Forthcoming

Full-scale Demonstration Of Heat Upgrade Solutions In Industrial Processes

HORIZON Innovation Actions

Basic Information

Identifier
HORIZON-CL5-2026-09-D4-08
Programme
BATTERIES and ENERGY
Programme Period
2021 - 2027
Status
Forthcoming (31094501)
Opening Date
May 5, 2026
Deadline
September 15, 2026
Deadline Model
single-stage
Budget
€15,750,000
Min Grant Amount
€5,250,000
Max Grant Amount
€5,250,000
Expected Number of Grants
3
Keywords
HORIZON-CL5-2026-09-D4-08HORIZON-CL5-2026-09

Description

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

  • Based on the results of the project, at least one industrial sector with a significant heating demand in the EU and Associated Countries develops pathways and business models to measurably increase the recovery and upgrade of locally available heat for covering process needs and significantly or totally phasing out of fossil fuel use, while preserving or enhancing its global competitiveness.
  • Measurable improvement of renewable and/or industrial excess/waste heat recovery and upgrade solutions, possibly combined with thermal and/or electrical energy storage, in terms of energy efficiency, flexibility of electrical demand, climate and environment protection, reliability and safety, physical and cyber security, and profitability.
Scope:

This topic aims to satisfy the need for process heat in the more industrial sectors by upgrading excess/waste heat from the process itself, possibly combined with heat recovered in nearby locations or local renewable heat, as a cost-efficient way to improve energy efficiency and reduce the GHG emissions and air pollutants and the use of fossil fuels. Thermal and/or electrical energy storage can be integrated, if it can contribute to better matching heat sources with process needs and/or to offer more flexible electricity consumption from the grid.

The temperature of the heat supplied to the process is not specified, but the proposals will be evaluated on their potential to enable the deployment of heat upgrade solutions in more sector(s) and process(es), where they are not yet state-of-the art.

Projects must address all the following items:

  • Optimise and demonstrate physically within one or more operational industrial site(s), the transformation of process(es) in at least one industrial sector, by recovering excess/waste heat from the process itself, possibly combined with local renewable heat or heat recovered in nearby locations and local thermal and/or electrical energy storage, and by upgrading the heat (e.g. with heat pump) for use in the process(es).
  • Maximise the replicability and deployment of the concept/solution in the EU and Associated Countries’ plants in the same industrial sector. Already before starting the design phase, the needs of most EU and Associated Countries’ factories in the same industrial sector(s) should be surveyed and analysed in order to design a solution that can be adapted to meet most of them.
  • Identify common components, optimise and define a standardised version of them.
  • Develop open technical and economical guidelines and open tools for system design and business case development.
  • In case the targeted industrial sector(s) and process(es) has/have been covered by the actions under the topic LIFE-2024-CET-HEATPUMPS[1], this proposal should build on the results of these actions and if possible, cooperate with them, both for the definition of the solution to demonstrate and the dissemination channels.
  • Disseminate results notably (but not only) to the relevant communities in cluster 4 ‘Digital, Industry and Space’ private-public partnerships and to JRC Sevilla and INCITE for work on BREFs in the context of the IED2.0.

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/life-2024-cet-heatpumps

Destination & Scope

This Destination targets the energy demand side, notably a more efficient use of energy in buildings and industry. It contributes to the activities of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) and its implementation working groups.

This Destination contributes directly to the Strategic Plan’s Key Strategic OrientationsGreen transition’, ‘Digital transition’ and ‘A more resilient, competitive, inclusive and democratic Europe’.

In line with the Strategic Plan, the overall expected impact of this Destination is to contribute to the ‘Using energy in buildings and industry in an efficient, affordable and sustainable way’.

The main impacts to be generated by topics under this Destination are:

Highly energy-efficient and climate neutral European building stock

  1. The energy performance of the European building stock is improved at an accelerated pace, contributing to the EU's energy security, while the buildings and the built environment have reduced climate and environmental impact throughout their life cycle.
  2. The energy renovation and construction of buildings are cost-efficient, affordable and less disruptive.
  3. The buildings are increasingly interacting with the users, energy system and their environment while operating in an integrated, resilient, secure, smart and flexible manner.
  4. The buildings and the built environment are more climate resilient, accessible, inclusive and delivers multiple benefits which improve the quality of life, health and well-being for all users.

Industry

  1. The energy efficiency of EU energy intensive industries is improved, their consumption of fossil fuel and their GHG and other pollutants emissions are drastically reduced, notably through cost-effective electrification, use of renewable energy, heat recovery, thereby preserving / enhancing their global competitiveness.

Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate in both Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs) and Innovation Actions (IAs) falling under this destination. For additional information please see “Restrictions on the participation of legal entities established in China” found in General Annex B of the General Annexes.

Eligibility & Conditions

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).

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]

Frequently Asked Questions About Full-scale Demonstration Of Heat Upgrade Solutions In Industrial Processes

BATTERIES and ENERGY (2021 - 2027).
Per-award amount: €5,250,000. Total programme budget: €15,750,000. Expected awards: 3.
Deadline: September 15, 2026. Deadline model: single-stage.
Eligible organisation types (inferred): SMEs, Research organisations.
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.
Legal entities established in China are not eligible to participate in both Research and Innovation Actions (RIAs) and Innovation Actions (IAs) falling under this destination.
You can contact the organisers at [email protected].

Support & Resources

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Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe.

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