The Andalusian Energy Agency, leader and coordinator of the POWERTY project, has presented the project at COP25 in Madrid, in the SDG Pavillion of the United Nations, last 5th December 2019. POWERTY is an Interreg Europe Project (fourth call) entitled "Renewable energies for vulnerable groups". POWERTY is helping to tackle energy poverty, promoting vulnerable households with adequate energy supplies, thanks to renewable energies. POWERTY is a response to the European energy policty that advocates a just energy transition that takes into account all citizens, including vulnerable groups affected by energy poverty, to facilitate the achievement of medium and long-term decarbonisation targets in the EU.
POWERTY started in August 2019 and has an implementation period of three and a half years. Under the coordination of Spain (Andalusian Energy Agency), the consortium is made up of entities from 6 countries, including Bulgaria, the EU country with the highest level of energy poverty. The University of Manchester also forms part of the consortium, the entity that coordinates and leads the EU Energy Poverty Observatory (EPOV), as well as entities from France, Poland Lithuania.
Under a multidisciplinary approach, POWERTY is tackling four complementary lines of work or themes:
-identify new innovative renewable energy technologies aimed at vulnerable groups, including collective and urban energy systems.
-New financing mechanisms for renewable energies adequate for vulnerable groups.
-Improvements in the regulatory framework for renewable energies and vulnerable groups.
-Empowering of vulnerable groups and social innovation to stimulate citizen participation of these social groups.
