Newsletter Issue No 2March 2014

The projectGreen-Twinning is an Intelligent Energy Europe project which aims at strengthening the technical and financial capacity of local authorities in the fields of sustainable energy policies and implementation. The Green-Twinning project supports municipalities from Greece, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovenia and Romania to fulfill their commitments in the framework of the Covenant of Mayors initiative through various tools such as training courses, a helpdesk and the conclusion of twinning agreements between “learning” municipalities with little experience in sustainable energy planning and implementation and “experienced” local authorities from Spain.

Partnership

• Regional Union of Municipalities of Attica (Coordinator) - EL

• EXERGIA Energy and Environment Consultants S.A. - EL

• Sofia Energy Centre - BG• Association of Rhodope Municipalities -

BG• Polish Network “Energie Cités” - PL• Municipality of Giurgiu - RO• Building and Civil Engineering Institute - SI• Energy Agency of La Ribera - SP• Municipality of Vrhnika - SI• Harghita County Council - Energy

Management Agency - RO

Final workshop

countries. The conference presented the main activities and results of the two-year cooperation among 10 partners, regarding the development and implementation of Sustainable Energy Action Plans. Experiences and lessons learnt were presented by mayors and representatives of municipalities.A roundtable discussion on the challenges and perspectives of the EU sustainable policies at local and regional level took place during the last part of the conference and was completed with a debate with the public. The participants were representatives of the European Parliament, Committee of the Regions, Covenant of Mayors Office, Greek Permanent Representation to the EU, Directorate – General for Energy of the European Commission (DG Ener) and mayors of Smolyan and Giurgiu municipalities.

The main conclusion of the conference was the need to develop stronger cooperation and communication between EU and local authorities in order to improve the implementation of sustainable energy policies and to design compliance strategies and enforcement programs.It is clear that energy efficiency is the key element of European Union sustainability strategy. Projects like Green Twinning, underline the major importance of the European Union energy reduction planning.

The Final Confe-rence “Green Twinning: Municipalities together for smart and sustainable energy solutions” was organized on 20 March 2014 in the Committee of the Regions in Brussels.The conference was well attended, with 75 participants from EU

Newsletter Issue No 2March 2014

newable sources", which included the supply and installation of 22 sets of street lighting with LED light source powered by batteries charged from photovoltaic panels with a capacity of 360 -380 W. The total cost of this investment was 46 000€.In 2014, the municipality plans to implement new 25 lighting points powered from renewable sources. Planned expenditure amounts to 50 000 €.In addition, on the roofs of three buildings of rural community centers in Gola, Obora and Zimna Woda, built in 2010 - 2013, solar collectors which support central heating and domestic hot water production were installed Recuperators were used in the ventilation system. Lubin is a Green Twinning partner of Dzierżoniów.

National training event in BulgariaSEC and ARM organized a national training event on SEAP development and implementation which was held in Bulgarian. The event was based on the training material of the two international training events. The training took place in Asenovgrad, on

Green Twinning Helpdesk http://

helpdesk.green-twinning.eu/home

Benchmark of excellence Benchmarks of excellence

programme of installation of thermal solar plants for hot water production called “Solar Kościerzyna - building solar installations as an opportunity for permanent improvement of air quality by using renewable energy sources”. Thermal solar collectors will be installed at 125 residential buildings and within a year will produce about 575 GJ of clean energy. The average annual savings on energy bills of all residential buildings participating in the project will reach 6 800€ . They will also contribute to a reduction of CO2 emissions amounting to 77.5 Mg/year. The municipality of Kościerzyna, in the framework of the Green Twinning project, also seized the opportunity to exchange experience on solar projects and best practices with the municipality of Padul – Spanish twinning partner.

