e-MOPOLI Kainuu Action Plan Discussed with Municipalities

e-MOPOLI project partner Regional Council of Kainuu discussed the action plan defined within the project itself with municipalities.

In view of activating the implementation of the Kainuu action plan, the Regional Council of Kainuu held an extended regional stakeholder group meeting. The goal was to introduce to some depth and discuss the 3rd activity of the eMopoli regional action plan, Mobilisation initiatives, with the extended stakeholder group, and especially the municipalities of the region. In Finland, regional councils are not major public procurement agents. This activity is part of the municipalities’ tasks. So, it is up to the municipalities to fund new charging stations of acquired publicly owned vehicles.

Kainuu action plan comprises of four actions:

1. Policy integration. To integrate the e-MOPOLI Kainuu action plan objectives into the Regional Development Programme.

2. Bio-gas (and other alternative mobility) filling stations in Kainuu. End-user, producer and supplier preliminary agreements (commitments) towards the production and consumption of biogas. National law, currently processed, relates to charging points. It distinguishes between regular and hybrid (combining several types of alternative mobility fuels) charging points.

3. Mobilisation initiatives encouraging Kainuu municipalities to include electrical and in general alternative mobility in public procurements.

4. Innovation integration: projects contributing to innovative energy domains, such as the synthetic fuels innovative domain, hydrogen applications and storage solutions.

The 3rd activity was the focus of the meeting. The most interesting topics raising discussion were funding opportunities from the upcoming JTF (Just Transition Fund) and the possibilities of public-private-partnerships in biogas production and distribution for vehicle consumption.

It was agreed to continue the work with municipalities by arranging a fact-finding workshop later in Autumn and raise awareness of alternative mobility projects and funding options comprehensively, referring also to national initiatives and linking to the regional level finding options.