Short Description

The North-West Croatia Regional Energy Agency - REGEA has been established by Zagreb County, Karlovac County, Krapina-Zagorje County and City of Zagreb under the framework of the Intelligent Energy Europe programme.

REGEA main objective and role are promoting and encouraging of regional sustainable development in the fields of energy and environmental protection through renewable energy sources (RES) utilization and energy efficiency measures implementation.

The scope of work includes the following:

·          Promotion and implementation of “best practices” and “case-studies” in regional energy management

·          Promotion and implementation of sustainable development concept

·          Public awareness activities in the fields of energy and environmental protection

·          Up-to-date information and advices regarding regional energy issues

·          Advisory support for the implementation of regional energy plans and programs

Activities

In order to achieve the planned objectives and goals REGEA has initiated a wide range of projects and activities which can broadly be grouped within the following categories:

Energy planning

The objective of this work is to devise and agree a detailed short, medium and long term energy strategy, together with all stakeholders, identify key indicators and targets and prepare a work programme for the next 3

years. Strategies for sustainable energy utilisation have been developed for three Counties (REGEA founding authorities), namely Krapina-Zagorje County, Zagreb County and Karlovac County. The strategies are focused on increased implementation of renewable energy sources and implementation of energy efficiency measures. For the City of Zagreb, this worked will be linked to the preparation of Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) which has to be submitted to the European Commission following the signature of the Covenant the Mayors.

·           Sector activities

The main outcome of this group of activities should be the start-up and implementation of numerous demonstration and commercial projects, increase of number of stakeholders related to renewables and energy efficiency, increased involvement and participation of entrepreneurs, SMEs and industry. In cooperation with local authorities and the Fund for Environment Protection and Energy Efficiency, REGEA has initiated a considerable number of projects covering the following sectors:

• Modernisation of public lighting;

• Reconstruction of public buildings;

• Biomass district heating;

• Biogas utilisation;

• Utilisation of alternative fuels for transport (biodiesel);

• Utilisation of solar thermal;

• Utilisation of heat pumps.

Horizontal activities

The main objective of this group of activities is the improved understanding and increased support for renewable energy and energy efficiency within municipalities, including well trained staff from different target groups (teachers, plumbers, technology producers). Specialised training courses and seminars for different target groups have been organised including the following activities:

• Education campaign on sustainable buildings for high schools. The campaign includes lectures on the subject of sustainable buildings, distribution of printed materials, organised study tours and as the final part organisation of a knowledge competition with awards. Two campaigns have been organised up to now and in total 7 high schools have been included with participation of more than 600 school children and their teachers

• Education workshops on energy efficiency for representatives of public institutions in Karlovac County. In cooperation with Karlovac County within the framework of the INTERREG project Sustainable energy management in the Karlovac County, a total of 10 workshops with the attendance of 150 people have been organised by the Agency staff.

• Publication of education brochures on sustainable buildings and efficient public lighting, while a third brochure on biomass district heating is in preparation. Additionally, a comic book for elementary school pupils related to renewable energy sources have been published in cooperation with the City of Ivanic Grad. This publication was distributed to all schools and kindergartens in the area and received by more than 500 children during an organised campaign. Additionally, some 500 copies were already distributed to children all around the area of Agency activities.