On the 18th of May CLEAN project partners celebrated the second seminar of the CLEAN Additional Activities on "Regional measures & highlights to cut emissions and to improve energy efficiency of public buildings" from the city of Joensuu in North Karelia (Finland) and streamed online to all project partners and their stakeholders regardless of their presence in North Karelia.
CLEAN project lead partner ERNACT Programme Manager Daniela Copaci, gave an overview of Inishowen Sustainable Energy Community. Inishowen Sustainable Energy Community is the result of a strong collaboration between Inishowen Development Partnership (IDP), Inishowen Co-Op, Donegal County Council, and a diverse range of stakeholders across the community.
Their vision is to explore and support the implementation of best practice solutions focused on sustainability and to communicate learnings to members and the wider community as part of the SEAIs Sustainable Energy Communities Programme.
SEAI’s Sustainable Energy Community Programme (SEC) is a program that engages community involvement allowing a shared learning and implementation of energy solutions locally. Communities in the program are provided with a mentor from SEAI to learn about energy use in their community before embarking on a deeper analysis of energy usage which leads to an Energy Master Plan.
Energy Master Plan Study for the Inishowen Sustainable Energy Community published on May 2021 led to:
- Comprehensive overview of energy consumption and energy generation on the Inishowen Peninsula.
- Central platform for Inishowen’s progression towards sustainable energy.
- Source for applying for capital grants to upgrade existing housing and commercial building stock.
Inishowen Sustainable Energy Community (SEC) plans to become a renewable energy centre of excellence and they won the 2021 SEAI Energy Awards in the “Inspirational Energy Community” category.
