MG SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING AB

Their core work

MG Sustainable Engineering AB is a Swedish engineering SME specialising in the design and integration of renewable energy systems — primarily heat pump technologies, PV-thermal systems, and smart energy management — applied to both buildings and agricultural facilities. They contribute technical engineering expertise to EU research consortia, working on system integration, control strategies, and pilot testing rather than fundamental science. In RES4BUILD, they focused on integrating magnetocaloric and conventional heat pumps into zero-energy buildings; in RES4LIVE, they applied similar energy engineering competence to livestock farms, adding biomethane production and biogas upgrading to their scope. Their practical orientation — evidenced by pilot testing and livestock thermal comfort work — suggests they bridge the gap between research prototypes and real-world installation.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

MG Sustainable Engineering entered H2020 with a clear focus on the built environment: integrated renewable energy systems for buildings, combining magnetocaloric heat pumps, borehole thermal storage, and PV-thermal collectors with advanced building energy management control. Their second project shifted the application domain entirely to agriculture — livestock farms rather than buildings — while retaining the same core heat pump and PVT competencies, and adding biomethane and biogas upgrading as a new technology layer. The trajectory suggests a deliberate expansion from building energy to agri-energy, possibly following funding opportunities, while their underlying engineering capability — integrating multiple energy flows and applying smart control — has remained consistent across both domains.

MG is moving toward agri-energy systems and on-farm renewable gas, making them an increasingly relevant partner for projects at the intersection of food production, energy autonomy, and decarbonisation of rural operations.

How they like to work

MG has participated exclusively as a consortium partner across both projects — never as coordinator — which is typical for a small engineering firm that contributes focused technical expertise rather than project management overhead. Both projects involved large consortia (32 unique partners across 11 countries), indicating MG is comfortable operating within complex multi-partner structures without driving them. There is no evidence of repeat partnerships with the same organisations, suggesting they are selected for specific technical roles rather than as a habitual consortium member of a fixed network.

MG has built connections with 32 distinct partners across 11 countries through just two projects — an unusually broad network for an SME of this size, reflecting the large consortium structure of both RIA and IA projects they joined. No geographic concentration is evident, though their Uppsala base places them within Sweden's strong sustainable energy research ecosystem.

What sets them apart

MG Sustainable Engineering occupies a rare position as a private engineering SME with hands-on competence in both building-sector and agricultural-sector energy integration — most firms specialise in one or the other. Their engagement with magnetocaloric cooling technology in RES4BUILD is particularly distinctive, as this remains a niche area with few commercial practitioners. For a consortium builder, MG offers applied engineering credibility without the overhead of a large institution, and a track record of working comfortably in large European research consortia.

Highlights from their portfolio

• RES4LIVE
  The largest of MG's two projects (EUR 487,112), RES4LIVE is notable for its unusual ambition — eliminating fossil fuels entirely from livestock farming by combining heat pumps, PVT collectors, biogas upgrading, and a biomethane-fuelled tractor in real pilot installations.
• RES4BUILD
  RES4BUILD stands out for MG's involvement with magnetocaloric heat pump technology — a pre-commercial cooling approach based on solid-state magnetic materials — making this one of the few EU projects where a private engineering SME contributed to this emerging field.