THE

ENER

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NEWSLETTERpublished by the

“Albania-EU Energy EfficiencyCentre” (EEC)

Address:Blvd. “Gjergj Fishta”, No. 10, Tirana, ALBANIAP.O. Box 2426Tel: + 355 4 2233 835; Fax: + 355 4 2233 834Email: info@eec.org.alInternet: www.eec.org.al

THE ENERGYIN ALBANIA

(NEWSLETTER)Other issues are available on EEC website

PUBLISHED BY THE“ALBANIA-EU ENERGY EFFICIENCY

CENTRE” (EEC)

ISSUE NO 61 • JUNE 2013

TRACE PROJECT -TRANSNATIONAL COOPERATION

FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OFBUILDINGS ENERGY PERFOR-

MANCE AND EFFICIENCYNewsletter No. 1

1. BackgroundBuildings account for around 40% of Europe'stotal final energy consumption and CO2 emis-sions. The sector has significant untapped po-tential for cost-effective energy savings. In-creasing energy efficiency is among the maingoals of the European Union. It is embedded inEurope 2020, the EU's strategy for smart, sus-tainable and inclusive growth. The EU has in-troduced legislation to ensure that the buildingsconsume less.

One of the major challenges faced today by co-untries in South East Europe and beyond is thereduction of energy wastages and the improve-ment of energy and resource efficiency. This isnecessary if Europe wants to find solutions tothe threats posed by its increased dependencyon en-ergy imports, dwindling supplies of fossilfuels and soaring carbon dioxide emissions. Afifth of Europe's energy is wasted because ofenergy inefficiency and wastages.

2. Start-UpMonitoring Committee has confirmed the ap-proval of TRACE project application for co-fi-nancing by the South East Europe (SEE) Pro-gram. Official start date of the project is: 1st ofNovember, 2012.

Inside this Issue

- TRACE PROJECT - TRANSNATIONAL COOPERA- TION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF BUILDINGS ENERGY PERFORMANCE AND EFFICIENCY Newsletter No. 1

- PROCREDIT BANK: ENERGY EFFICIENCY, A DEVE- LOPMENT OPPORTUNITY FOR MUNICIPALITIES IN ALBANIA

- TRACE PROJECT Newsletter No. 2

The main structure of the TRACE Project website

3. About The ProjectThe overall objective of the project is to support local andregional administrations in South East Europe to develop, up-hold and advance policies and mechanism for improving theenergy efficiency in buildings. This objective will be achievedthrough the development of transnational partnership, whichfacilitates the exchange of experience, knowledge and goodpractices among its members, and the implementation of jointactions on this matter of strategic importance. The results ofthe project will be systematically disseminated and will beopenly available to anyone interested without constraints.

4. About South - East Europe ProgrammeThe project is funded under the 4th call for proposal of the South-East Europe Programme (www.southeast-europe.net). TheSouth East Europe programme is a unique instrument which,in the framework of the Regional Policy's Territorial Coopera-tion Objective, aims to impro-ve integration and competitive-ness in an area which is as complex as it is diverse. Theprogramme is supporting projects developed within four Pri-ority Axes: Innovation, Environment, Accessibility, and Sustain-able Growth Areas - in line with the Lisbon and Gothenburgpriorities, and is also contributing to the integration process ofthe non-EU member states.

5. PartnershipThe TRACE consortium brings together 2 regional adminis-trations, 4 local administrations (2 cities & 2 provinces), 5 en-ergy agencies, 1 regional development agency, 1 university and1 centre for public management/governance from 9 countries.The topic addressed by TRACE is consistent with prioritiesand policies of these administrations, as they have keycompetences in the field of energy efficiency as planners,permits delivering authorities, implementers of the EnergyPerformance of Buildings Directive as well as owners of animportant stock of real property.

The consortium also comprises national, regional and localenergy agencies that play a crucial role in energy efficiency,as they provide information/advice to energy users, technicalassistance and policy advice to public authorities. One Uni-versity and one centre for public management/governanceparticipate in the consortium as well, acting as knowledge part-ners.

All partners have had previous experiences of participating toEU territorial cooperation projects and have acquired relevantexperience in the importance of transnational issues and theadded benefits for the resolution of common issues across Eu-ropean Countries. All partners have established strong net-works of contacts either at the regional, national or interna-tional level.

