INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES GOING DIGITAL - Best practices from EU-funded projects
A recent webinar shows once more how important industry is if we are to meet our long-term climate and energy objectives. In the recovery plans for the soon-to-be post-Covid-19 era, the transition towards digitisation in industries becomes one of the main key priorities of the European Commission. In the era of the fourth industrial revolution, digital solutions are having an impact in addressing our climate and energy needs. Projects funded by the EU are now showing results that will definitely support the clean energy recovery plans and help Europe’s industry become more competitive. Innovative energy audit performance methods applied in the EU-funded RETROFEED project were showcased in the webinar. RINA Consulting, one of the consortium partners, is in charge of providing digital solutions to enable innovation in industries by valorising and enhancing traditional services and competences. RINA has adopted innovative energy audit performance methods, by making use of the Kiber augmented reality solution, which provides a comprehensive set of tools and measurements necessary for conducting remote energy audits. This innovation was crucial for the performance of activities in the energy-intensive industries involved in the project, that could not otherwise be carried out due to the pandemic situation. The solution was presented in the webinar “Digital solutions for industry” virtually held by the company on 22nd February 2021. The event was organised and moderated by Iris Xhani and Stefano Barberis, project managers at RINA, while Giorgio Bonvicini, RINA senior engineer, presented the RETROFEED augmented reality solution. “RETROFEED was a perfect example to show during our webinar to highlight how digital solutions are fundamental to create a new simplicity for the complexity of tomorrow, or even of today, considering the difficulties arising from the Covid-19 pandemic. Digital solutions make every industrial step efficient even in situations where they could hardly be completed, such as the case of the Energy Audits planned within the project.” Iris Xhani (Project manager, RINA) The webinar also had presentations on several other related EU-funded projects: SHIP2FAIR, SoWhat and ECOFACT. Thomas Bolognesi (LINKS Foundation) gave an introduction to SHIP2FAIR, fostering the integration of solar heat in industrial processes of the agro-food industry; the initiative is implementing a replication tool able to evaluate the techno-economic potential of the solution, starting from local solar potential and current process heat demand. Additionally, Francesco Peccianti (RINA) introduced the SoWhat project, in which RINA contributes to the development and demonstration of a market-ready integrated software which will support industries and energy utilities in simulating and comparing alternative waste heat and waste cold technologies, simulating how to balance the local forecasted H&C demand and supply, and including RES integration. Finally, under the newly funded ECOFACT project, Francesco Morentin (CARTIF) showcased a data-driven multi-service approach enabling the creation of an eco-innovative energy management platform based on improved dynamic LCA and LCCA. For more information Dr Ana Isabel Gonzalez Espinosa (CIRCE – Project Coordinator) aigonzalez@fcirce.es Dr Diego Redondo Taberner (CIRCE – Project Manager) dredondo@fcirce.es Ms Iris Xhani (RINA Consulting – Project Manager) iris.xhani@rina.org Ms Marianna Santavenere (EEIP – Communication and Dissemination) marianna.santavenere@ee-ip.org Project website www.retrofeed.eu Disclaimer This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 869939. The responsibility for the information and the views set out in this press release lies entirely with the authors. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.