Introducing EVOP: Winner of CIRCULOOS Open Call 2

At the heart of the EVOP pilot is a passionate consortium working to bridge agriculture, energy, and digital innovation. Led by the Chambers of Commerce of Badajoz and CAMACOES Italy, and joined by Cooperativas Agroalimentarias and bioenergy experts Mercado Biomasa, this multidisciplinary team is driving a vision for a greener, more resilient rural Europe.

Together, they’ve co-designed a circular bioenergy model that transforms olive pits—a local agri-food residue—into a renewable heating source for olive mills. By leveraging CIRCULOOS’ digital tools, EVOP brings circular economy to life through traceability, sustainability analysis, and replicability across regions. The result? A scalable solution that reduces emissions, cuts energy costs, and empowers rural SMEs to thrive in the green transition.

1. Can you briefly introduce your team? What’s your story and what drives you? 

We are a multidisciplinary team made up of chambers of commerce, cooperative associations, and bioenergy experts, united by a shared goal: to build practical, scalable solutions for the green transition in rural Europe.  The Chamber of Commerce of Badajoz and CAMACOES Italy lead the project coordination and dissemination. As part of the Spanish Chambers network, we’ve worked together on several EU-funded initiatives supporting SMEs, sustainability, and innovation. Our experience in stakeholder engagement, communication, and internationalisation helps turn technical solutions into real impact.  We are joined by Cooperativas Agroalimentarias, who represent local producers and bring deep knowledge of regional challenges, and Mercado Biomasa, specialists in biomass energy and process optimisation.  What drives us is the opportunity to connect sectors—agriculture, energy, and technology—to create circular value chains that are both environmentally responsible and economically viable. We believe in turning local problems into shared innovation, and EVOP reflects that spirit: a project co-designed with and for end users, with long-term scalability in mind.   

2. In simple words, what is your project about and how is it linked with CIRCULOOS? 

Our project is about turning olive pits – a common waste from olive oil production – into clean energy.  We use these pits as biomass fuel to heat the olive mill, instead of using expensive and polluting fossil fuels. This helps reduce energy costs, avoid CO₂ emissions, and give value to a local residue that is often thrown away.  The project is linked to CIRCULOOS because we are applying its digital tools to design, test and improve this circular energy model. We use CIRCULOOS platforms to trace the material, simulate the energy performance, calculate environmental impact, and make the process easy to replicate in other rural areas or industries.  In short, we show how a digital and circular solution can support green transition in agro-industrial process.   

3. How did you come up with this project idea/concept and what innovative benefits will it bring to the end users? 

The project idea emerged from a joint dialogue between the Chamber of Commerce of Badajoz and the Official Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Italy (CAMACOES), who regularly collaborate as part of the wider Spanish Chambers network. With a shared interest in promoting circular economy and energy transition in rural regions, both institutions began by identifying local challenges and stakeholders in the agri-food sector.   The turning point came during a meeting involving all potential partners. Cooperativas Agroalimentarias shared the increasing energy costs faced by their members—mainly olive oil producers—while Mercado Biomasa suggested valorising a common agricultural residue in the region: olive pits. This opened the door to designing a circular bioenergy model using an abundant, local and underused resource.  From there, the consortium co-created the EVOP pilot as a concrete and scalable solution aligned with the CIRCULOOS vision. The project is innovative because it:  Transforms a waste stream into energy, reducing fossil fuel use and CO₂ emissions.  Applies digital tools (RAMP, GRETA, SCO, SCDT) to make the circular process traceable, replicable, and efficient.  Combines technical and business support for rural SMEs, creating new value chains.  Promotes energy autonomy in olive oil mills, reducing costs and market dependency.   For end users—cooperatives, SMEs and rural communities—EVOP means lower energy bills, new business opportunities, and a practical path to sustainability, all supported by real data and ready-to-use digital tools.  

4. What type of synergies do you want to explore/are already exploring with other circular economy partners?  

 Through EVOP, we aim to explore synergies that strengthen the circular use of agro-industrial residues—especially in rural contexts—by connecting digital innovation with local biomass valorisation.  We are already working with partners that represent different parts of the circular value chain: cooperatives (biomass producers), technical experts (process designers), and business intermediaries (chambers of commerce). These actors together ensure that circularity is not just a technical concept, but an actionable model with real regional benefits.  We are particularly interested in synergies that allow us to: Replicate our circular model in other agro-industrial contexts (e.g. wineries, almond producers, fruit processors) by adapting tools like GRETA, RAMP, SCO and SCDT to different value chains.  Connect with other EXD pilots facing similar energy or residue management challenges, to exchange data, benchmarks, and lessons learned.  Collaborate with digital solution providers to enrich the CIRCULOOS ecosystem with new modules or data models tailored to rural bioeconomy applications.  Foster interregional cooperation, especially through chamber networks, to help SMEs and cooperatives in other regions adopt circular practices using tested and traceable methods.  Engage policy stakeholders to promote support schemes for circular energy models based on local resources and digital traceability.  We believe that meaningful synergies come from combining real-world needs with technological tools, and we’re eager to collaborate with other partners committed to building resilient, data-driven, and sustainable local economies.  

5. What are your plans for the future when it comes to the development of your ideas & projects? 

Our immediate goal is to complete the EVOP pilot and gather solid technical and environmental data that confirms the feasibility of using olive pits as a renewable energy source in olive oil mills.  Once the pilot concludes, we plan to:  Share results with local and regional stakeholders, especially cooperatives and SMEs in the agri-food sector who may benefit from adopting similar solutions.  Evaluate the potential for replication in nearby mills or regions with similar biomass availability.  Continue collaborating with the project partners to explore small-scale improvements or follow-up initiatives based on the pilot’s outcomes.  Contribute our experience to the CIRCULOOS ecosystem, so that other experiments or users can build on our results and learn from our implementation process.  While we do not foresee a large-scale deployment in the short term, we are open to exploring future opportunities where this model can be adapted to other contexts or integrated into regional sustainability strategies.