Thermal energy optimisation and waste heat recovery of high energy demand IT rooms in buildings or small edge data centres – Förderung EU-weit

Expected Outcome: Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes: • Improved open access to performance data, sharing of best-practices and useful knowledge and information for owners and operators of IT infrastructure, as well as the IT and building sectors; • New designs of IT rooms in buildings or small edge data centres valorise waste heat through thermal management techniques, processes and tools. Scope: The growing energy needs of the ICT sector must be met while aligning with climate neutrality and sustainability goals. Small IT rooms or small data centres are an essential part of the twin green and digital transition. It is important to address the energy and resources consumption over the full ICT value chain. Solutions already exist, such as re-using waste heat from data centres, or moving towards circular models (longer lifetimes, reparability, reuse and recyclability). Most recent analysis suggests that the energy consumption of consumer devices in 2020 accounted for roughly 50% of the overall energy consumption of ICT technologies, with the two next largest contributors being respectively the production of ICT devices (~20%) and the operation of data centres (~15%)[1]. Moreover, this is expected to change dramatically by 2030, as the overall energy consumption of ICT technologies is expected to increase by 50% over this decade. The Commission has set the strategic goal of ensuring that data centres are climate-neutral, energy- and resource efficient by 2030. However, most efforts are directed towards data centres in scope of the Energy Efficiency Directive recast. Proposals should address all of the following: • Demonstrate state-of-the-art holistic and cost-effective approaches to thermal management and excess heat recovery (optionally including heat storage and/or upgrade of heat) and re-use in local or nearby site creating effective added value in existing IT rooms in buildings or small edge data centres (in the range of 100-500kW, not covered by Energy Efficiency Directive recast), taking into account thermal envelope/building (by means of simulation or digital twins, among others), integration with building automation and control systems and potential to improve the self-assessment and self-optimisation functionalities at all levels, and integration into existing BMS allowing for further development of energy services. Demonstrators should be located in both cold and warm climate Member State or Associated Country to tackle climate specific challenges of thermal management of waste heat. • Develop business cases for state-of-the-art solutions for excess heat recovery & re-use (optionally including heat storage and/or upgrade), for example by re-using excess heat in an existing system in the building (such as heating or water production purposes), or in a local district heating and cooling network, or in any other local or nearby site creating effective added value to the recovered heat. Projects funded under this topic are encouraged to build synergies and leverage their outcomes with funded projects from Cluster 4 HORIZON-CL4-2027-04-DATA-09: Energy efficiency and sustainability of AI data processing in Data Centres (IA) demonstration pilots. Technology Readiness Level - Technology readiness level expected from completed projects Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-7 by the end of the project – see General Annex B. Activities may start at any TRL. [1] eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52022SC0341 ">General conditions 1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes. Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System. 2. Eligible Countries described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide. 3. Other Eligible Conditions If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used). In line with the “restriction on control in innovation actions in critical technology areas” delineated in General Annex B of the General Annexes, entities established in an eligible country but which are directly or indirectly controlled by China or by a legal entity established in China are not eligible to participate in the action. described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. 4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes. 5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual. 5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes. 6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants The granting authority may, up to 4 years after the end of the action, object to a transfer of ownership or to the exclusive licensing of results, as set out in the specific provision of Annex 5. Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025) [[This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf]]. described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme] Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA): Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System Standard application form (HE RIA, IA) Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)  Guidance HE Programme Guide  Model Grant Agreements (MGA) Lump Sum MGA  Call-specific instructions  Detailed budget table (HE LS)  Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?" Additional documents: HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 8. Climate, Energy and Mobility HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. General Annexes HE Programme Guide HE Framework Programme 2021/695 HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764 EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509 Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual  Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions  Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement