Last August 31st, with the conclusion of the last tasks, the Smart2B project officially came to an end. After three intense years, we are happy to consider the project a success: the work of the partners involved was effective in developing a solution capable of responding, in an innovative way, to some of the needs that arise from energy transition, a now stable dynamic within the development agenda of the European Commission.

The creation, within Smart2B, of a smart building system composed of four technological pillars (devices, a platform, a series of services and the user application), has in fact made possible to position citizens, building users and owners and energy communities at the center of the energy transition: in this vision, existing buildings become active and intelligent elements of the energy system.

The project, which started on 1 September 2021, was funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 framework and involved 11 partners from 8 different European countries. Over the past three years, the various partners have worked together on the basis of nine work packages, which included detailed programs for the development of specific technical – as well as commercial and organizational – aspects of the system proposed by Smart2B. An experience that certainly brought together the different know-how and working methodologies of the team and which allowed the consortium to advance knowledge on the potential of buildings intended as ‘smart’ entities.

Under the precise coordination of EDP, the project partners thus worked towards a common objective: the six General Assemblies organized in these three years – with the exception of some initial limitations due to the Covid epidemic – allowed work to be concentrated on the critical aspects but, above all, to strengthen the team spirit, making it easier to achieve the objectives. Like the technical results, this had a positive impact on the success of the project.

Specifically, the technical results are the result of the work of the team which, within the four technological pillars listed previously, developed more than 25 innovative components, installed, integrated and made operational on five different pilot sites: one in Denmark, two in Portugal, one in Sweden and one in Spain. These involved different operational contexts, aimed at putting into practice and testing the different characteristics of the Smart2B system.

The pilot sites made possible to inform and engage more than 380 users and therefore enable them to improve the buildings’ energy/smartness performance. Just to bring some numbers, the Average Thermal Comfort improved by 4% and 825MWh of energy was saved, resulting in a 19% reduction in energy costs and 278KW of untapped local flexibility. Important numbers, which make the project partners proud of the work done. This work has also resulted in 10 scientific publications which, according to plans, should increase after the end of the project.

It is worth mentioning other important results from the point of view of exploitation and communication & dissemination: the Smart2B system has been in fact commercially validated thanks to the involvement of numerous stakeholders active on the various levels of the value chain.

Smart2B, as mentioned, technically ended on October 31st; in reality, however, the partners are still active: on October 11th, in fact, the results will be presented as part of the “Building EU’s Energy Transition” conference, an event that aims to involve various European players who, each in their own field , are working to achieve the ambitious European objectives for the energy transition. The conference will be an opportunity to dig deeper into the work carried out by the Smart2B consortium but, above all, to better understand the context in which this work was conceived. Furthermore, on October 15th, Smart2B will face the last review meeting in front of the European Commission officer and a panel of energy sector experts: a further way of giving visibility and recognizing the work carried out in these three incredible years.