In an effort to exploit the Interreg Europe “Financial Instruments for Energy Renovation Policies –FINERPOL” project in favor of the municipalities and citizens of the Western Macedonia region, the University of Applied Sciences of Western Macedonia (TEIWM) initialized the procedure of the Ex-Ante Assessment of the Regional Action Plan with title: “District heating projects with the use of Biomass and other similar sources, for the use of Renewable Energy Technologies in Public Buildings of small municipalities in Western Macedonia - (The connection with the policy instruments of Axis 4 of the ROPWM 2014-2020 and the use of additional Financial Instruments for extended and large-scale projects) “.
The aim of the ex-ante assessment procedure, which started on Thursday 5th of October 2017 at the TEIWM conference room, is to investigate at this early stage the needs and the potential of the municipalities and citizens, as well as to detect any obstacles, weaknesses, opportunities towards the implementation of the Regional Action Plan.
At the workshop, at least 30 representatives of the following municipalities, institutions, organizations and companies were present: Municipalities of Florina, Prespes, Kozani, Deskati, the Mayor of Servia-Velvento, ANKO SA, Public Power Corporation Renewables (PPCR), the Head of the ROPWM, the head of the Technical Chamber of Greece/Western Macedonia Department, ESCO companies, CERTH/CPERI, etc. Earlier, at 11.30 the 2nd Stakeholders Group meeting took place as well.
The next steps of the ex-ante assessment include interviews with authorities and technical evaluators, questionnaires, etc, in order to produce an ex-ante assessment report that will contribute to the ROPWM2014-2020 efforts to configure a proper call for the respective actions of Axis 4 and on the other hand, enable local authorities to respond properly to this call, implement effectively the pilot district heating projects for their public buildings and utilize the proper Financial Instruments to further expand the district heating projects to private households and the entire community as well.
