Welcome to the Open Thor Living Lab, a large-scale living lab where sustainable and innovative energy solutions come to life.

Nearly 80% of Europeans aren’t actively involved in the energy transition, often because they do not know how. While digital tools can facilitate active participation and support the shift to a greener future, consumers still lack user-friendly solutions. Leading energy industry and research collaborators from across Europe, including EnergyVille/VITO have launched the EU-DREAM project to accelerate innovation in digital tools and enhance the adoption of digital services in the energy market.

Expansion of Digital Services in Open Thor Living Lab.

To test new software solutions and services, solutions are needed for access to context-rich datasets and a secure interface between experimental software and the safety and comfort in the test environment.

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SmarThor is a performant central cloud data platform built on MS Azure that collects and stores relevant data related to the Open Thor Living Lab environment. It is developed & maintained by VITO & KU Leuven. 

The goal of SmarThor is to support research and innovation by making the data of the Open Thor Living Lab available in a secured way (API's, dashboards) for different kinds of stakeholders: Researchers, Policy Makers, Facility Managers, Industry.

EDIH-EBE, European Digital Innovation Hub Energy in the Build Environment, is the digital and physical access point or ‘one-stop-hub’ for start-ups, SMEs and public sector organizations that are working on energy applications in the built environment. The EDIH-EBE has been set up to eliminate digital disparities of enterprises. It is a one-stop hub providing several services to improve the digital knowledge, skills and experiences of enterprises in the EU and Flanders. This will give them a competitive edge.

oPEN Lab is a large-scale European project. Under the coordination of VITO and EnergyVille, 33 partners from 7 countries are working together to revitalise urban areas across Europe to lead the transition to Positive Energy Neighbourhoods. In addition to Pamplona (Spain) and Tartu (Estonia), Genk was chosen as a unique test site within the project. In a co-creation process, the local residents, together with researchers, industrial partners and government institutions, are looking for the most suitable innovative concepts to achieve a positive energy neighbourhood in Genk, thus forming a unique testing ground within the Open Thor Living Lab.

Heat and cold are important energy carriers in the transition towards a fully renewable energy supply. After all, a large part of the primary energy we use today is used to heat and cool buildings. CollecThor, the 5th generation district heating network within the Open Thor Living Lab, aims to explore the maximum potential of thermal networks. The existing buildings on the site (Thor Central, IncubaThor, EnergyVille 1 and 2) and the buildings yet to be built (8 lots in total) will be connected to this network.

Test, validate and demonstrate smart building and energy solutions in real life 

Open Thor Build is a unique test infrastructure at Thor Park in Genk.

With ConstrucThor, two identical test houses, a robotics lab and outdoor construction lab. Open Thor Build is the perfect testing ground for the construction and energy sector. Companies and researchers can turn their ideas into tangible innovations here.

The ConnectSME project supported SMEs in testing their sustainable energy technologies. In this Interreg Flanders-Netherlands project, five Dutch small or medium-sized companies (SMEs) received vouchers to assess the feasibility of implementing their technology in the Open Thor Living Lab. Three of these companies also received a second voucher, enabling them to effectively demonstrate the technology in the Open Thor Living Lab.

Integrating thin-film PV in road surfaces and road infrastructure. That is the aim of the Interreg Rolling Solar project. Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands are internally connected by a total of 1 million kilometers of roads. This represents a huge area of built environment that can be used for renewable energy generation. This potential is being investigated in the Open Thor Living Lab in Genk as the Belgian partners within this project are working on a 13-metre-long test set-up of noise barriers with integrated solar cells.

The ROLECS project is a FLUX50 VLAIO-funded research project to transform the energy landscape following the position of the European Commission: more sustainable and active participation of the end consumer. The concept aimed at is developing Local Energy Communities (LEC).

Electric vehicles or other e-mobility solutions such as e-car sharing, e-buses, e-cargo bikes, etc. will become a significant part of our everyday lives. Providing sufficient collective parking and charging infrastructure in our cities for a wide variety of e-mobility services, powered by renewable energy sources, will be a huge challenge. In the HUME project, a smart concept is developed for e-mobility hubs for urban environments. The algorithms required for smart charging within such nodes are extensively tested within the Open Thor Living Lab.