Several pilots with different building environments and climate zones were selected to test the RE-COGNITION framework components. The chosen pilots will sufficiently fulfil the validation purposes of the developed technologies and comply with the end-user needs. The pilots were selected to cover all criteria (varying meteorological conditions, electricity prices, feed-in tariffs for RES, regulations on RES integration, building shell characteristics and installed RETs and ‘smartness’, types of users),

The six demonstration sites of the project are composed of buildings and assets:

• Corby Innovation Hub is located in Corby, Northampton shire (United Kingdom). It includes four blocks of buildings equipped with a single gas network connection and associated meter, three HVAC and air handling systems, two existing solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays, each with 21x185W.
• The swimming Pool Complex, located in Cluj-Napoca (Romania), belongs to the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. It includes one building equipped with BEMS (Building Energy Management System), chiller, water pumps, ventilation system, etc. The building has individual thermal units controlled by thermostats, with the outdoor temperature as a parameter. It also has Air Conditioning centralized unit.
• City of Lizzanello, located in Lizzanello, Lecce (Italy). It includes the City Hall and the Elementary School “Edmondo de Amicis”. The buildings have a PV system, a solar thermal panel and BEMS installed.
• Hellenic Petroleum (HELPE) corporate headquarters, located in Maroussi, Attica (Greece), consists of one building with five levels of offices and a two-storey underground parking garage. It is equipped with an HVAC unit, a central heat pump, BEMS and electric vehicle (EV) chargers.
• Energy Center is a building owned and managed by Politecnico di Torino (POLITO – Italy), which hosts firms, academic staff and public administration. The facility is equipped with heating and cooling plants, fluid distribution systems (pumps), two Air Handling Units (AHU), the Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) group, an emergency diesel generator, BEMS, PVs, Geothermal polyvalent heat pump, and LED lightening.
• ITI Smart Home is a building belonging to CERTH, located in Thessaloniki (Greece). It is the first Smart Near-Zero Energy Building in Greece. It combines enhanced construction materials and intelligent ICT solutions. Also, there is a BEMS installed.