During the Annual meeting of ABEA in July 2023 DE-RISK project was presented that aims to support the market entry of renewable energy systems by promoting local flexibility markets to enable safe and reliable integration of RES into the grid.

Four pilot projects are being implemented in the partner countries, and the flexible DE-RISK platform will reduce potential technical risks in the process of implementation and realization.

The project develops innovative business models that provide benefits, equity and sustainability for all participants, and financial schemes will be tested to democratize access to sustainable investments.

SOFENA, as work package leader, developed an “Analysis of the regulatory impact of local flexibility markets” in ten EU countries, and by the end of the project will prepare a package of regulatory proposals and roadmaps for the development of local flexibility markets in the 10 analyzed countries.

During the annual meeting of the energy agencies and centers in Bulgaria, held in Panagyurishte on July 6-7, 2023, SOFENA presented the European projects it is currently implementing

SOFENA is the coordinator of this project, which is a climate and energy education initiative designed to contribute to the EU’s goal of net zero emissions by 2050 through education, public awareness and cooperation. The target group is students from 12 to 16 years old. They will be trained to gain knowledge about energy consumption, energy conservation, renewable energy sources to develop environmental awareness and become ambassadors of clean energy. The project was presented by SOFENA expert Marc-Antoine Andreu.

The partners from Lisbon NOVA IMS University – UNIVERSIDADE NOVA DE LISBOA – hosted the 1^st General Assembly meeting in Lisbon on 26-27.04.2023.

All partners took part and the work package lead partners presented their work and developed documents under the project.

SOFENA, as a lead partner of WP 3 presented the progress of the tasks under this WP.

We are proud to announce that deliverable 3.1. – PESTLE Analysis and benchmarking of best practices implementation of local flexibility markets in participating countries and EU is submitted successfully by the partners from WeGlobal and now EC approval is expecting.  

The desk research on the Regulatory framework of the local flexibility markets under task 3.2 is also completed and as soon as we receive all partners` RIA questionnaires completed we will start our work on the Report for Regulatory Impact Analysis for LFMs in the EU and especially 10 EU countries including Bulgaria, France, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Ireland and Romania.

At the moment the partners from R2M are also collecting information from the consortium under task 3.3 for innovative energy services in the EU and participating countries as they will prepare mapping of the relevant services in LFMs.

The task 3.4 is in a very early stage and the colleagues convey some surveys and negotiations with potential partners for funding the customers journey to participate in LFMs.    

SOFENA started a new project “CEATY: Cooperation Partnership in School Education Clean Energy Ambassador Training for Youngsters” under the Erasmus + Program of the European Union. The project is an online climate and energy training initiative designed to achieve the EU target to net zero emissions by 2050 by education, public awareness and cooperation.

The project kick-off meeting took place on March 8 and 9, 2023 in Sofia at the invitation of SOFENA who is the project coordinator. All partners from Turkey, Slovenia, Spain, and The Netherlands were present.

The project aims to fight against global warming by providing school children, 12 to 16 years old, with knowledge about energy consumption, energy savings, renewable energy sources, through developing their ecological consciousness, and making them become Clean Energy Ambassadors. This aim is in tune with the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which reflects the urgency to embed the principles of Education for Sustainable Development into all levels of education.

This main objective will be achieved through the development of online teaching tools, facilitating change in education by empowering learners to contribute to the protection of the environment and to combat climate change. For this purpose, a new digital teaching platform will be developed. The E-learning platform, the Toolkit for Clean Energy Ambassadors and online training will be open and free for everyone to use. The attractive and entertaining nature of the activities in the training programme will motivate students to share them with their siblings and peers. The promotional quiz-like sections will encourage them to present their new competences to their parents and other adult relatives, thus empowering the children to act as Clean Energy Ambassadors within their families and circles of friends, and guaranteeing the impact of the project to a wider, non-school related audience. Upon completion of the training students will have acquired understanding about EU common climate and energy goals, and will have learned about their own role as European citizens.

By 2050, European cities should be carbon-neutral, sustainable and ensure a high quality of life. In order to achieve this goal, society as a whole must become more responsible and mutual accountability must be shared among all actors. In order to successfully achieve the energy transition, we need mechanisms to address the environmental, economic and social aspects of the process, analysing the policies of different sectors in partnership with civil society, taking into account how citizens design their future.

As the energy transition involves radical changes in the structure, culture and practices of energy production, consumption, storage and distribution, local governments cannot carry out this journey on their own. On the contrary, the energy transition requires the effective involvement of key structures and beneficiaries alongside the administration. Ambitious goals and political commitments must therefore be linked to the commitment of civil society in decision-making and their implementation. This interdependence reveals the challenge behind the Municipal Energy Management.
In this context, the new project MENERGERS – Energy Managers’ Services in Municipalities intervenes. This is an EUKI funded initiative to support local administrations to efficiently coordinate the energy transition toward low-emissions cities. The main objective of the project is to enable and empower municipalities in Bulgaria and Romania to best manifest their role as Community Energy Managers and to thus contribute to the national Energy and Climate targets.

MENERGERS will develop and test a model for Community Energy Management in Bulgarian municipalities and, at the same time, Romania will improve and upscale the same services in the framework of its municipal context and legislation. The project is valuable because:

• Relevant updates of Bulgarian legislation will be discussed and proposed
• Research on good practices & existing status quo in Germany & Romania will be conducted
• Current curricula for energy managers, as well as public legislation and regulations will be analysed and provided
• Examples for public buildings refurbishment and energy transitions will be included
• Suitable energy management systems will be recommended
• 2 study visits for BG and RO participants to Germany follow the research.

Coordinated by the National Trust Ecofund, the Bulgarian Fund managing assets from the state budget, such as the Debt-for-Environment and the Debt-for-Nature swaps, benefitting from the experience offered by the German Independent Institute For Environmental Issues, a scientific and officially recognized non-governmental organization acting in Energy Efficiency & Energy Transition, Climate Protection & Transformative Education, Environmental Law & Participation, Nature Protection & Environmental Communication, the consortium is also formed of Sofia Energy Agency, a Bulgarian non-governmental non-profit organization established by Sofia Municipality together with the European Commission for local energy management, and of Energy Cities Romania, a network formed of local authorities in energy transition, fighting to reach climate neutrality.

This project is part of the European Climate Initiative (EUKI) of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). It is the overarching goal of the EUKI to foster climate cooperation within the European Union (EU) in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. More information can be found at www.euki.de/en.

Our first newsletter about our Erasmus+ project VIDEOTEACH with information about the project, the results and first work results is out now.

In November, SOFENA started a new project “MENERGERS – Energy Managers` Services in Municipalities”, under the EUKI program of the German Federal Ministry of Economy and Climate Actions

The kick-off meeting was online on 08.12.2022 with the participation of representatives of all partners from Bulgaria, Romania and Germany.

The National Trust Eco Fund is the coordinator.

The project aims to initiate a change in the roles of the Bulgarian and Romanian municipal administrations by supporting them in building organizational capacity and expertise in order to train effective energy managers who are able to implement their activities towards achieving the national goals in the field of EE and RES .

Within the framework of the project, reports with proposals for changes in the legislation in the field of EE and RES of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania will be developed.

Through consultations and workshops, a model for energy managers will be created, which will be piloted in 3 Bulgarian municipalities for a period of 1 year.

All results and collected data will be analyzed and summarized, and the conclusions will serve to initiate legislative changes in both countries.