Representatives from European cities leading on sustainable energy actions gathered together in Brussels on Monday 18 March, at the European Commission's forum organised by ManagEnergy.

Patrick Lambert, director of European Commission's Agency EACI opened the meeting, welcoming the opportunity to present the results of the three Intelligent Energy Europe projects supporting the Covenant of Mayors initiative – City SEC, Regions 202020 and ENERGY FOR MAYORS:

• ENERGY FOR MAYORS – supported the CoM initiative by helping over 80 municipalities in the development and implementation of SEAPs, as well as by increasing capacities of Covenant Coordinators and Supporters. Project partners can also boast about the 1st joint SEAP in Europe prepared by the municipalities from the Province of Genova, as well as testing the possibility of joining SEAP with the Energy Management System following ISO 50001 standard.
• City_SEC – aimed to boost the number of Sustainable Energy Communities and raise their awareness concerning energy balance and reduction of local carbon footprint; it assisted over 40 municipalities in joining the Covenant of Mayors and elaboration of a comprehensive SEAP.
• ENNEREG – involved 12 Pioneer Regions in the EU committed to demonstrate how regions can be a key driving force in fulfilling the EU 20-20-20 goals.The ultimate aim of the ENNEREG project has been to establish and inspire a network of regions throughout Europe - “Regions 202020” - to produce regional Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs) and replicable Sustainable Energy Projects (SEPs).

In total nearly 200 local authorities from all over Europe benefited from the implementation of those three projects, commiting to go beyond the EU 20-20-20 climate and energy targets. With the support of project partners they developed their local Sustainable Energy Action Plan and now - during the workshop - they handed them over to Jan Panek, Acting Director of DG Energy.

The cumulative results of the Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs) developed are projected to be 2 475 000 MWh per annum of RES production and over 5 320 000 MWh per annum of primary energy savings.

We need more active consumers, said Mr. Panek, and we need to continue to grow the market for energy efficiency and renewables. Final success will be determined by actions on the ground and at the local level. Moreover, Director of DG Energy assured that the European Commission will continue to support the Covenant of Mayors, and especially the implementation of Sustainable Energy Action Plans.

(foto: ManagENERGY)