Research database

The vision of REGENERATE is to contribute to the spread of positive energy districts by investigating the feasibility of existing urban tunnels to host renewable energy production and storage systems, and analyzing how they can be integrated in future municipal heating networks, also in terms of acceptance and affordability. This technology would allow to make use of local energy sources and buffer differences between supply/demand at a local level, ensuring energy security and grid stability. In European urban areas numerous underground spaces exist: road/railway tunnels, metro tunnels and stations, sewage tunnels, utility tunnels and abandoned underground air-raid shelters from the second World War. These spaces could benefit from a smart and sustainable approach and be retrofitted for energy purposes having positive impacts on socio-economic activities. Cooperation between Austria, Germany, Italy and Romania enables different European climates, urban environments, building stock, energy needs and tunnel types to be investigated. The possibility to transform existing underground spaces into geothermal heat exchangers and energy storage systems will be assessed by pilot site monitoring in the four countries and its potential quantified via numerical modelling. Such solution will be optimized to different user needs and socio-economical contexts in a European perspective.