Heinola City and LAB University of Applied Sciences, the Finnish partners of two Interreg Europe projects, SME POWER and RESINDUSTRY, are organising the 6th joint Regional Energy Stakeholder Group meeting of the projects on Wednesday, the 13th of October. The virtual session will address development of renewable energy in Päijät-Häme Region, and the specific focus will be on wind energy and its potential. The second topic of the joint session is the Climate Roadmap process of Heinola. In addition, both projects will introduce their regional action plan drafts for review of the stakeholders and present the set of upcoming events and plan of action for the next months.
Päijät-Häme Region has no current wind energy production. Yet, market analysis performed as part of RESINDUSTRY reveals Finland’s potential for wind energy as being even higher than average in Europe, making it, along with biomass and hydropower, the most suitable form of renewable energy in the country. More information on this and some wind power projects under preparation can be found in the recent blog of RESINDUSTRY experts Paavo Lähteenaro and Katerina Medkova.
During the meeting, the participants will have an opportunity to learn more about findings of implemented and ongoing projects and studies. The Regional Council of Päijät-Häme, one of the main stakeholders of the two projects, will introduce an ongoing survey of wind energy potential in the region. More background on the topics will be provided by the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment of Häme, based on their recently conducted regional wind power study. The third presentation will cover the Energy Cluster of Päijät-Häme – what is it and how it works.
After the presentations by three experts, Heinola will delve into the basic idea of the Climate Roadmap work, which is currently underway in the city. Together with businesses, citizens and other stakeholders, the goal of the Climate Roadmap is to define what will and must be done in Heinola in the upcoming years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The basic idea of SME POWER—enhancing energy efficiency of small and medium enterprises—will be strongly considered along the process.
The meeting ends with presentation and discussion of action plans of SME POWER and RESINDUSTRY, which will be reviewed later with international partners of the projects.
The meeting language is Finnish, but stay tuned – we will publish and distribute an English summary blog shortly after the event.
Energetic greetings from Finland to all our partners and friends!