More information
Description
The "Velika Gorica Solar City - COUNTDOWN" project aims to increase solar energy usage for electricity production in city of Velika Gorica in public buildings and thus promote the use of renewable energy sources, as a means to contribute to the city''s transition to carbon neutrality. Solar electricity power plants are located in 22 public buildings in the city of Velika Gorica, including primary schools, kindergartens and sports facilities. Special attention will be given to promoting renewable energy sources among young citizens (kindergarten and school age) by holding 12 targeted workshops for children in kindergartens and primary schools. An additional three workshops are planned to promote projects'' results and RES to the general public.
The implementation of this project took the vast majority of buildings owned by the City of Velika Gorica, where the available roof area and with satisfactory construction condition. The total installed power of all power plants is 588,4 kWp. The expected reduction in electricity consumption from the electricity grid is 604.452 kWh. The implementation of the project will lead to a reduction in CO2 emissions by 95,9 t / year. By implementing the project, the city will mitigate the risk of increasing the unit price of electricity in the coming period. The electricity produced from solar power plants is sufficient to cover 37% of the electricity needs of the buildings involved in the project. The implementation of the project will also strengthen the internal capacity of the City of Velika Gorica to manage and promote renewable energy sources for entrepreneurs and individuals (family houses and apartment buildings) in the city of Velika Gorica. For this purpose, an application for monitoring of installed solar power plants will be developed in accordance with the Digital Agenda of the European Union, in order for Velika Gorica to achieve intelligent, socially responsible and sustainable growth with advanced technologies.
Summary of project results
The aim of the project was to use solar energy to produce electricity in public buildings in the City of Velika Gorica, thereby promoting the use of RES and starting the city''s transition towards carbon neutrality by raising citizens'' awareness of the need to invest in RES.
Solar power plants for producing electricity from solar energy are located in 22 public buildings in the administrative area of the City of Velika Gorica - elementary schools, kindergartens, community centers, sports facilities, etc.
As part of the project, special attention was paid to promoting RES among young citizens (kindergarten and school age), given that they will be able to connect theory with practice on a daily basis using the example of the building they live in.
The project implementation utilized the potential of the vast majority of buildings owned by the City of Velika Gorica that have a roof area with a favorable orientation and where the roof is in satisfactory construction condition. The total installed power of the power plants is 588.4 kWp. The expected reduction in electricity consumption from the electricity grid is 604,452 kWh. The project leads to a reduction of CO2 emissions by 95.9 t/year. By implementing the project, the city will mitigate the risk of an increase in the unit price of electricity in the coming period. The electricity produced from solar power plants is sufficient to cover 37% of the electricity needs of the buildings included in the project.
When preparing the project proposal, the City of Velika Gorica prepared a problem analysis and identified existing problems in the context of the topic of the Programme "Energy and Climate Change", where the following problems were detected:
• The city does not use renewable energy sources enough, which results in increased costs due to the low level of use of renewable energy sources, negative impact on the environment and increased CO2 emissions
The listed risks have been mitigated by the implementation of the project, and the institutions included in the project will produce a total of 37% of their annual energy consumption independently.
The project also included a project partner from Norway, EFIF, who shared their experiences with the Project Promoter and established cooperation that is planned to continue in future joint projects.
The project achieved the implementation of the planned 22 pilot projects, i.e. 22 solar power plants were built on public buildings. For the construction of solar power plants, procurement procedures were carried out, contractors were contracted, stakeholders were coordinated, etc.
In addition to the previously mentioned basic activities, numerous other activities were carried out within the project, the following of which stand out:
• 3 bilateral cooperation workshops were held with a partner from Norway, during which the Norwegian partner shared examples of good practice from Norway,
• a project website was created which provides information about the project,
• for the purpose of information and communication, 4 articles were published in a magazine, brochures for kindergarten and primary school children and leaflets for citizens were prepared and printed, and all pilot project locations were photographed and filmed,
• a promotional film of the project,
• promotional materials were purchased (t-shirts, umbrellas, bike pants protection tape, thermo bottles, diaries, page markers, temporary and permanent information boards),
• three press conferences and the final project conference were held,
• a total of 18 workshops for dissemination of results (in kindergartens and primary schools), during which brochures and promotional materials were distributed,
• insurance of constructed solar power plants.
Procurement procedures (in accordance with the procurement plan) have been carried out for most of the aforementioned activities.
The most important results achieved by the project were the implementation of 22 pilot projects for the construction of solar power plants on public buildings, which lead to an estimated annual production of MWh from solar energy of 604.45 MWh/year, and will also reduce annual CO2 emissions of 95.87 tons. The installed capacity for solar energy production in MW is 0.58.
The activities carried out have reduced the carbon footprint, and the share of green energy in the total consumption of real estate covered by the project is 37%. The engagement of professional supervision has ensured that the work is carried out in accordance with professional rules.
The primary target groups of the project were the owners and users of the real estate on which the pilot projects were implemented, the City of Velika Gorica as the institution responsible for the efficient management of the city budget and the costs of institutions, as well as the Velika Gorica Polytechnic and the Velika Gorica Tourist Board, i.e. the real estate users who participated in the project as partners.
By implementing pilot projects in public buildings, they have become more independent in terms of electricity prices because they produce part of the necessary electricity for self-supply, and all institutions involved in the project have had their electricity bills 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 Velika Gorica because, due to the expected increase in electricity prices, the expenses of the buildings included in this project will not need to be increased.
By holding workshops for children in kindergartens and primary schools where pilot projects were implemented, the level of awareness among young citizens about the importance of using renewable energy sources has increased.
Also, by implementing information and communication activities, awareness of the use of renewable energy sources among citizens 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 Norway and Croatia. The partner from Norway introduced us to the ways of implementing similar projects in their country, as well as to the sources and methods 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 is used to different reporting methods that, among other things, require less administrative burden. The Norwegian partner also stated that he is used to being part of EEA projects grantees receive pre-financing, which was not the case in this project. The challenges were overcome through continuous communication and regular information meetings enabled the exchange of knowledge and experience on administration and reporting, which ultimately facilitated the overcoming of procedural differences.