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Knowledge Center on Organic Rankine Cycle technology

KCORC

The Knowledge Center on Organic Rankine Cycle technology (KCORC) promotes the interdisciplinary knowledge exchange between academia, industry, governmental agencies and policy makers.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Initiative on EU taxonomy - environmental objective

3 May 2023

KCORC welcomes the EU Taxonomy and Sustainable Finance initiative but considers that, while the Production of heat/cool using waste heat is adequately considered in the first Delegated Act of Taxonomy (Annex I, point 4.25) as a route towards large primary energy savings and emissions reduction enabled by industrial heat pumps, the production of power using waste heat (Waste Heat to Power solution) is currently overlooked, in spite of waste-heat-to-power being instrumental to the increase of energy efficiency without additional carbon emissions, thereby reducing primary energy consumption, specific emissions, and contributing to the energy resilience of all European countries. Waste Heat to Power (WH2P) is the process of capturing unused thermal energy from an existing process and utilizing it to generate electricity. It is also a carbon-neutral solution, inasmuch as an ORC power plant generating electricity from waste heat does not cause ANY additional CO2 emissions. For this reason, the valorization of Waste Heat must be indeed considered as green and clean as that of other renewables.
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Response to Guidance on accelerating permitting processes for renewable energy projects and facilitating Power Purchase Agreements

19 Jan 2022

Implementation of small, standardized, <500 kWe Waste Heat to Power (WHtP) units is rapidly growing globally. Non-harmonized and modified national grid-codes however are becoming an increasing barrier to further growth in Europe. Small units rely on the use of low-cost induction generators. New grid-code limitations, imposed to mitigate issues with solar power generators, increases technical requirements also of small WHtP-generators and act to prohibit industrialization by standardization. Grid operators allow individual exemptions but for small WHtP-units, <500kWe, processing costs for negotiating exemptions are becoming prohibitive. As WHtP shows a techno-economic potential of adding 150TWh(e)/year of emission-free electricity to the European grid-nets within 10 years, it should be a priority to remove barriers which increase specific cost only due to structural shortcomings of the codes. (A significant part of those 150 TWh(e) will require small, standardized WHtP-units.)
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