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Description
The project Solarization of Institutions of the City of Zagreb (SOLIZAG) aims to increase the use of renewable energy sources in institutions and real estate owned or founded by the City of Zagreb and at the location of the real estate which is owned by Zagreb Holding. The Project Promoter of the SOLIZAG project is the City of Zagreb, and Zagreb Holding acts as the national partner. The project also involves a partner from Norway, the Energy Farm International Foundation (EFIF). In the context of the partnership on the SOLIZAG-EFIF project, it will transfer experiences from Norway on solar power plant construction projects and represent good practice by participating in workshops organized by applicant and partner. The main challenge the project seeks to address is the energy dependence of institutions in the city of Zagreb, especially in the context of electricity received from public infrastructure (distribution grid).
The increase in the use of renewable energy sources will be achieved through the implementation of eight pilot projects where solar power plants with a total capacity of 1.43 MW will be built for the purpose of self-consumption. The implementation of eight pilot projects will increase the use of renewable energy sources by 1400 MWh and reduce CO2 emissions by 222 t / year. The primary target groups of the SOLIZAG project are the owners and users of real estate on which infrastructure activities are carried out, as well as the City of Zagreb and Zagrebački holding d.o.o. as investors in pilot projects. The secondary target group consists of general citizens aimed with awareness raising activities about the use of renewable energy sources. The specific planned activities on the 8 pilot projects are infrastructure activities in the form of the construction of a solar power plants that will reduce the quantity of energy delivered from the distribution grid, as well as the CO2 emissions.
Summary of project results
The goal of the project was to increase the use of renewable energy sources in institutions and real estate owned or founded by the City of Zagreb and at the location of Podružnice Čistoće, which is part of Zagrebački holding Llc.
The increase in the use of renewable energy sources was achieved through the implementation of 8 pilot projects in which solar power plants with a total capacity of 1.43 MW were built for the purpose of self-supply. The realization of pilot projects resulted in an increase in the use of renewable energy sources by 1400MWh with a reduction in CO2 emissions of 222t/year.
The share of green energy in the total consumption of real estate where solar power plants are built is 18%.
The primary target group of the SOLIZAG project was the owners and users of real estate where pilot projects were implemented, and the secondary target group was the general public, whose goal was to strengthen awareness of the use of renewable energy sources.
The implementation of the project also strengthened the capacities for management and promotion of renewable energy sources, and since a partner from Norway was involved in the project, bilateral cooperation was achieved, which will continue even after the end of the project implementation.
Also, the implementation of pilot projects reduced the risk of rising electricity prices on the market, as well as the dependence on taking over electricity from the distribution network.
The project implemented 8 pilot projects for the construction of solar power plants on the roofs of real estate owned by the City of Zagreb institutions.
In order to achieve the results envisaged by the project proposal, procurement procedures were carried out, service providers/contractors were contracted, and coordination of project stakeholders, both internal and external, was carried out, of which it is necessary to particularly highlight the coordination with the Croatian National Electricity Co. (HEP-ODS) for the purpose of commissioning the power plants.
In order to ensure that the construction of the solar power plants was carried out in accordance with regulations and professional rules, expert supervision was engaged.
The locations of the pilot project implementation during the works were marked with temporary signs, and upon completion of the works and commissioning of the power plants, the pilot project locations were marked with permanent signs.
In addition to the activities envisaged by the project proposal, unforeseen circumstances and additional costs for the Project Promoter arose during the implementation of the project for the purpose of implementing the pilot project at the Bazen Svetice location. Namely, HEP-ODS requested the construction of an additional facility from the City of Zagreb, and the challenge in question was resolved in such a way that the connection of the customer with production to the existing transformer station with certain activities was enabled without the construction of a new meeting facility, i.e. without the construction of new facilities.
