Envipark, one of the four LILs of project HYPERGRYD, was the location chosen for the 6th General Assembly of the project.
Envipark is the Technology Park of Turin and was built in the late 90s – early 00s as part of a large urban regeneration project that recovered the former industrial area in this part of the city (Spina 3). The brownfield was redeveloped adopting advanced sustainable building solutions for the time, creating a group of buildings covered by green roof, immersed in a green space, and, in a second phase of the development, a building in insulated wood blocks with an innovative system for natural air and water preheating. This building currently hosts the offices of HYPERGRYD partner ENVI and a conference centre. ENVI owns and manages the 30000square meters of Park facilities, as a landlord and facility manager to 70 companies and around 600 people. Typically, tenancy agreements for the companies occupying office and lab space within the Park include also the provision of services including utilities, since ENVI owns also the electric, heating and water grid within the site. Since 2022, heating is provided through a connection to the urban District Heating of Turin. The connection, through two heat exchangers, was established to substitute a biomass boiler, who had become obsolete because of local regulations on air quality.
During the first two days, the partners shared the good progress of each WP within the project, which is now in its M32.
Progress on the HYPERGRYD platform by EDP and the integration of the thermal network in ENCOORD SAInt tool was also the main topic of the training workshop held on May the 8th. A demonstration of the two tools was provided to show their capabilities, thus supporting also the dissemination of HYPERGRYD results and fostering exploitation opportunities. Some 10 external stakeholders took part, representing a wide range of potential adopters and stakeholders: energy utilities, district heating companies, site owners already transitioning to on-site renewable energy, policy makers, providers of digital twin tools for energy management.
The workshop was followed by a visit to the Park, where the participants could see the original PV installation currently used for demonstrations (e.g. grid balancing services offered through EV recharging facilities) and the mini-urban hydroelectric turbine, which produces about a half of the Park’s electricity needs. One of the green roofs was opened to the visitors, who were then taken to visit ENVI Hydrogen laboratory, which hosts bench-size experimental technology for H2 production and use, and a H2 fuel cell generator of 25kW power.
ENVI is planning further expansion of its renewable energy production, which will support the experimentation of the integration of the local DH ring towards 4th and in the long term, 5th generation. This will be greatly supported by the HYPERGRYD platform.
Writter by Environment Park
