Programme 3 - European and International Cooperation;
Subprogramme 3.6 - SUPPORT Awarding participation in Horizon 2020

A holistic framework for Empowering SME's capacity to increase their energy efficiency

Implementation period

11.01.2021 – 31.07.2022

Financier

UEFISCDI

Implementation team

More details here.

Coordinator

Prof. Dr. Ing. Dan D. Micu

Short description of the awarded project:

Title: A holistic framework for Empowering SME’s capacity to increase their energy efficiency (SMEmPower Efficiency)

Website: www.smempower.com

Objectives:

The main idea of the project is to “Empower” the capacity of SMEs to undertake actions leading to reduced energy consumption based on relevant energy audits. Taking into account the above raised points, the actions in SMEmPower can be perceived in 3 dimensions: The individual dimension, the organizational dimension and the institutional dimension.

  • The first dimension (i.e. the individual dimension) concerns staff trainings of SMEs, mainly those that deal with energy issues (e.g. energy managers, engineers, etc) and opens also to managerial staff that can take decisions. A novel Education & Training (E&T) programme will be designed with a common curriculum, to be delivered in 8 countries.

  • The next dimension, i.e. the organizational one, targets mainly the decision makers in SMEs. We plan to target them alongside the individual dimension, when the practical action takes place in the pilot case studies. The trained individuals (hereafter energy experts), along with their trainers, will participate in targeted short sessions and meetings with the decision makers of the SMEs and the rest of staff.

  • The next dimension, i.e. the organizational one, targets mainly the decision makers in SMEs. We plan to target them alongside the individual dimension, when the practical action takes place in the pilot case studies. The trained individuals (hereafter energy experts), along with their trainers, will participate in targeted short sessions and meetings with the decision makers of the SMEs and the rest of staff.

Description of the activities financed by the project PPH2020_42/2021:

  • In perspective, in order to increase the impact of the publications and the visibility of the university, a number of high-impact journals in the red/yellow area will be targeted (Energy Policy, Energy and Buildings, Journal of Cleaner Production, Applied Energy, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, Energy for Sustainable Development, etc.). Staff costs of the project will be allocated to research scholarships for a period of 12 months. This action aims to retain young researchers, increase the research potential of the staff and the possibility of involvement in international partnerships.
  • The project also aims to contribute to the strengthening of the national RDI system. In addition to research grants, research internships for researchers/young researchers and research internships for PhD students will be organized. The major impact of this action is to increase the qualification and expertise of the involved person in the two types of internships and, on the other hand, to improve the interactions with prestigious researchers from universities or research institutes. In addition to strengthening UTCN’s RDI capacity, this type of actions also leads to increased sustainability of UTCN’s participation in European funded projects through permanent connections with the European research environment.
  • In order to increase the quality of projects with Romanian participants in Horizon 2020, respectively with a view to submitting projects on the new funding axes: Horizon Europe, Green Deal, etc., we consider it appropriate to participate in workshops/training programmes on the writing and management processes in projects with international funding. The TUCN team also intends to develop project proposals as a coordinator, involving collaborators from other departments of the university in order to provide a multidisciplinary approach within the research directions targeted by the EU. These actions aim to develop human resources involved in project writing as well as the quality of the developed projects.

Results achieved in the first year of implementation:

  • 1 research internship
  • 2 articole published the conferinta internationala
    1. M. Mureşan; D. Şteţ; Ş. Cîrstea & L. Czumbil, “Integrated approach in designing photovoltaic power plant”, 9thInternational Conference on Modern Power Systems (MPS), 16-17 June 2021, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, DOI: 10.1109/MPS52805.2021.9492703 (IEEEXplore)  
    2. M. Mureşan; P. Mureșan; D. D. Micu & all “Optimization of electricity power losses using Smart Metering systems in Romania”, 9th International Conference on Modern Power Systems (MPS), 16-17 June 2021, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, DOI: 10.1109/MPS52805.2021.9492712 (IEEEXplore) 
  • 1 research grant