The Action Plan developed by the Piemonte Region is based on the implementation of two actions. The first one is aiming at promoting the energy renovation of public buildings and the second deals with the promotion of renewable energy communities. On both actions the Region was very active, since the Action Plan was signed in May 2022.
As far as the action related to the renovation of public buildings is concerned, the Region worked on different levels. First of all the design of the new programming period calls started. 80M€ should be available to support energy efficiency measures and the experience of the previous programming period was essential to think about improvements and new challenges. It has been, therefore, decided to assess in detail the potential integration of public private partnership in the financial support hiring legal expertises. Besides, it was also decided to apply for a project in order to establish a facilitation structure at regional level to support with a one stop-shop approach the preparation, the definition and the tendering phase of energy efficiency investment projects in public buildings. This application was successful under the LIFE call Climate Energy Transition.
The project, named Gasless, will thus support concretely the preparation of investment projects with joint public procurement involving severa municipalities at a time. Finally, communication actions started with an important public event organised by the Region on the 3rd of October 2022, where best practices for the energy transition from the Region and from other European regions have been presented. This action is accompanied with stakeholders discussions with market operators (mainly ESCOs) about financial opportunities and market deployment, which is happening periodically (in July and November). Promotional video have been also realized in synergies with other project activities, such as Europa Project (H2020).
Another important action under finalization is the preparation of the regional guide for the development of Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans. It was decided to submitt the guide to the approval of the Joint Research Center of the European Commission in order to facilitate the validation of the SECAPs drafted by the Municipalities of the Region. A communication event is planned in June in order to disseminate the guide toward Municipalities.
As far as the promotion of renewable energy communities, the Region established a cooperation with the Polytechnics of Torino and the Compagnia San Paolo Foundation and developed a guide addressed to Municipalities about how to set up Energy Communities. The guide is publicly available and it was promoted in several ways (social media, events and newsletters). Besides, the stakeholders consultation went on, with the goal to overlook the pilot projects under development and to create networking actions to support their establishment. Fruitful discussions have been realized for the consultation process of Energy Communities Regulation issued by the competent National Authority (ARERA) and with the electric distributors.
Finally, the Region is present at the most important events on the topic providing presentations and insights. A consultancy service for municipalities willing to set up renewable energy communities is going to be set up under the coordination of the Compagnia San Paolo Foundation and a series of public events will be also organized as soon as the legislative framework will be finalized by the National authority.
In a nutshell, the Action Plan drafted under the SHREC project has been able to trigger new ideas, new actions and tangible steps toward an innovative an sustaiable transition to a low carbon society in Piemonte.
