CERTH is a legal, non-profit entity, organized under private law, under the auspices of the General Secretariat for Research and Technology of the Greek Ministry of Development. The Chemical Process and Energy Resources Institute (CPERI) was established in 2012 by the merger of two existing and long-standing institutes of CERTH: the Institute for Solid Fuels Technology and Applications (ISFTA) and the Chemical Process Engineering Research Institute. Through its parent institutes, CPERI researchers have a long track record of successful participation in EU and nationally funded projects. Key areas of expertise include RTD activities in renewable energy sources, solid and liquid biofuels production and utilization, energy saving and environmental protection. CPERI employs a scientific staff of about 200 people, while its inflows is around to EUR 10 million €/year.
Since 1999, CPERI researchers have been involved in more than 15 projects related to the energy exploitation of solid biofuels, ranging from research and demonstration in large-scale utilities boilers (DEBCO-TREN/FP7EN/218968) and small-scale domestic heating boilers (BioMaxEff – FP7EN/268217), exploitation of residues and wastes (RESOLIVE – FP7-SME-2007-2/218453, ENERGY-WASTE – LIFE09 ENV/GR/000307, ISWM TINOS-LIFE10/ENV/GR/00610, COOP 2020-LIFE13 ENV/ES/001513), development of new process concepts (EuroBioRef – EC DG Research/FP7/241718) and to the formation and cooperation of bioenergy cluster in European Regions (BIOCLUS-FP7-REGIONS-245438), as well as dissemination of knowledge to stakeholders (BISYPLAN-INTERREG IVC Project 0874R2). CERTH has strong ties with Greek and European stakeholders in the field of bioenergy, such as electric utilities, universities and research organizations, bioenergy associations and regional and state authorities.
In CERTH’s experience LIFE is the appropriate funding scheme for pilot activities, as they can be combined with dissemination activities to local communities.