Energy Transition in Europe | www.energy-cities.eu

Camden citizens’ proposals focus on housing, transport and green space
Britain’s first climate assembly has agreed on 17 proposals for action to tackle the climate crisis, including installing solar panels on all available roofs and cutting fossil fuels out of local government developments.

Eight civil society organisations last week submitted proposals for a revamp of Serbia’s renewables support scheme to the Ministry of Energy and Mining.

Although a certain degree of consensus seems to pervade the ideas of “distributed energy systems” and “energy communities”, in truth, diverse views are involved. This article aims to shed light on the variety of interpretations of these two concepts. In particular, the article critically considers the answers to the following four questions: What exactly is meant by “distributed” in the expression “distributed energy generation”? Why is distributed generation (ethically) desirable? Why should people consider it a positive idea that “communities”—and not individuals or families—are invited to manage distributed generation systems? Lastly, can energy communities be considered different from standard state intervention and from market systems? Clearly defining these questions helps in emphasising crucial differences, and it is an important step toward achieving a critical understanding. The conclusion is that there is no single interpretation for either the idea of distributed energy or that of energy communities. Shifting emphasis from one feature to another can drastically affect what policies are required to foster the creation of such communities and of a distributed energy production scenario.

The authorities did not consider the possible environmental impact when they lightly issued construction permits for small hydropower plants (SHPPs) and approved incentives for privileged electricity producers. And then the adept investors saw the opportunity to make profits – they lobbied to adjust regulations and, coupled with poor inspection work on the ground, the situation is what it is today: a widespread devastation of small watercourses and the environment is taking place in Serbia, Ratko Ristić, Dean of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Forestry, tells Balkan Green Energy News.

The success of energy transformation depends on the ability of local and regional authorities to manage this change at the local and regional levels, starting with best practices, but with understanding local limitations and obstacles. This requires energy transformation to be planned, managed, implemented and communicated in the right way, making full use of innovation in technology and processes.
To achieve these objectives, it is important that all citizens and all levels of governance are on board. That is why energy transformation must be a fair transition.
In response to these challenges, the European Committee of the Regions is currently preparing two opinions:
• The socioeconomic transformation of coal regions in Europe, rapporteur Mr. Mark Speich (DE/EPP)
• Implementation of the Paris Agreement through innovative and sustainable energy transition at regional and local level, rapporteur Mr. Witold Stępień (PL/EPP)
Both rapporteurs strive for the highest possible quality input and widest range of different views for their opinions.
We believe your expertise would greatly contribute to achieving this objective.

In December 2018, EU legislators hammered out a political agreement on a new energy market design. As the dust settles, it’s time to determine whether all Europeans will have the tools to become ac…

The LEAFS project, implemented by the Austrian Institute of Technology, addresses challenges that arise from a growing number of prosumers. The project seeks to make citizens more involved in Europe’s energy transition by establishing new ways of interacting with the energy market and grid operators.
The story about the project is brought by the European Technology and Innovation Platform Smart Networks for Energy Transition – ETIP SNET Energy Stories which are designed to bring successful applications in energy transition technologies, often developed through public funding, closer to the citizen, highlighting whenever possible the direct benefits of the latest technologies to the energy consumer.*

Real Democracy in Your Town: Public-Civic Partnerships in Action explores the potential of public-civil partnerships (as opposed to the conventional public-private partnerships), as an opportunity to provide basic public services within societies without the privitisation of public goods and making them subjects of the free market.
It particularly focuses on the power of municipalist and local citizens’ movements and highlights successful case studies in Europe from which to draw inspiration from.

“We are finally [at the point of a] breakthrough,” said Zoran Kordić, manager of Croatia’s Green Energy Cooperative. “Renewable energy will happen — there is no question about it — and now is finally the right moment to [put] it in the hands of the citizens and not big corporations.”

Determined to push government’s inaction on the climate crisis, activists from Fridays For Future, Ende Gelände, Extinction Rebellion and others poured into western Germany’s brown coal district to…

Tous les foyers résidant en France sont appelés à s’inscrire au premier grand achat groupé national d’énergie verte pour faire des économies sur leur facture d’énergie tout en passant au 100% vert.

The Slovak government is today approving a plan for Upper Nitra’s transition away from coal, which was created based on inputs from the local community.

In December 2018, a new concept of permanent structured dialogue mechanism was proposed for discussion by the presidents of the CoR and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). The call for a reinforced link between the EU and its citizens was reaffirmed by the Declaration of the 8th European Summit of Regions and Cities in March this year. The CoR is thus in the process of designing its "European Citizens’ Consultations" model; a more permanent and structured format, combined with a feedback mechanism aiming to better include the local level in the EU decision-making process. In order to prepare for this new model, the fifth of a series of lunchtime seminars will be held in the European Committee of the Regions on the 7th of May. Ms Claudia Chwalisz, Policy Analyst, Open Government Unit, OECD, Ms Corina Stratulat, Senior Policy Analyst, Head of Programme, EPC and Mr Dominik Hierlemann, Bertelsmann Foundation, Gütersloh/Brussels, Belgium will present the academic point of view on citizen engagement.

Romania’s Environmental Funds Administration plans to run a program in March-April to offer up to EUR 115 million in European funds to prosumers to encourage the adoption of solar energy.

The program to offer subsidies of up to EUR 4,200 per prosumer was discussed at a recently held conference that brought together representatives of the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority, the Environment Fund Administration, and power companies, according to a press release from the organizer, energiaTa (YourEnergy), a Romanian initiative launched three years ago to make prosumers a reality in Romania and to accelerate the transition to a green economy.

The subsidies, which are to cover a maximum of 90% of project costs, will finance the procurement and installation of solar energy systems.

Barcelona residents had until the end of January to submit suggestions for a plan to redevelop the green spaces of Montjuic, an iconic hill overlooking the Catalan capital.

Few people live on Montjuic itself, which sports a stadium built for the 1992 Olympic Games alongside museums, a castle and recreational areas, but there are dense residential streets at the bottom of the hill.

Inhabitants of those neighbourhoods were given the chance to add their ideas on things like transport and environmental protection - both online and at meetings - to a draft of the city council’s action plan for Montjuic.

Barcelona often uses inclusive processes like this to gather citizens’ input on municipal projects - a trend that is growing worldwide at city and national levels.

Depuis 2014, le budget participatif permet aux Parisien.n.es de décider de l’utilisation d’une partie du budget de la ville. Les habitants sont très sensibles à l’environnement et beaucoup de leurs projets participent à la mise en oeuvre du Plan Climat.

Slovenian blockchain-powered energy trading platform SunContract has recently entered into a strategic partnership with Italian energy company Tecnoapp.

Under a cooperation agreement signed by SunContract and Tecnoapp, the parties are to work on the market expansion of SunContract Energy Marketplace and decentralization of the energy market in Italy.

SunContract is an energy trading platform that directly connects energy producers and consumers into an energy pool based on smart contracts, according to the platform’s website. Through the platform, Slovenian households are currently witnessing electricity cost reductions of up to 40% while also choosing environmentally friendly energy sources, SunContract says.