6. Project ObjectivesThe overall objective of the project is to support local and re-gional administrations in South East Europe to develop, upholdand advance policies and mechanism for improving the energyefficiency in buildings. To collect and analyze good practiceson the use and impact of the energy performance certificatesand on the financial incentives for improving the energy effi-ciency of buildings.

To develop and share knowledge resources and field experi-ence reports on the current role and on the views and opinionsof territorial administrations in South East Europe on energy per-formance of buildings. To facilitate the exchange of experi-ences and good practices through activities and events that willaddress existing needs, namely: study visits offering an oppor-tunity to look closely at different approaches and transnationalthematic workshops discussing and exchanging good practiceexperiences and promoting a policy debate. The capacity build-ing of executives within territorial administrations in order toacquaint the necessary know-how for promoting energy effi-ciency in buildings.

To develop territorial operational plans and policy recommen-dations for territorial public administrations on the issues relatedto the energy performance of buildings through analysis of ter-ritorial strategies and policies for the implementation of long-term energy efficiency targets buildings. To set up appropri-ate structures, which will identify and prioritize energy efficiencyinvestment possibilities as well as initiate leverage of public andprivate sources of finance. To raise awareness regarding en-ergy efficient buildings through extensive and systematic com-munication activities and to maximize sustainability of projectresults post SEE funding.

Municipality of PIRAEUS,21 Evagelistrias Str. & Evripidou Str.GR-18532, Piraeus - GreeceE-mail: nikikatsi@yahoo.gr; www: www.see-trace.eu

PARTNER OFFICIAL NAME COUNTRY

PIRAEUS Municipality of PIRAEUS Greece

WU Vienna University of Economics and Business Austria

GABROVO Gabrovo Regional administration Bulgaria

RAV VARNA Regional administration Bulgaria

SOFENA Sofia Energy Agency Bulgaria

KDZ Centre for Public Administration Research Austria

CRES Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving Greece

BRESCIA Province of Brescia Italy

PERUGIA Province of Perugia Italy

ENERO Centre for Promotion of Clean and Efficient Energy in Romania Romania

KSSENA Energy Agency of Savinjska, Šaleška and Koroška Region Slovenia

SERDA Sarajevo Economic Region Development Agency

Bosnia and Herzegovina

ZAGREB CITY City of Zagreb Croatia

EEC Albania-EU Energy Efficiency Centre Albania

PROCREDIT BANK: ENERGY EFFICIENCY,A DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY FOR MU-

NICIPALITIES IN ALBANIA

On 11 June 2013, a meeting was held at the head office ofProCredit Bank Albania with representatives from municipali-ties in the Elbasan and Korça districts, both of which will beaffected by the hydropower construction project on the DevollRiver. This meeting was held as a continuation of the trainingand previous collaborations between ProCredit Bank, the Al-bania-EU Energy Efficiency Centre and the Norwegian com-pany ENSI. The bank's objective was to raise awarenessabout the possibility for municipalities to obtain loans to investin Energy Efficiency (EE), while also promoting the bank'senvironmental approach.

In 2008, ENSI began co-operation with the Albania-EU En-ergy Efficiency Centre and the Albanian Association of Mu-nicipalities to provide support for the "Municipal Planning forEnergy Efficiency in Albania" programme, focusing on the plan-ning and implementation of EE measures. This initiative hasalso been funded by USAID's "Local Governance Program inAlbania". ProCredit Bank was chosen as the banking partnerdue to our strong tradition in EE finance and our commitmentto raise environmental awareness in the market, and also be-cause ProCredit Bank is the only bank that has invested in a"green" building in Lapraka.

With participants from ENSI, the Albania-EU Energy Effi-ciency Centre, USAID, Co-PLAN, the Albanian Associationof Municipalities, and representatives from the municipalitiesthemselves, ProCredit Bank staff presented the bank's busi-ness activities, its approach to environmental finance and itsfinancial services for local government entities. It wasemphasised that as part of the German ProCredit group, thebank provides high quality services focusing on EE as well asfinancial and technical advice regarding potential investments.ProCredit Bank supports all municipalities and strongly en-courages the use of materials and technologies that help toincrease energy efficiency and energy savings.

