The new GIZ ORF-EE project ‘Strengthening the Cooperation Between National and Local Level in South-East Europe for Sustainable Development of Energy Efficiency and Climate Protection Measures’ (MVP Plus) was presented in Podgorica on 26 and 27 February 2019.
The Kick-off Work-shop brought together representatives of ministries, agencies, funds and other institutions competent for energy efficiency and climate policy from six Western Balkans partner countries and representatives of German Development Organization-GIZ.
First day was dedicated to discussions and presentations on the energy efficiency monitoring and reporting system in South-East Europe (SEE) and future steps under the MVP Plus project were discussed. Second day of the event featured training on the Monitoring and Verification Platform (MVP), an online based tool for data collection and calculation of achieved energy savings, which was earlier developed by the ORF-EE and its partners in previous project phases.
Berina Delalic-Gurda, ORF-EE Project Manager responsible for MVP Plus, explained that the project will be focused on the upgrade of the MVP tool and its harmonization with the requirements under the EU Energy Efficiency Directive, as well as on integration of MVP on the municipal level. This will complement MVP’s implementation at the national level, enabling systematic and transparent data collection for implementation of energy efficiency measures and CO2 emission reduction which is especially important for the development and reporting on implementation of National Energy Efficiency Action Plans (NEEAPs).
Delalic-Gurda said “This approach will improve the communication between different administrative levels in regional partner countries of ORF EE for more effective sector policy making.”
Marko Radulovic, Director-General of the Directorate for Energy Efficiency in the Ministry of Economy of Montenegro, thanked the GIZ ORF-EE for the organization of this event in Podgorica and he said that he was very pleased to see that representatives of all six SEE ORF-EE partner countries have gathered in Podgorica, recognizing the importance of the MVP tool.
“The participation of all representatives of countries form the region in today’s event is the best indicator of the need for a tool such as the MVP in Energy Community countries,” Radulovic said. He emphasized the fact that this instrument will help SEE countries to facilitate the monitoring and verification process of results in achievement of national energy savings targets.
He further added that Montenegro and other Energy Community contracting parties in SEE, have undertaken certain obligations in terms of energy efficiency improvement in their countries. He reminded the attendees that the public sector has the greatest responsibility and that it is expected that public sector its own example demonstrates the importance of putting efforts into promotion of methods and measures focused on the rational energy consumption, and the use of clean energy sources in the region.
Representatives of SEE countries who attended the workshop expressed appreciation for the given opportunity to share their experience when it comes to monitoring, verification and reporting on implemented energy efficiency measures.
GIZ ORF-EE has scheduled the next regional workshop for June this year and the main topic will be primary energy savings calculations.