strong negative eff ect

in terms of the environmental impact. It should be, therefore, of primary

interest for all people from this fi eld to develop and work on new eco-

Figure 22 - The GBE Factory fi nal conference


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friendly market strategies.Organized by the Italian–Slovak Chamber of Commerce, the Albena Fo-rum saw the participation of delegates from Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Romania and Slovakia. The event was an occasion for promoting successful experiences in the fi eld of “green tourism”. Moreover, it served as a useful tool for sharing and discussing information about the pro-blems and perspectives of eco-friendly touristic entrepreneurship within the framework of the current EU legislation.The EU policy on renewables was in fact the focus of the opening speech, held by Mr. Jan Geiss, EUFORES Secretary General (European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources). The speech clarifi ed the main guidelines of the EU green energy policy, andmade an overview on the fi nancial tools available as an incentive for the use of green energy in touri-sm.According to Mr. Geiss, a lot is still to be done in order to raise awareness on the im-portance of energy policy choices in Europe. At pre-sent, Europe is a net impor-ter of energy, depending for the 80% of its consumption on imports from Russia. In monetary terms, this means approximately 500 billion Eu-ros spent every year to secu-re our energy supplies, while this amount of money could be more effi ciently invested into a long-term European energy strategy.Actually, Albena is becoming leader in eco-friendly touristic entrepreneurship. Among the

Figure 23 - Another moment of GBE Factoryfi nal conference


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most interesting moments of the meeting was the presentation of the Bulgarian company Perpetuum Mobile BG JSCo and the launche of their project Perpetuum Mobile, which supplies the local electric grid by using biogas sources. The heat produced permits the self sufficiency of the administrative buildings, while the residual mass is used as a fertilizer. The project will be completed with a new installation in two next years, to be used in heating production. And as a plan for the near future, the same company also plans to provide hotels in Albena with solar panels, in order to achieve the self suficiency of the buildings.To sum, the meeting proofed to be very fruitful and lots of interesting projects were presented.It is easy to understand why the GBE Factory project ended with an in-ternational conference targeting the Tourist sector: one of the most rele-vant assets of Europe with respect to the rest of the world.The tourist areas in coast zones are examples of high energy consuming activities, especially in summer periods. The GBE Factory approach can substantially contribute to transform these activities making them beco-me greener.Hotel, SPAs, Water pools, Urban Service Centres (bus stations, control centres, etc.), Leisure centres and parks , Ecological areas for waste ma-nagement, etc. can become GBE Factories contributing significantly to the energy sustainability of the area.The integration of waste management cycles with the production of re-newable Energy (electrical and thermal) for supplying the buildings and leisure activities of the Albena resort has been one of the project propo-sals developed thanks to the GBE FACTORYproject, and many more can flourish transforming that area and tou-rist complexes into sites with greatly reduced production of CO2 and pollution.In order for this to happen there must be a policy for sustainable de-velopment in such areas, as this Conference demonstrates, able to link important objectives, relevant for local governance, with measures which reinforce the projects and actions that support the achievement of such objectives.The measures will have to take in account the various sectors that have


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an influence on the sustainability of a beach areas, from local mobility, to the buildings dedicated to hosting tourists, to the cycle of waste, to fun centres, to beach and coast management, etc. The actions and projects will have to keep in account of the context in which they are located; in our case, the results are linked especially to the behaviour of the tou-rists and to the awareness of resort managers and local services. Shared approaches and high levels of socialization are paramount, as well as a policy which strongly promotes the green features of the area.Uniting different efforts linked to the same strategic view will hence be necessary for contributing to the development of the sustainable deve-lopment of seaside resorts, which can become privileged targets of in the near future.