Municipality of Ilion signed a twinning agreement with the municipality of Armilla (Granada, Spain) in order to exchange experience and best practices related to RES & RUE issues. Armilla, gives Ilion technical support in implementing sustainable energy actions in the framework of the CoM initiative and more specifically in:• (a) Street lighting including a study which records

the existing street lighting levels in the municipa-

Ilion municipality participating in a twinning agreement PEDA - (EL)

Solar installation for improvement of air quality in Kościerzyna (PL)

The municipality of Kościerzyna is implementing a

Event

Solar energy used in the rural municipality of Lubin (PNEC) – (PL)In the years 2012-2013 the municipality of Lubin completed the project "Construction of lighting points supplied from re -

the 21st November 2013 and was attended by 11 representatives of 6 municipalities.

• Green Roofs in public buildings.

lity, (b) the use of a centralized GIS system for the design and management of street lighting and (c) installation and upgrading to Led lights for the reduction of electricity consumption.

Newsletter Issue No 2March 2014

Benchmark of Excellence

www.green-twinning.eu

Green Twinning Achievements

emissions by at least 20% by 2020 while 18 municipalities developed their SEAPs.

Covenant of Mayors signatories:

Greece: Paiania

Bulgaria: Smolyan, Laki, Banite, Chepelare, Nedelino

Poland: Pałecznica, Śrem, Lubin, Częstochowa,

Dąbrowa Górnicza, Przykona, Lisków, Łękawica,

Porąbka, Słupsk, Toruń, Przemyśl

Slovenia: Vrhnika, Idrija, Kranj, Tolmin

Romania: Miercurea Ciuc, Borsec

Thermal retrofitting of the railway station of Piaseczno (PL)

The modernization of the building of the Voluntary Fire Brigade in Chojnów, in Piaseczno municipality, which was completed in January 2014 and connected with other modernization works, resulted in a reduction of energy consumption coming to approx. 21.36 MWh/year (14%) and a CO2 emission reduction of 4.3 Mg/year. Another building selected for the thermal retrofitting was a railway station in Piaseczno which was constructed in the 30-ties of the XX century. The thermal retrofitting is being undertaken in conjunction with other renovation works and the revitalization of the area around the building. Originally it was heated with heating oil and electricity. After the thermal retrofitting the building will be connected to the municipal district heating network. The expected financial savings will reach annually over 30.000 €.The municipality of Piaseczno is a Green Twinning partner of Guadix (SP).

In the framework of the Green Twinning project, 23 local authorities joined the Covenant of Mayors, committing to reduce their CO2

SEAPs submitted to the Covenant of Mayors:

Greece: Ilion, Agioi Anargyroi-Kamatero , Ilioupoli,

Nea Smyrni, Nea Ionia, Agios Dimitrios

Poland: Koscierzyna, Piaseczno

Slovenia: Idrija

Romania: Sfantu Gheorghe, Giurgiu Paiania (EL), Śrem (PL), Kranj (SL), Vrhnika (SL), Kočevje (SL), Tolmin (SL) and Zagorje ob Savi (SL) municipalities participated in Green Twinning activities and were supported by the project consultants in order to develop their SEAPs. The above mentioned local authorities will submit their action plans to the CoM during the next period.

Newsletter Issue No 2March 2014

Benchmark of excellence

RES & RUE issues. The kick-off meetings occurred from July until November 2013 in Spain. The Mayors of all the municipalities formally signed the Memorandum of Agreement.Twinning agreements bring municipalities together in order to develop administrative capacity related to CoM initiative and even to facilitate the adoption of successful RES & RUE actions implemented previously by the other partner.

Green Twinning Helpdesk http://

helpdesk.green-twinning.eu/home

Twinnings among local authorities from Spain and other EU countries (Province of Granada)The Province of Granada has involved 9 of its municipalities in GREEN TWINNING Project, and thus, those municipalities and other EU municipalities

Event

On the 10th of January 2014, PEDA organized the 3rd national workshop “Energy saving in street lighting” with the participation of 30 representatives of PoL municipalities and stakeholders. The workshop focused on the experience of Ilioupoli and Ilion PoL municipalities in street lighting in connection with the twinnings with the Spanish municipalities. The main issues relating to street lighting discussed were: New technologies, Monitoring and control systems, ESCO’s, Sustainable procurements and

3rd national workshop in Greece

submitted SEAP, on the 4th of April 2014 Giurgiu Municipality organized an event in R’ART Giurgiu shop for electric household appliances, under the logo: “Working with the citizens and the stakeholders”. This awareness raising event was aiming at informing customers on energy consumption and the annual cost of electric appliances and helping them in choosing electric appliances in a sustainable way. This action was a synergy between Green Twinning, YAECI, Buy Smart+ and EUROTOPTEN MAX projects.

