SUPER-HEERO

SUPERmarket Human-based innovating financing schemes and Energy Efficiency Retrofitting and Optimisation

SUPER-HEERO is the acronym for SUPERmarket Human-based innovating financing schemes and Energy Efficiency Retrofitting and Optimisation. Funded under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme the project aims at boosting energy efficiency investment in small and medium supermarkets. Energy charges account for between 10% and 15% of the total operating costs of a small or medium supermarket, making energy efficiency a great source for cost reduction. However, it is difficult to aatract private finance that can accelerate the energy transition process in the retail sector. SUPER-HEERO aims at providing a replicable financial scheme for energy efficiency investment, based on stakeholder and community engagement. SUPER-HEERO is a 30-month project started on 1 June 2020, with a consortium of 9 partners led by R2M. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 894404.

SUPER-HEERO will provide an instrument for supermarkets to access the much-needed funding that allows implementation of energy efficiency strategy and unlocks potential of energy savings over 40%. The Consortium will develop an innovative collaborative and scalable financial scheme based on i) Citizen financing through crowd-funding/co-operative scheme building upon loyalty programs in supermarkets and gamification strategies ii) Strategic partnership with ESCOs and utilities to support financially the energy efficiency investments and iii) engagement of technology providers in performance-based schemes and implementation of innovative circular business models.

R2M is responsible for the project management and coordination of the SUPER-HEERO project. Moreover, R2M is involved in the activities related to sustainability certifications, the use of innovative technologies in EE projects, replication beyond supermarkets and connecting SUPER-HEERO to various events and networks (dissemination, communication and replication). R2M Energy is also involved in the project, carrying out activities related to Energy Performance Contracting and the technical-economic assessment of EE interventions.