On 30th of November 2022 Sofia Energy Agency SOFENA organized a local seminar on the Legal Issues of Energy Communities under LIGHTNESS project in the city of Sofia.
The seminar was part of a two-day event – the XVI National Conference of the Association of the Bulgarian Energy Agencies held on 29 and 30th of November 2022 at the premises of the hotel Hyatt Regency.
The event took part under Panel 3 “Legal aspects for the uptake of the energy communities in Bulgaria and the good practices in other EC countries” in the morning of 30th of November 2020 (see agenda).
As a whole over 60 people were registered and participated in person and online in the event.
44 participants from different organizations and companies, attended the event, in addition over 25 other persons took part online. There were representatives from governmental centres, from the Association of the municipalities along Danube River, the Institute on green politics, the Consumers association, the Chamber of installers in Bulgaria, Bulgarian Council on youth development , State fund on energy efficiency and renewable agency, Greenpeace Bulgaria, Habitat Bulgaria, local energy agencies , SMEs, Isgrei Ltd energy community, law firms representatives, and others.
After the coffee break Mr Kristian Dimitrov from Greenpeace Bulgaria shared some thoughts on the legal aspects concerning the tasks on the transposition of energy communities. The jurist Mr Pavlin Stoyanov pointed out the main changes that have to be taken in the Bulgarian legislation on energy community development. An interesting discussion took place on these issues conducted by Dr Maria Trifonova, lecturer at the Faculty of Economics of Sofia University. A series of questions on energy communities’ foundation, functioning, net metering and other issues were raised by the participants and the presenters answered to them. The event was officially closed at 13.00 but the participants continued the discussions in informal manner.
The seminar was moderated by Dr Zdravko Georgiev, the Executive Director of SEA SOFENA who presented the panellists. Mr. Georgi Stefanov, climate and energy expert described the engagement of Bulgaria concerning the Energy transition in Europe and the Green Energy Package.
Dr Nadya Nikolova acquainted the audience with the tasks of the LIGHTNESS project and the results of the provided by SEA SOFENA Regulatory Impact Analysis for Citizen Energy Communities and Flexibility Services. An overview was presented of the practices in the project partner countries and the definitions of the energy communities – of CEC and REC were discussed. Mr. Marc-Antoine Andrieux, a trainee from France at SOFENA, presented the experience of France in energy communities. The Bulgarian experience was demonstrated by Dr. Dragomir Tsanev from EnEffect. He presented the Bulgarian experience in energy communities in the municipalities of Sofia, Burgas and Dobrich.
On November 9 and 10, 2022, the implementation of the three-year DE-RISK project under the HORIZON EUROPE program began in Ankara, Turkey. 11 partners from 7 countries gathered at the meeting, the project coordinator is WEglobal Danismanlik A.S. from Turkey.
As a project partner, SEA SOFENA is responsible for one of the work packages: “Regulatory, political and financial analysis of the current state of the flexible services market” and has a specific task – to develop an “Analysis of the regulatory impact on the flexible services market” in 10 countries of the European Union.
The DE-RISK project aims to promote the implementation of RES systems by promoting local flexibility markets, which will allow safe and reliable integration of RES into the electricity grid.
In order to maximize the impact of the project, innovative business models will be developed, ensuring multiple benefits, equity and sustainability for all participants, and financial schemes will be validated to democratize access to sustainable investments. Finally, a group of experts will develop regulatory recommendations to support a fair, clear and transparent adoption of local flexibility markets.
SOFENA` s team continues working for the development of Energy Communities in Bulgaria.
Regarding this, a new project under the “Life” program was started at the beginning of November 2022, with partners from seven countries, including Spain, Finland, Denmark, Italy, Belgium, Germany and Bulgaria.
On 07.11. and 08.11.2022 the kick-off meeting of “BECKON” project took place in the city of Madrid, Spain. Organizers of the event were representatives of the leading partner “R2M Solution”.
The main goal of the project is to stimulate the establishment of Energy Communities in municipalities, by providing technical assistance and integrated services, preparing guidelines, and building capacity among local authorities.
The main ideas of the project were discussed at the meeting, with each of the work package leaders describing in detail the upcoming activities.
Thanks to the partnership of SOFENA, the Sofia Municipality will become an example for other Bulgarian municipalities, as it is planned to build on its territory: a Technical Assistance Office, an online platform for serving citizens (so-called “one-stop-shop” service ) and to train and build administrative capacity to support the process of creating local energy communities.
On March 1st and 2nd, 2022, in Schwerin, Germany took place the first meeting of the VIDEOTEACH project consortium. The project is funded by the Erasmus+ programme. The project coordinator is RegioVision GmbH Schwerin, Gremany, with partners from Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Spain, Cyprus, Turkey, and the Check republic. The aim of the project is to develop the digital competences of teachers, and to promote video education as the main tool for digital teaching in the green industry. With the participation of SEA SOFENA, video training materials will be developed on the following topics – Solar energy for self-consumption, PV power plants, solar energy for heating and heat pumps. As part of the project’s activities, teachers from Sofia and the peripheral areas will be trained in how to create video teaching content for their ecology and climate courses.
December 1st 2021 marked the year 1 of the Lightness project. The Consortium held its 12th month General Assembly meeting virtually (although the original plan was to meet in person in The Netherlands) due to Covid-19 restrictions. Despite it all, partners have managed to keep their spirits lifted and continue to do a great job working towards the promotion of Citizen Energy Communities.
