One of the seven Belgium sub-pilots is located in Ghent, in a district named De Nieuwe Dokken, that consists of a kindergarten, sport infrastructure, a city administration building and over 400 apartments, complemented with a park.

The goals of the pilot include the delivery of sustainable services to pilot inhabitants, such as sustainable heat, local waste management and electric mobility. To this end, investments were made in a number of assets: pv-generation, battery storage, a district heating network and equipment for valorization of industrial waste heat, a heat pump for heat recovery from waste water, a local water and resource recovery plant and public and private electric vehicle charging stations.

Functioning as cooperative, pilot leader DuCoop started, last June, an energy working group that gathered people living in the pilot location and interested in discussing energy. The group plans to get together four times per year, to discuss energy at the district level and other district-related topics. Four such meetings already occurred – two in 2022 and two in 2023, with the next meeting scheduled for June 10th, along with the general assembly of the cooperative.

These meetings have proven to be a great way to pick up the preferred use of Interconnect smart white good appliances – electrical goods used domestically such as refrigerators and washing machines. “We intend to take this feedback into account when integrating the devices at the end-users’ houses”, stated Chaim de Mulder, from DuCoop. This direct form of feedback helps to provide a very relevant real-life test case for the SAREF-enabled interoperable use of smart white good appliances.