Unfortunately, in this end of 2020 and also for the beginning of 2021 Covid-19 is still having a strong influence on everyone’s life in Europe and, accordingly, also on POTEnT. Semesters 3 and 4 (from August 2020 to July 2021) should have been the time for Study Visits: after carefully revising the Good Practices partners were supposed to visit and observe directly some projects that might inspire them for the future. By the end of the summer, it was clear that physical travel won’t be possible across Europe, if not under severe restrictions. We decided not to stand still, but to take actions!
Accordingly, POTEnT partners have modified the work plan for the coming semesters and agreed to reverse the actions planned for semesters 3, 4 and 5. In semester 3 project partners already start working on their Regional Action Plans (RAPs). While travel is still impossible, partners are asked to crystallize their policy improvement plans and moving from their To-Do-List (developed in semester 2) to the RAP. This will be done mainly by preparing a RAP-map, where each partner specifies what actions will be included in their RAP, what Good Practices (GPs) they want to study and why, how stakeholders will be involved and how all these actions will improve their policy instruments. This preventive work will help partners to better focus their needs and maximise the success of the study visits.
In parallel to this, starting from January 2021 we will test the feasibility to organise three on-line Study Visits for the most popular GPs. ALOEN, the Lead Partner, the Energy Agency for Southeast Sweden and the city of Milton Keynes are setting up an online event that can resemble a Study Visit. Partners will be able to have a first hand experience, although remotely, about three good practices that were rated as very interesting by the majority of the partners:
- ALOEN: Bretagne Energies Citoyennes and OnCIMè
- Milton Keynes: Centralised Utility Bill Payment & Monitoring
- ESS: Växjö Energi 100% (fossil free production).
And hopefully, in semester 4 & 5 we will be able to travel again!
