The 6th Interregional Event of the FIRESPOL project – “Interregional Learning Workshop and Study Visits” will take place on February 18-19 2020, in Riga, Latvia.
The meeting will be hosted by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development (hereinafter - MoEPRD) and will take place in Riga, the capital of Latvia. Project partners and their stakeholders from six European countries (Spain, Croatia, Poland, Latvia, Germany and Ireland) will take part in the Interregional Event.
The first day of the meeting will begin with a Steering Committee meeting, where representatives of the project lead partner, Extremadura Energy Agency (Spain), will inform about the progress and results achieved so far. Particular emphasis will be put on the draft action plans developed by each partner. The progress report, project finances, communication and planning issues will be discussed. This will be followed by a workshop in which partners will present activities included in their Regional Action Plans to promote use of financial instruments to enhance development of the renewable energy sources area. This will lead into a discussion with stakeholders on the Regional Action Plans with a special focus on the actions that could potentially be transferred to other regions.
The second day will begin with a study visit to ALTUM – a state-owned development finance institution, which offers state aid for various target groups with the help of such financial tools as loans, credit guarantees, investing in venture capital funds, etc. ALTUM develops and implements state aid programmes to compensate for the market's shortcomings that can't be solved by private financial institutions. ALTUM has issued green bonds, providing funding for bankable business projects in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency in order to support sustainability projects in Latvia.
Second study visit will be to Getliņi EKO, Ltd. - a company jointly established by the Riga and Stopiņi Municipalities, which manages Getliņi, the largest municipal solid waste landfill in the Baltic States. Getliņi is one of the most modern landfills in Europe. It is created and developed as a modern and safe waste recycling centre. Since the opening of the sorting plant in the territory on 26 October 2015, biodegradable waste has been used for production of biogas, meanwhile materials and metal products useful for processing have been delivered to companies engaged in the recovery and recycling of these materials.
The second day will be concluded with a visit to Ķeguma HES - Latvia's oldest major hydroelectric power plant. Its construction began in 1936 and the first hydro-aggregate with capacity of 17 MW as the largest plant in Latvia was switched on in 1939. After additional construction works between 1976 until 1979 a new building was established and capacity of the plant increased to 260 MW. Ķeguma HES building complex now also includes the Energy Museum.
