SINFONIA project – Seven cities to invest massively in large‐scale energy solutions for districts
SINFONIA stands for “Smart INitiative of cities Fully cOmmitted to iNvest In Advanced large‐
scale energy solutions”. The project has received over 27 million Euros of funding from the
European Union under the 7th Framework Programme for Research, Technological
Development and Demonstration under grant agreement no. 609019. It involves more than
25 partners from 8 European countries including ATLANTIS Consulting Cyprus ltd and Pafos
Municipality. It is coordinated by SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, and is set to
run until May 2019.
The SINFONIA project – a five‐year effort to deploy large‐scale, integrated and scalable
energy solutions in middle‐sized European cities – was launched on June 25th in the city of
Borås, Sweden. At the heart of the initiative is a unique cooperation between the cities of
Bolzano and Innsbruck, working hand in hand to achieve 40 to 50% primary energy savings
and increase the share of renewablesby 20% in two pioneer districts. This will be done
through an integrated set of measures combining the retrofitting of more than 100,000m²
of living surface, the optimisation of the electricity grid, and solutions for district heating
and cooling.
SINFONIA is part of the Smart Cities and Communities initiative of the European
Commission, and as such aims to foster the uptake of smart energy efficient solutions
Europe‐wide. A large part of the project is therefore dedicated to the transferability and
scalability of the solutions deployed in the two pioneer districts, which will be ensured by
the active participation of five early‐adopter cities in the project, namely La Rochelle (FR),
Rosenheim (DE), Pafos (CY), Seville (ES) and Borås (SE). Fifteen other European cities have
also expressed their interest in the expected project results, and have already formed a
‘Replication Cluster’ committed to learn and exchange ideas in parallel to the technical
work.
Showing what works well in a city and hoping that others will follow is not enough. To
bridge the gap between demonstration and replication, SINFONIA will define a limited set of
district typologies and corresponding refurbishment models. To ensure their scalability and
transferability, these models and typologies will be tested and validated with all
stakeholders involved – public and private, from citizen to energy regulators – as part of the
project.
For more information, please contact:
Charalambos Panayiotou: e‐mail c.panayiotou@atlantis‐consulting.eu , T: +357 22 660482