In addition to the previously mentioned basic activities, numerous information and communication activities were carried out, the most significant of which are listed below:
- three press conferences and a final project conference were held,
- three bilateral cooperation workshops were held with a partner from Norway, during which experiences and knowledge were shared between the Republic of Croatia and Norway,
- a project website was created,
- in order to raise awareness about the use of renewable energy sources, brochures for kindergarten children, brochures for primary school children and leaflets for citizens were prepared and printed,
- a promotional film for the project was made, and the construction of solar power plants was accompanied by photography,
- promotional material for the SOLIZAG project was created,
- 6 workshops for disseminating results in kindergarten and 6 workshops for disseminating results in primary school were held, and promotional materials were distributed at the workshops.
The implementation of the project implemented 8 pilot projects for the construction of solar power plants on real estate owned by the City of Zagreb and the partner Zagrebački holding Llc. for the purpose of self-sufficiency. The solar power plants built have a total power of 1.43 MW, and their realization has resulted in an increase in the use of renewable energy sources by 1400 MWh, with a reduction in CO2 emissions of 222 t/year.
The implementation of the pilot projects in question reduced the carbon footprint, and the share of green energy in the total consumption of the properties included in the project is 18%.
In order to realize the pilot projects envisaged by the project, numerous activities were carried out, and the procedure began with the preparation of procurement documentation, which was followed by the publication of procurement documentation, the implementation of the public procurement procedure, the selection of contractors, the conclusion of contracts and the introduction of work. The contractor performed the work in accordance with the contract, and expert supervision ensured that everything was carried out in accordance with the regulations and rules of the profession. Putting the power plants into permanent operation depended on a third party, namely HEP-ODS, and during the implementation it was necessary to extend the contract with the contractor, but in the end all solar power plants were put into permanent operation on time.
In addition to the implementation of pilot projects for the construction of solar power plants, other procurement procedures and numerous information and communication activities were carried out. Through information and communication activities, citizens'' awareness was raised about the use of renewable energy sources and the importance of the SOLIZAG project for the City of Zagreb and the properties where the pilot projects were implemented.
The primary target group of the SOLIZAG project is the owners and users of real estate where the pilot projects were implemented and the City of Zagreb as an institution responsible for the effective management of the city budget and the costs of the institutions it owns.
With the implementation of pilot projects, they became more independent in terms of the price of electricity because they produce part of the necessary electricity for self-supply, and for all properties included in the project, electricity bills were reduced in this way. Based on the savings achieved due to the production of electricity for self-supply, all organizations involved in the project will be able to reallocate financial resources that will no longer be spent on electricity to other needs of the institution and improve the quality of work and services to their end users.
The implementation of pilot projects also has an impact on the budget of the City of Zagreb because due to the expected increase in electricity prices, there will be no need to increase expenses for the properties in question. Furthermore, by holding workshops for kindergarten and primary school children, the level of awareness among young citizens about the importance of using renewable energy sources has been increased.
Summary of bilateral results
Within the framework of the project proposal, the following contributions to bilateral immediate results were foreseen:• Number of study trips, workshops, round tables organized in cooperation with donor countries with a target value of 3• Number of projects involving cooperation with a donor project partner with a target value of 1.Immediate result The number of projects that include cooperation with a donor project partner, was achieved by concluding a Partnership Agreement, and the immediate result The number of study trips, workshops, round tables organized in cooperation with donor countries was achieved by the implementation of three workshops of bilateral cooperation, which achieved all the planned bilateral immediate results and target values.Through the bilateral partnership, experiences were exchanged regarding the implementation of renewable energy sources in the Kingdom of Norway and the Republic of Croatia. The partner from Norway presented the ways of implementing similar projects in Norway and presented the sources and ways of financing projects of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency in Norway. Through the application of good practice, he introduced us to the technologies used in Norway and the ways in which they use new technologies and their impact on the local community.The main challenge of bilateral cooperation relates to the reporting procedure by the Norwegian partner. Namely, the Norwegian partner has different experiences in terms of reporting, which include, among other things, a lower administrative burden. The Norwegian partner also stated that his experiences show that it is common practice to receive pre-financing within the framework of EEA grant projects, which was not the case within this project.