Lightness is taken upon the challenge of empowering citizens to be main actors in the green energy transition in Europe through the implementation of Citizen Energy Communities, a new figure that opens up numerous opportunities for restructuring the energy market while advancing on the EU’s objectives of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.
This is an exciting task that joins innovate technologies (smart grids, renewable energy, demand response, flexibility, EV, storage) with innovative solutions and business models, putting in the center of the action the Citizen as an active actor, changing its traditional role from simple consumer to well-informed and active prosumer that takes decisions on the energy market.
With 7 pilots covering different types of communities and located in different geographical areas, the Lightness Consortium is in a privileged position to provide these innovative solutions. One main barrier though, is the lack of national regulation developing the concept of energy communities, making it difficult to implement them . Nevertheless, we are working with citizens and relevant stakeholders to be ready for the explosion of this new figure, trying to get ahead before the future regulatory framework.
In regards with the work package “Replication, Exploitation and Market Uptake”, R2M has guided the Consortium in the identification of 12 Exploitable Results, ranging from technological solutions (demand response services, IT assessment tool, platform for management of projects, etc.) through sociological and policy solutions (evaluation models, design of processes, policy advice, roadmaps, etc.). The Lightness project will continue working in developing the exploitation strategies to make sure these innovative solutions have an impact in the energy system.
On May 27, 2021, Sofia Energy Agency SOFENA organized an information day on the PowerPoor project at the Federation of the Scientific Engineering Unions (FSEU). The information day was held jointly with the John Atanasoff Union of Automation and Informatics (UAI), and the role of building automation for efficient use of energy and energy production from installations using renewable energy sources was discussed. More than 50 people took part in the event. The main goals of the PowerPoor project and the activities to be carried out in the next 3 years were presented.
SEA SOFENA is a partner in the PowerPoor project, which started in September 2020. The PowerPoor project aims to tackle energy poverty and to support energy-poor households through advice and information on funding opportunities for home renovation and for the use of renewable energy sources.
The project is an initiative of the National Technical University of Athens with funding from the European Union Programme for Research and Innovation “Horizon 2020”, grant agreement № 890437. More information about PowerPoor can be obtained here: https://powerpoor.eu/
On June 30, 2021 г. Sofia Energy Agency SOFENA, together with Energomonitor Bulgaria, organised training for energy supporters as part of the PowerPoor project at the Vocational School of Electronics and Automation.
The training was held as part of the extracurricular activities at the end of the school year, it was attended by over 60 students from the last grades and some of their teachers. The training was structured as a series of lectures related to: introducing the PowerPoor project; the notion “energy poverty”, a map of energy poverty in Europe; EU policies aimed at mitigating energy poverty; household energy performance; simple energy efficiency measures and practical tips; collective innovative action tackling energy poverty; collective energy initiatives; innovative financing of energy initiatives, crowdfunding.
The Energomonitor Bulgaria team introduced the audience to the opportunities for energy saving in households by using the innovative real-time energy monitoring system Energomonitor, as a soft measure in tackling energy poverty.
The training ended with a certification test for energy supporters and 56 students past the test successfully and received certificates for energy supporters. All supporters received PowerPoor brochures and T-shirts with the project’s logo. In order to facilitate future surveys and to raise awareness among households, three Energomonitor electricity monitoring kits were donated to the school.
SEA SOFENA is a partner in the PowerPoor project, which started in September 2020. The PowerPoor project aims to tackle energy poverty and to support energy-poor households through advice and information on funding opportunities for home renovation and for the use of renewable energy sources.
The PowerPoor project envisages the creation of a national network of certified energy supporters and mentors of energy communities, whose activities will be coordinated by several energy offices, as well as by local municipalities. As a result of the activities of these supporters / mentors to inform and support the energy poor, citizens are positioned at the heart of the solution through a gradual transition from an energy poor citizen towards an informed consumer and later an active prosumer.
The project is an initiative of the National Technical University of Athens with funding from the European Union Programme for Research and Innovation “Horizon 2020”, grant agreement № 890437. More information about PowerPoor can be obtained here: https://powerpoor.eu/
SOFENA`s team prepared the structure of the training program in TRECE project.
The 6 modules aim to develop the key competence of social workers in their daily duties of support and help of energy poor people and households in each of the 5 partner-countries.
In the training could participate also representatives of NGOs and local and regional public authorities that have tools to help vulnerable people in situation of energy poverty.
The last but not the least target group is this part of the population that is defined as energy poor. The modules: EE appliances and equipment; Energy suppliers and billing and Subsidies for energy poor people are of great importance for them as they aim to provide tools for improving their comprehension in energy consumption, give them information for financial mechanisms for support and provide solutions for reducing the energy consumption by easy and useful change in their behavior at home.
The duration of each module is supposed to be within 4-6 hours and will include theoretical and practical part with a test in the end of the training.
All partners will take place in the preparation of the modules. The structure of the training program and the responsible partner for each one are as follows:
- Energy saving measures and measures of energy consumption interpretation – SOFENA
- EE appliances and equipment – ENERO
- Energy suppliers and billing – SOFENA
- ICT tools and solutions for EE at home – SGS
- RES and climate change – CRES
- Subsidies for energy poor people – financial models in each country – LEAG
For more information, please visit also project`s website on: http://trece.eu/.