– by AUA and CETRI
The 6th Consortium Meeting of the RES4LIVE project took place from the 27th to the 28th of April 2023 in Aarhus, Denmark. The meeting was hosted by Aarhus University (AU, Denmark) at its premises. The meeting was hybrid, allowing those who could not physically join to attend virtually. During the event, fruitful collaboration and communication across project tasks took place through interaction between the attendees.
Dr. Li Rong (AU) opened and moderated the meeting, which over 30 participants across 17 RES4LIVE partners attended. Project Manager Dimitrios Tyris (AUA, Greece) presented the current stage of RES4LIVE and gave the floor to Work Package (WP) leaders to present the project’s status, share preliminary results, and highlight the major achievements of each WP.
The progress of adapting innovative Renewable Energy Sources (RES) technologies in livestock farms’ needs (WP1) was examined and discussed. The retrofitted tractor, which has been completed by CRMT (France), was also presented by CRMT at the Salon de l’Ecomobilité, Saint-Etienne from the 25th to 27th of May 2023. The tractor will be fueled by the innovative biogas-to-biomethane upgrading unit developed at the LVAT farm in Germany within the RES4LIVE project. Additionally, PSYCTOTHERM presented the progress on the installation of the flexible heat pump; at the time, the heat pumps have been successfully installed at the AUA (Greece) and GOLLINELLI (Italy) pilot farms, whereas, at the ILVO premises (Belgium), the unit is ready, with alternative operating scenarios to be further discussed. Finally, the PVT system has been completed at the GOLINELLI pilot farm. At ILVO and LVAT farms, the designs and the plans for the installation have been finalized and the installations are to be completed during the next months.
WP2 included a short update and a demonstration of the developed tool concerning the influence of RES applied to Varkenscampus by ILVO and UGent, the research of which will be published. Concerning WP3, the on-farm energy demands and the available renewable energy potential have been identified, and the comparison between the actual/measured energy with the corresponding estimated energy remains ongoing. Furthermore, the effect of the animal’s thermal comfort on farm productivity has been completed as well as the smart control system with the corresponding platform for microclimate, remote monitoring, and actuation by PLEGMA. Work is ongoing to complete testing of all the equipment after installation and incorporate feedback to improve the applied functions and the user interface. Finally, CERTH-CPERI presented the progress on the numerical platform for energy management and operations optimization, including all the applied designs with their corresponding results. The next actions involve validating the developed numerical platform and then applying it to RES4LIVE’s specific case studies. WP4 identified the progress on the implementation and the testing of RES solutions in pilot farms. At AUA’s poultry house, the PVs and the smart control system have been installed as well as the heat pump and the ventilation system. The ventilation system requires additional optimization to reduce the amount of dust it creates. Concerning the GOLINELLI farm in Italy, the RES interventions were thoroughly discussed and the progress on the geothermal storage, the modular heat pump, the PVT system installation, the energy retrofitting of the building envelope, and the smart monitoring system were presented in detail. Concerning the ILVO farm in Belgium, a smart energy and ventilation control system was installed while the installation timeline of the PVT system was organized. Finally, concerning the LVAT farm in Germany, the welfare barn tube cooling system has been installed and the installation of the biogas and CNG stations has been completed. The authorization of the biogas station by the German regulatory authorities remains ongoing, along with the installation of the PVT system.
During the afternoon of the first day of the meeting, RES4LIVE attendees visited the Foulum research center and they had the opportunity to see and discuss the on-field technological RES interventions applied at Foulum’s premises.
On the second day, AUA presented the status of the environmental, financial, and social assessment of WP5 which has progressed quickly since the last consortium meeting, while EAAP presented for WP6 the project’s clustering activities and policy recommendations. The meeting continued with the WP7 and WP8 presentations, where discussions focused mainly on the exploitation of RES4LIVE technological RES solutions and the overview of the work from the managerial – technical, and financial – perspectives, including the forthcoming 2nd Review Meeting. The meeting was closed by the coordinator of the project, Prof. Dimitrios Manolakos and every partner was thanked for the efficient collaboration and the work already completed following the initial planning.