USAID representatives held a presentation on municipal plan-ning in Albania, highlighting the challenges, solutions, and sug-gestions for local and integrated planning. This was followedby questions from participants about the steps that must be

taken by municipalities in order to acquire financing, and aboutways to implement EE measures and USAID policies and toestablish co-operation with local government.

After the presentations, participants made a visit to the "green"Business Centre in Lapraka, in order to see a concrete ex-ample of investments in energy efficiency. During their visit,they showed strong interest by asking about the investmentsmade, particularly about the specific measures undertaken andthe materials used in the "Eco Corner" of the building.

For ProCredit Bank, further co-operation with local govern-ment institutions is very important. The bank will continue tofocus on raising awareness about energy efficiency measures,which can reduce costs and improve working conditions, andon providing environmental education and advice about sus-tainable and long-term investments.

ProCredit Bank - Your Partner Bank!

TRACE PROJECTNewsletter No. 2

1. BackgroundReducing energy consumption and increasing energy and re-source efficiency is the most effective and immediate way tocut carbon emissions and mitigate the effects of climatechanges. Energy consumption in buildings will grow dramati-cally without action to substantially improve energy efficiency.The construction boom, is driving energy demand, but economicdevelopment and other factors are adding to the problem be-cause they are increasing buildings' energy needs.

2. About The Project TRACETRACE demonstrates a genuine transnational characterthrough the implementation of a number of transnational ac-tivities (study visits, thematic workshops…). It was approvedby the South East Europe (SEE) Program and officially startedon 1st of November, 2012.

3. KICK-OFF MeetingKick-off meeting of project TRACE took place on April 15th

and 16th in Piraeus, Greece, organized by PIRAEUS (Munici-pality of PIRAEUS), the lead partner of the project. The meet-ing was attended by representatives from 8 different countries(Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia andHerzegovina and Austria).

The two-day event marked the official start of the project. Themeeting was organized in order to revise the 2-years work planand as a starting point for activities. The meetings will be every6 months, hosted by our partners.

On the meeting we were discussing about the main character-istics of the project: partnership, risk management, methodologi-cal approach, challenges, target groups, stakeholders, objec-tives, outputs, results, work packages and schedule.

There were also presented management rules and proceduresfor TRACE project: contact persons, tasks, communication be-tween partners (reports to the FLC and JTS), project follow-up, role of LP, role of each partner, activity progress reports,project meetings, project management structure: Project Steer-ing Committee, Project Technical Secretariat and Project Man-agement Team.

5. TRACE WebsiteThe rapid growth of internet access for individuals, businessesand other organisations has confirmed the importance of thewebsite as a tool for promoting an organisation's key messagesand as a source of up to date information. This is why wehave created the TRACE portal which will be the maininformation source of the project for all project target groups.

The aim of the future South-East Europe portal is to constantlyprovide the target groups with adequate, up to date, high-qualityinformation about the programme.

All outputs and products of the project will be uploaded on theproject website and be available for download. The domainfor the portal is: www.see-trace.eu.

In order to achieve its objectives, the portal will be constantlyupdated with relevant information. Moreover, the portal willbe highly transparent, well-structured and user friendly forthe visitors to find the information they need.

Municipality of PIRAEUS,21 Evagelistrias Str. & Evripidou Str.GR-18532, Piraeus - GreeceE-mail: nikikatsi@yahoo.gr; www: www.see-trace.eu

4. TRACE and Work Packages

WP0: Preparation activities WP1: Transnational projectand financial management

WP3: Transfer of know-howamong territorial administra-

tions in South East Europe onenergy efficiency in buildings

(Collection and analysis ofgood practices, financial

aspects influencing energyefficiency of buildings,

exchange of informationactivities)

WP5: Setting upjoint strategiesand implementingpilot actions forenergy efficiencyin buildings inSouth EastEurope (Develop-ment of territorialoperational plans,set up a networkof EnergyinvestmentsForums, develop-ment of policyrecommenda-tions)

WP4: Capacity building ofterritorial administration inSouth East Europe (Develop-ment of training methodology,production of trainingmaterial, organization oftraining sessions)

WP2: Communi-cation activities