REBUS – 5th Project meeting and Transnational Exchange Event, Poland

The 5th Interregional Exchange Event of the REBUS project was organized on the 31st of January and 1st of February 2018 in Krakow, Poland, gathering representatives from 8 EU countries to jointly elaborate a so called “Energy Renovation Path” document, with the intention of supporting the energy efficient renovation of public buildings, including planning, preparation and implementation. Regarding all of the different phases of the whole renovation process and related competences (planning, implementation, funding sources, monitoring, capacity building), the document provides practical advices, samples of international good practices from the participating partners, as well as tips and solutions for the decision-makers and public servants on what important factors must be taken into consideration, how to prioritize their buildings, and if possible, what kind of decisions, situations they must avoid in order to renovate public buildings as effectively as possible making the best use of public funds.

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The document also serves as a basis for elaborating local action plans to be drawn up within the framework of the project, which, through the potential transfers of good practices introduced in international exchanges of experiences through events, study tours, bilateral Skype meetings, aims to improve the relevant policy measures for each partner area.

From BORA 94 Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County Development Agency Nonprofit LLC, the project manager, Katalin Hall and the communication manager, Tibor Kovács attended the meeting. BORA 94 Nonprofit LLC also invited one of the members of the Local Stakeholder Group; Lajos Vass, Director of Energy Efficiency and Intelligent Technologies Office was delegated from ÉMI Non-Profit Limited Liability Company for Quality Control and Innovation in Building (ÉMI Non-profit LLC), which is a strategic partner organization of the Agency.

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Since the air of Krakow is one of the most polluted in European comparison and it demands serious intervention, the event started with the presentation of the regional air protection strategy determining main directions of low-carbon projects implemented in Małopolska Voivodeship, also targeted at public and private buildings. Then a representative of the City of Cracow presented the local thermal retrofitting strategy and a representative of the neighbouring municipality of Niepołomice presented their model retrofitting project, including installation of PV cells, implementation of smart metering systems and wide-spread educational campaign addressed at building users. This gave a start to further exchange of good and replicable practices developed in other project regions.

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As the core part of the event, a study visit was organized to the nearby municipality of Niepołomice, which is one of the Polish frontrunners in the area of sustainable energy development. The municipality is a Covenant of Mayors signatory and implements ambitious Sustainable Energy Action Plan, including actions targeted both at public and private sector. During the visit the participants got familiar with some of the interventions aiming at reducing energy consumption and switching to renewable energy in public buildings.

The following projects were presented:

• a cultural center subjected to deep energy renovation (thermal retrofit of the envelope, modernisation of internal installations, installation of RES, installation of smart metering systems, educational campaign);

• installation of heat pumps and PV plant in Royal Castle (example of RES use in historic buildings); 

• installation of heat pumps supplied with electricity from PV panels in the indoor swimming pool, with educational dashboards showing energy generation and consumption to the users;  

On the tour it was also possible to see solar thermal collectors installed on private buildings within the project coordinated by the municipality.

Further information on the good practices:

https://powietrze.malopolska.pl/en/updating-the-air-quality-plan/
http://www.niepolomicesolary.eu/en/

The project is financed by the INTERREG EUROPE Programme, with the support of the European Regional Development Fund, with the co-financing of the European Union and the Hungarian Government.