ALLIES project comes to a successful end

26 May 2020: At the end of the ALLIES project, B.A.U.M. Consult discussed with the partners how energy efficiency can be financed in Europe in the future at the virtual conference "Fostering Local Energy Transition". A whitebook on the implementation of the Regional Energy Efficiency Cooperative (REEG) concept was also published.

The EU project ALLIES (Activating and Learning from Local Investments in Energy Savings) aimed at establishing new types of measures and organisations to activate investments in cost-effective energy efficiency projects. The central approach of the project was based on the establishment of local instruments for financing energy efficiency.

Closing conference

To present the results of the project and discuss future steps, B.A.U.M. Consult and the ALLIES team invited about 100 participants to a virtual and interactive Final Conference. In the morning, B.A.U.M. Consult CEO Ludwig Karg moderated a panel discussion with renowned energy experts from five countries. The central question was if a “Locally-rooted Financing Entity for Energy Efficiency” (LFEEE), as developed in the project, could be understood as a citizen / renewable energy community. It was asked in regard to the definitions of the latest EU directives in 2018 and 2019.

In the afternoon, the plenum split into smaller groups and worked on identifying challenges and barriers to implementing LFEEEs in diverse national and regional contexts. The conference closed with a virtual market place, where participants were able to present their current projects. This part was especially appreciated as it partly replaced the face-to-face networking opportunities that are missing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whitebook

Furthermore, at the end of the project, the project partners KÖVET and FEWE together with B.A.U.M. published a whitebook summarising the experience of implementing the Regional Energy Efficiency Cooperative (REEG) concept in Poland, Hungary and Germany and sharing tips for interested parties and imitators.