The GTZ ASE project started its operations in April 2008 based on the Agreement on Technical Cooperation between the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Government of Montenegro. Initially, it was planned that the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) would support and assist the Government of Montenegro in its efforts in the area of energy efficiency. The German Government initiated the project “Advisory Services to Energy Efficiency” (ASE) through its implementation agency – German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and provided the amount of 1.5 million € required for the first phase of the project.
In the meantime, as the project was developing and justified its existence, additional funds were provided, which extended the time of duration of the project and intensified the activities in this area. Namely, first of all the Norwegian Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs participated in co-financing the project with an additional amount of 1.5 million € and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development provided additional 2 million €. Altogether, this represents a significant amount of 5 million € of funds in the form of a grant and the project will participate and support several different groups of activities until March 2013.
As a result of certain corporative changes and integrations of several organizations, from January 2011 German Technical Cooperation has changed its name into Organization for International Cooperation (GIZ – Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) and it has continued its activities in Montenegro.
Together with its strategic partner, the Ministry of Economy of Montenegro, GIZ ASE is implementing a series of activities which can be classified into several categories:
- establishing and strengthening the legislative and institutional framework in the field of energy efficiency;
- education of pupils of all elementary schools on the territory of Montenegro under a special project: “Energy Tour”;
- awareness raising campaign about the term, importance and opportunities of energy efficiency;
- organizing training, certification of energy auditors as well as the very implementation of energy audits;
- organizing conferences, performance at fairs and other significant events with the aim of raising the level of knowledge, dissemination of information, exchange of experience as well as connecting relevant entities in the country, region and beyond.