Program 5.8 - European and International Cooperation;
Sub-program 5.8.1 - SUPPORT Awarding participation in Horizon 2020 - Institutions
Energy positive buildings based on integrated renewables
Implementation period
29.01.2024 – 15.07.2026
Financed by
UEFISCDI through program 5.8, subprogram 5.8.1.
Implementation team
More details here.
Project coordinator
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca
Project Director
Assoc. Prof.. dr. eng. Mihaela CREȚU
Short description of the awarded project:
Title: Energy positive buildings based on integrated renewables
Project number: 52PHE/2024.
Official website: https://renplushomes.eu/
Objectives:
The RENplusHOMES project has a number of 22 partners, and a total budget of approx. 6 million EURO for a period of 3.6 years. The project aims to develop a generally valid methodology on Energy Positive Houses (residential buildings with surplus energy from renewable sources) to facilitate the transition to a climate neutral future. In order to create holistic energy positive buildings, RENplusHOMES will develop and/or retrofit key technologies at the project’s pilot sites with high replicability and sustainability. Thus, UTCN has an ambitious and high-impact goal to develop and implement in the pilot site innovative hardware solutions such as: geothermal structure – implemented for the first time in an existing building and photovoltaic panels integrated into the building facade, made from recycled panels and also fulfilling the shading function; all in order to “have buildings” with a net positive impact on the environment and drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Project value:
- Co-financing: 0 RON;
- Budget 2024: 62.160 RON;
- Budget 2025: 73.190 RON;
- Budget 2026: 25.800 RON.
Events: No events were organized within this project.
Contact: assoc. prof. dr. eng. Mihaela CREȚU, Mihaela.Cretu@ethm.utcluj.ro, str. G. Baritiu nr 26-28, room 53, tel: 0264401462
PN-IV-P8-8.1-PRE-HE-ORG-2023-0143, 52PHE:
Retaining young researchers, increasing the research potential of the staff and the possibility to maintain and even further increase the involvement in international projects, currently we have 4 ongoing Horizon Europe projects on related topics: integration of renewable sources in buildings, smart grid interactive buildings, energy efficiency and energy transition.
Participation in research internships (at universities in the country or abroad), scientific conferences or workshops will allow team members as well as young researchers to gain the necessary experience in research work.
In order to increase the impact of the publications and the visibility of the university, the project will aim at publication in ISI or BDI journals and participation in relevant conferences.
Procurement of a high-performance sensor system to allow efficient data acquisition and monitoring of the geothermal structure and photovoltaic panels. This will be integrated into the building’s existing energy management system, thus allowing data to be visualized in real-time.
Results achieved in the first year of implementation:
- Participation in 2 international conferences and 2 published articles indexed ISI and BDI:
Roxana -Valentina Briscan, Ciprian Forț, Simona Vlad, Denisa Șteț, “Prototip pentru aplicații de telemedicină în cadrul caselor pozitiv energetice pentru îmbunătățirea accesibilității la îngrijirea medicală”, 9th International Conference on Advancements of Medicine and Health Care through Technology – MediTech 2024, 30 september – 2 octomber, Cluj-Napoca, România, IFMBE Proceedings Series – MediTech 2024.
Timea Farkas, Andrei Ceclan, Levente Czumbil, Dan D. Micu, “Viitor Sustenabil într-un Campus Universitar: O Analiză Cuprinzătoare a Emisiilor de CO2 și un Plan de Acțiune”, 7th International Conference on Smart Energy Systems and Technologies, SEST 2024, 10-12 September, Torino, Italy, https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10694227.
- Participation in 1 working visit to the Catalan Institute of Construction Technology, Barcelona, Spain, December 4-8, 2024
- 3 research grants
Results achieved in the second year of implementation:
- Participation in 2 international conferences and 2 published articles indexed ISI and BDI:
Mahmuda Rahman, Shahria Tanzil, Mihaela Crețu, Dan D. Micu, “Current Scopes and Challenges Associated with Renewable Energy Integration across Various Systems”, Proceedings of the Future Energy Solutions Conference, FES 2025, 24-26 September 2025, Cluj-Napoca, România.
Mihaela Crețu, Mircea N. Lăncrănjan, Dan D. Micu, “ Assessing Vehicle-to-Grid as a Flexible Energy Storage Solution for Buildings: Case Studies and Policy Outlook in Romania”, Proceedings of the IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies, ISGT 2025 Conference, 23-26 November, Dubai, UAE.
- Participation in 1 international conference: ISGT2025 at the University of Dubai, Dubai, UAE, November 23-26, 2025.
- 3 research grants: 2 for doctoral students and 1 for a postdoctoral student.
Results achieved in the third year of implementation:
- Expansion of the Digital Twin infrastructure with a synthetic data generation methodology (TC-TimeGAN) to supplement partial energy records for buildings.
- Awarding of 2 research fellowships for doctoral students.
- Participation in one working visit to Valahia University of Târgoviște, Târgoviște, Romania, June 10–12, 2026.
Representative images
Executive Summary of the Project
The project “Energy positive buildings based on integrated renewables” (52PHE, 2024–2026) supported, at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, the implementation and testing at the pilot building of the Mărăști Student Complex of the solutions developed as part of the Horizon Europe RENplusHOMES project.
In Phase I (2024), the existing building energy management system (BEMS) at the Horizon Europe RENplusHOMES pilot building was expanded. At the same time, the team strengthened its research capacity by awarding three scholarships (two postdoctoral fellowships and one master’s scholarship) and by reviewing the literature on energy-positive homes and energy communities. The results were disseminated through the publication of two papers at international conferences (the 7th International Conference on Smart Energy Systems and Technologies, SEST 2024, September 10–12, 2024, Turin, Italy, and the 9th International Conference on Advancements of Medicine and Health Care through Technology – MediTech 2024, September 30 –October 2, 2024, Cluj-Napoca, Romania). Additionally, a study visit was conducted to the Horizon Europe project partner, RENplusHOMES, the Catalan Institute of Construction Technology, Barcelona, Spain, in December 2024.
In Phase II (2025), the monitoring infrastructure was expanded through a modular IoT system (Shelly sensors, MQTT protocol, Node-RED) and an MQTT–PostgreSQL telemetry platform, and the pilot building was transformed into a digital twin connected to sensors in real time. Three research fellowships were awarded—two doctoral and one postdoctoral—and two papers were presented at international conferences – Future Energy Solutions Conference, FES 2025, September 24–26, 2025, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and the IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies, ISGT 2025 Conference, November 23–26, Dubai, UAE.
In Phase III (2026), the Digital Twin was expanded with a generative adversarial network framework (TC-TimeGAN), which reconstructs complete annual energy profiles for buildings with partial meter readings—a common practical limitation when commissioning monitoring systems. In addition, a documentation/research internship was conducted at Valahia University in Târgoviște, a partner in the Horizon Europe project RENplusHOMES.
Throughout the three phases, the team of 14 researchers published four scientific papers at indexed international conferences and conducted three research and international collaboration trips (Barcelona, Dubai, Târgoviște), strengthening partnerships with the RENplusHOMES project partners.
The project’s main outcome is a modular Digital Twin platform—integrating renewable physical technologies, IoT monitoring, and advanced data augmentation methodologies—that can be replicated at the other RENplusHOMES pilot sites in Spain, Estonia, and Austria.
Results dissemination
