Month: October 2024

Categories
Expert's voice Announcements Workshops Association Without Borders

5th Conference: Fostering a citizen-led energy transition in the Western Balkans

Energy Transition Platform (PET) hosted the conference “Strengthening citizen energy – an opportunity for a more efficient energy transition“ on Friday 25 October 2024, in the beautiful town of Niš, Serbia. This important event brought together more than 80 regional and European experts, community leaders, students and representatives of local governments to discuss the key role of citizens in accelerating energy democratization across the Western Balkans.

Empowering citizens for a sustainable energy future

The conference highlighted how community-driven energy projects empower citizens to take an active role in the local energy transition, contributing to a sustainable and democratic energy future. Introductory speeches and debates showcase real-world examples from the European Union and the Western Balkans, highlighting the potential of citizens' initiatives in fostering environmental progress and energy sovereignty.

Representatives of the Association Without Borders and LIFE DISCOVER projectDamir Medved) and the Northern Adriatic Energy Community participated in the conference, and the President of the ECSJ Damir Juričić He was also a panelist.

Dynamic panel discussion on regional cooperation: A panel of esteemed energy experts explored the path to democratised access to energy in EU countries and outside the EU, moderated by PET Operations Director, Ms Tanja Popovicki, and attended by Mr Dragomir Tzanev (Bulgaria), Damir Juričić (Croatia), Mr Aleksandar Macura (Serbia) and Ms Iva Đinđić Ćosić (Serbia), who shared their own experiences and vision on how we can move forward in more community energy initiatives in the region. They also showcased successful examples. the Energy Communities of the City of Burgas i Gabrova (Bulgaria) and Northern Adriatic Energy Communities based in Rijeka (Croatia).

Building interregional momentum

PET Conference emphasized the key role of cross-border cooperation and knowledge exchange between Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia and Serbia in advancing energy democratization, and panellists and participants emphasized the transformative potential of community-led energy in building resilient, sustainable local economies. With its impressive array of experts, interesting discussions and effective insights, the conference marks a crucial step forward in empowering citizens to lead the energy transition across the Western Balkans.

Views: 2

Categories
Lectures Project DISCOVER Workshops Association Without Borders

Study visit to Rijeka and Krk - PET South East European Energy Transition Platform

Energy transition of cities, advanced technologies and citizen energy communities

In the organisation the Association Without Borders, the City of Rijeka, the Rijeka Development Agency Porin i the University of Rijeka - Centre for Smart and Sustainable Cities, we will host a delegation from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina on a study trip to Krk and Rijeka. The aim is to exchange experiences on the energy transition of the region, but also to present realized / future projects from this domain.

The event and the visit were made possible by PET - Energy Transition Platform i the Heinrich - Böll Foundation, and about 25 participants are expected.

A rich program has been prepared that will be held on October 9, 2024 in the premises the Rijeka Development Agency Porin:

8:30-9:00 Registration of participants

9 a.m. – 10 a.m. "PORIN & City of Rijeka" Block

  • Welcome address of the representatives of the City of Rijeka (Nenad Antolović)
  • Presentation of PORIN and EU projects CEKOM (Emira Brkić Karinčić) - 20 min
  • Strategy Green Urban Renewal of the City of Rijeka (Ivana Grabovac) – 20 min
  • SINERGANA project (Iva Ribarić) – 20 min

10:00 - 10:40 UNIRI Block (Centre for Smart and Sustainable Cities + EDIH ADRIA)

  • EDIH and regional cooperation potentials (Damir Medved) – 20 min
    • What is EDIH and how do we work
    • Examples of how we have helped small municipalities and cities
  • New technologies that can help with the energy transition (Damir Medved) – 20 min
    • What is the BECKN protocol
    • Examples from practice

10.40 – 11.00 Refreshment break

11:00-12:00 Block "Without Borders & ECSJ"

  • LIFE DISCOVER project  – presentation of the project and results achieved so far (Davorka Medved) – 15 min
    • Energy transition in partner countries
    • Instructions for the operation of support centres for energy communities
    • Establishment of OSS on Drenova
  • Energy transition – energy communities, benefits of connectivity, new models of financing activities, opportunities and barriers (Damir Juričić) – 20 min
    • Social Energy Communities
    • the Civic Energy Community
    • ESG - Energy communities to support the achievement of objectives
  • Presentation of the ECSJ (Damir Juričić) – 10 min
  • Q&A – 15 min

12:00 – 12:30 PORIN and 3D platforms tour

We look forward to exchanging experiences and future cooperation!

DISCOVER BANNER

Views: 46

Categories
Announcements Association Without Borders Without Borders

Future of energy communities on islands

Uslet project

On Wednesday, October 2, in the town of Cres, Moise Palace, an international conference was held "The future of energy communities on islands“. The event was organised as part of the European project ISLET LIFE, which includes three pilot islands, Greece's Astypalea, Italy's Procida and Croatia's Cres, aims to design a model of renewable energy communities (provided for in the European Directive 2018/2001) that will be applicable on all small islands.

The conference brought together a wide range of experts in energy and energy policies, especially those dealing with citizen energy communities and encouraging the use of RES .

A round table was held and it was dedicated to the topic “Energy communities in Croatia: dream or reality?’, and they took part in it Kristina Celic the Ministry of Economy, Goran Čačić from the ZEZ and the Energy Communities Forum, Ugo Toić as a representative of the Cres energy cooperative Apsyrtides, Ivan Zoković from the island movement, Damir Medved the Association Without Borders the Northern Adriatic Energy Community, and Maja Bratko from the Society for Sustainable Development Design (DOOR). The round table was moderated by Franjo Toić from the town of Cres.

Damir Medved, as a representative and association Without Borders and the Northern Adriatic Energy Community he spoke about the experience and challenges that accompanied the whole process of establishing the ECSJ. This process is marked by numerous illogicalities, completely unnecessary financial and technical obstacles, and all this results in only 3 citizen energy communities currently operating in the Republic of Croatia and none of them is operational in the sense that their members can exchange energy.


The organisers of the whole event were the Town of Cres, the Island Development Agency (OTRA), the Island Movement and the Green Energy Cooperative (ZEZ).

Views: 23