The four-year long interregional cooperation of the “RESINDUSTRY – Policies for Renewable Energy Sources in industry” project is coming to an end in July 2023. RESINDUSTRY addresses renewable energy implementation in the industrial settings through improving respective regional policies and capacity building. The project has seven partners from the Czech Republic, Finland, Spain, Estonia, Poland, Austria, and Malta. (Interreg Europe 2023).
The joint learning journey started in Prague, the Czech Republic in 2019, and the same destination was selected for the final project partners meeting followed by the final dissemination event. During the project partner meeting at the University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings (UCEEB), the partnership evaluated the implementation of the regional action plans. The discussions continued by sharing the challenges the partners have faced in their regions. Link to the RESINDUSTRY regional action plans.
Disseminating Final Results
The premises of the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade in Prague welcomed the RESINDUSTRY project partners and their stakeholders at the occasion of the final dissemination event on 26 April 2023. Over 50 people representing policy authorities, companies, energy associations, academia and other stakeholders participated at the event.
The event was opened by the Michal Tobiáš from CTU UCEEB, who gave an overview on the renewable energy sources (RES) state in Europe. He stressed that in 2022, for the first time in the history, the energy generation by wind and solar (22 %) overtook the fossil gas (20 %) generation. There is a visible acceleration in renewable energy employment in the EU. (Tobiáš 2023.)
After that, all project partners presented the issues and concrete measures addressed in their regional action plans. In the Czech Republic, the main barriers for RES promoting were identified in the complexity of administration, required conditions for granting subsidies, and information dissemination within the target groups. In Finland, four focus areas were addressed and completed with concrete actions related to: influencing renewables on a strategy level, promotion of biogas, wind energy, and renewable energy storage. Also in Spain, the administrative barriers and lack of knowledge withing the industrial sector were pointed out. They managed to streamline the application process of grants for RES by introducing new e-tools and set-up a dedicated team for technical and financial guidance. (RESINDUSTRY 2023.)
In Estonia, they envisaged the industry needs and interests and extended enterprise’s resource efficiency eligible costs with RES measures. The Polish partners aimed for funds allocation for SMEs supporting green energy using RES. In addition, they focused on developing provisions of promoting biomass use. In Austria, their actions were directed to improving the methodology for impact monitoring and evaluating, awareness raising and promotion of RES investments in the industry and setting measures promoting quality infrastructure for RES as well as promoting RES integration in RDI. Finally, in Gozo, they concentrated on launching dedicated call for grants supporting integration of RES in industrial production. Also, a pilot investment in Comino Island of installing an off-grid PV system offering energy independency in a place isolated from the grid was conducted. (RESINDUSTRY 2023.)
Author
Katerina Medkova works as an RDI specialist at LAB University of Applied Sciences and acts as a Project & Communication Manager in the RESINDUSTRY project. The RESINDUSTRY – Policies for Renewable Energy Sources in industry project is co-funded by the Interreg Europe.
References
Interreg Europe. 2023. Project Summary. RESINDUSTRY. Cited 14 May 2023. Available at https://projects2014-2020.interregeurope.eu/resindustry/
RESINDUSTRY. 2023. Project partners presentations – achieved changes in the Policy Instruments financing of RES in Industry. Speeches given at the RESINDUSTRY Final Dissemination Event on 26 Apr 2023, Prague, The Czech Republic.
Tobiáš, M. 2023. Lead Partner welcome Speech. Speech given at the RESINDUSTRY Final Dissemination Event on 26 Apr 2023, Prague, The Czech Republic.
Links
Link 1. Interreg Europe. 2023a. Action Plans. RESINDUSTRY. Cited 14 May 2023. Available at https://projects2014-2020.interregeurope.eu/resindustry/library/#folder=3387
Link 2. Interreg Europe. 2023b. Project Summary. RESINDUSTRY. Cited 14 May 2023. Available at https://projects2014-2020.interregeurope.eu/resindustry/