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8.1. sELF CONsUMpTION OF ENERGY, sAvING MONEY: THE CAsE OF AqUACITY pROpRAd

One of the stakeholders who brought its direct experience to the inter-national conference in Albena were the representatives of AquaCity Pro-prad. Using geothermal water and the sun’s energy to heat and power the resort, AquaCity Proprad is virtually self-powered, saving around 27 tonnes of carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere each day. Heat energy is drawn off the geothermal water, found in vast subterranean

lakes beneath the foothills of the High Ta-tras Mountains, just a few kilometres from AquaCity. Once the heat energy is drawn off, using Europe’s largest heat exchan-gers, the water is re-cycled, re-heated, back up to 49 degrees C and the process

repeated. The heat energy is drawn off again and the water cooled and returned back to nature, so the natural process can begin all over again.AquaCity is located in the sunny north east of Slovakia. In the glass faca-de of the Blue Sapphire Pool Centre the sun’s energy is stored and con-verted by photo-cells, to provide additional green energy for the resort.By using natural energy sources, instead of burning coal or gas, AquaCity is saving millions of Euros in running costs each year. Cost savings that are returned to the customer through great value facilities, which would be prohibitively expensive for a similar sized resort burning coal or gas.

Figure 24 - A night view of Aqua City Poprad


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9. AFTER 3 YEARs OF GBE FACTORY: LEssONs LEARNT

The experience gained in various industrial sectors, exemplified by the GBE Factory project, has demonstrated that industrial enterprises which invest in renewable energy can be divided into five basic categories: a) those which have in their own mission renewable energies or more gene-rally the environment (such as those providing services, producing bio-fuels, manufacturing products for the generation of renewable energy, or are concerned with the preservation, and more generally, management of land, water, air and soil); b) companies that are particularly energy-in-tensive (paper, food, metal processing, etc.); c) companies that have by-products created by manufacturing processes or that deal with waste; d) companies that choose it for economic reason, as the investment in renewable energies is more profitable than others (governmental incen-tives have an important role on the choice between the different types of investment); e) companies that have nothing in common with the abo-ve mentioned categories, for which the goal of carbon-free production becomes a sort of co-branding that reinforces confidence in their core business (see ICT companies, food companies, wellness and cosmetics companies, etc.).The GBE project made it possible to understand how RES implementa-tions have been characterized and realized within these macro-catego-ries and how the usage of renewable energies within the company does not have to be episodic and/or temporary related to the presence or absence of feed in tariffs, but may constitute a way towards CARBON NEUTRALITY. The real CARBON NEUTRALITY, pursued by the GBE Fac-tory project, represents the ability of many companies to locally produ-ce the energy they need from renewable sources, without resorting to offsetting the emissions. Offsetting can be misleading and ineffectual, sometimes a symptom of green washing rather than a sign of effecti-ve environmental progress. This goal may often be impractical for the companies mentioned above in category b), since the conditions to pro-duce enough renewable energy to offset huge energy requirements are


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not always present. Nonetheless, there are cases in which the companies referred to in point b), which generally invest in renewable energies to lower and balance energy costs, can produce investments in renewable that can have a significant impact on the energy balance of the company.Another important lesson learned is linked to target groups and to the way to be effective in involving target companies. Partners started mainly addressing large companies, in their relevant sectors, where usually big figures in terms of electricity and heating/cooling are usually spinning. Yet, following the Roadmaps and moving in sectors mainly made of small and medium companies has proved to have harvested much more re-sults. Certainly the investments herein are lower (because of the size and needs of the business), but the theme “GBE Factory” is much more ap-preciated. Many small companies, cooperatives, and consortia engaged actively in the project.Finally, it is useful to recall that there is the big difference in the approach of stakeholders dealing with RES systems and plants and the importan-ce they attribute to RES over Europe. The reason is a combination of knowledge of enterprises in RES solutions, energy prices and national support via incentive programmes in the different member states. During the project implementation partners learned that different solutions and technologies can’t be easily transferred to other regions/states. The GBE Factory project in origin counted to stimulate transnational interconnec-tions between suppliers, promoters & potential clients from different sup-ply chains of different countries, instead, it given the differences in natio-nal markets, the transnational cooperation focused on green marketing strategies. The impossibility to create linkages between different country supply chains, reminds us the importance of the EU harmonization in the field of Directives and National Legislation in the EU member states, as well as a significant necessity of developing sound financing systems for investments in alternative resources, since there is a general expectation of using money from structural funds or other public aid without making any effort to develop well-functioning systems of private financing.


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gbe factory final report

Documents

project gbe factory

gbe factory concept

blueenergy factory

gbe factory approach

gbe factory brand

years of gbe factory

iee gbe factory project

production of renewable