Event

The municipality of l'Alcúdia (Valencia, Spain) and the municipality of Giurgiu (Romania) have signed a Twinning Agreement in order to exchange expertise and best practices related to RES & RUE issues.The kick-off meeting was conducted on 25-26th April 2013 in Spain. Mayors of both municipalities formally signed the Memorandum of Agreement up.Up to the present time, the main activities have been aimed at sharing know-how on the refurbishment of public street lighting and on sustainable mobility.

Twinning Agreement - L’Alcúdia Municipality (SP)

Benchmark of excellence

contract, main problems that Greek municipalities face during the implementation of street light projects.

Sustainable promotion of electric household appliances, Giurgiu Municipality - RomaniaFollowing the activities described in the recently

Newsletter Issue No 2March 2014

Ilioupoli municipality (Attica, Greece) signed a twinning agreement with the municipality of Maracena (Granada, Spain) in order to exchange experience and best practices on sustainable energy issues.Ilioupoli, with the support of Macarena, is implementing public awareness activities. Such activities are a travelling school exhibition, a “bike day” campaign, press release, printed material, internet communication channels and seminars for municipal employees, teachers and citizens. The objective of the activities is to instil Energy Efficiency as a basic value among the citizens, civil servants and children and motivate them into changing their energy behavior. The energy saving potential is estimated at 20.026.738 kWh and the CO2 abatement at 10.917 t CO2.

Benchmark of excellenceIlioupoli: implementation of public awareness activities with the support of a Spanish municipality (PEDA) - (EL)

Voluntary Twinnings• Albal (Spain) - Agios Dimitrios (Greece)

• Alginet (Spain) - Rudozem (Bulgaria)

• Borsec (Romania) - Sfantu Gheorghe (Romania)

• Castelló de la Plana (Spain) - Nea Smyrni (Greece)

• Lanjarón (Spain) - Paiania (Greece)

• Lubin (Poland) - Dzierżoniów (Poland)

• Nea-Smyrni (Greece) - Agioi Anargyroi-Kamatero (Greece)

• Pałecznica (Poland) - Niepołomice (Poland)

Twinnings after Green Twinning

And from now on?? What will happen with the informal twinning partnerships once IEE funding is over? This is a very interesting question!

To find out about this, AER prepared and circulated a questionnaire among Green Twinning project participants. The twinning effectiveness evaluation survey was a good opportunity to gather the opinion of municipalities’ representatives (politicians and civil servants) and project Consultants about the twinning activities/partnerships in order to evaluate process (identifying barriers tackled, challenges overtaken and impacts achieved), the level of satisfaction found during the whole process and their interest in going on with the twinning activities.

As a result of the information obtained, 100% of informal twinning municipalities and their respective Consultants are interested in going on with their twinning process.

Furthermore, survey participants considered that some of the ways to create a sustainable twinning partnership are the followings:

• Ensuring a two-way twinning process. Both counterparts must benefit

• Identifying and deploying sources of funding to cover twinning activities

• Expanding twinning partnership to other municipal activities (culture, traditions, etc.)

• Collaborating in transnational projects (EU funding)

• Promoting partnership and cooperation of other municipal sectors (industry, educational sector, etc.)

Definitely, the sustainability of twinning partnerships created during Green Twinning project is guaranteed.

The sole responsibility for the content of this newsletter lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

Green Twinning Helpdesk http://

helpdesk.green-twinning.eu/home