The 2nd regional Workshop on energy data availability and financing of efficiency measures was organised in two groups with a total of 23 participants. There are several regional municipal networks in Rhineland-Palatinate working on the implementation of energy and climate protection
managements. These networks are at different stages of implementation. The networks are part of the ERD-funded project “100 energy efficient municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate”.
On April 17th the ten representatives of the pilot municipalities that started implementing an energy
management in 2015 were invited to Kaiserslautern.
Important topics of the workshop were a roadmap for refurbishment measures, cumulation of subsidies and how to get better access to funding programs.
Two month later on June 20th thirteen representatives of ten municipalities met in Nieder-Olm to start a new energy management network. 
The aim is to introduce energy controlling and management for municipal buildings.
It was a perfect occasion to discuss the state of the art concerning data availability, the condition of
their municipal buildings and existing systems for data collection and monitoring of energy consumption. If a municipality already collects data it was interesting to hear if and how they use this information.
The outcome was that for example one municipality collects consumption data from energy bills and transfers them into excel sheets. Some others also do some kind of rudimentary data collection, but in fact no further data analysis takes place. The information is not used.
It shows that there is a clear difference between these two networks. The experienced municipalities, which have an overview of the condition of their buildings and, above all, can identify the biggest energy consumers, are now looking intensively at refurbishment possibilities
and how to finance them. 
On the other hand the municipalities, which only have started the implementation, cannot estimate
whether their buildings are big or small energy consumers.
Many of the municipalities in the networks have participated in the activities of the project SUPPORT in 2017: regional kickoff, questionnaire and first regional workshop. Data quality and availability is very important to municipalities. It helps them to identify and plan energy efficiency measures.
Information about energy consumption is also crucial to monitor and evaluate the energy savings of measures. It is often an indicator to justify public funding.
During the interregional learning process of the project SUPPORT it became obvious that other regions have better data bases. 
Therefore, the aim is to pursue the implementation of energy management in Rhineland-Palatinate
municipalities and to improve data availability.
This is not the only idea for the action plan.
Others came up in the discussions during the second regional workshops. Most of them are dealing with ideas to renew the application process for ERD-Funding and to develop instruments helping municipalities in the application process.
The two networks would like to meet each other and exchange and learn from each other’s
experiences in implementing and using an energy management system.
A two day workshop in November 2018 is planned. The networks will have a chance to network. The topics will be energy management and data availability as well as financing of efficiency measures.
