The Interreg MonitorEE Project is implemented with regular consultations of stakeholders, who gathered today at the Fund to find applicable solutions for Croatian circumstances. Applicable solutions are directed toward increasing energy efficiency, especially for public buildings, which are the subject-matter of this project.
“To achieve the best possible energy efficiency results, apart from energy renovation, we have to improve policies and laws to introduce monitoring of energy consumption in buildings and develop building management system. This implies detection and analysis of the areas that can contribute to reducing energy consumption, where the analysis would also include the behaviour of the building’s occupants and users,” said during the consultation Predrag Čuljak, the MonitorEE project manager in Croatia.
One of the topics of the meeting was the presentation of the draft Regional Energy Analysis (REA). The purpose of the document is to analyse and give an overview of the current circumstances and future plans to improve energy efficiency in public buildings. The analysis includes data, policies, practices and obstacles related to increasing energy efficiency and serves as a basis to promote knowledge sharing and define the next steps to achieve the energy renovation goals of public buildings. At the level of the Republic of Croatia, various building renovation programmes have been adopted, with the crucial one for the public sector being the Energy Renovation Program for Public Sector Buildings for the period until 2030 is crucial for the public sector. The programme was adopted on the basis of the Construction Act to fulfil the strategic medium-term goal set in the Long-Term Strategy for the Renovation of the National Building Stock. The programme contributes to the strategic goal of making all buildings in Croatia almost zero energy or with a high level of energy efficiency by 2050, while the energy renovation rate of the total building stock is planned to gradually increase from 0.7% per year to 3% by 2030.
In order to achieve all set goals, it is necessary to harmonise laws, strategies, programmes and plans with EU directives as soon as possible and continue to promote energy renovation of public sector buildings through national funds and ESCO models and increase control over the implementation of the energy certification system for buildings. One of the important steps is also the implementation of a quality analysis and the collected data entered into national software applications with a proposal of guidelines for improvement.
Participants in the consultation included the representatives of: Hrvoje Požar Energy Institute (EIHP), the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets, the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds, Agency for Transactions and Mediation in Immovable Properties (APN), Croatian Energy Regulatory Agency (HERA), HEP ESCO, and the Fund.
MonitorEE includes 6 partner countries: Spain, Romania, France, Finland, Poland, and Croatia. The Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund is the project implementing authority in Croatia, while the Spanish partner is the leader of the entire project team.
