It's a wrap!€¦ · transition”, formulated as a workshop within the 3rd EUSALP Annual Forum,...

It's a wrap!IMEAS project concludes with final conference in Milano but IMEAS Web

Platform will carry on its efforts

http://www.alpine-space.eu/imeasThis project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Alpine Space programme

IMEAS project, running from November 2016 to December 2019, involved 12 project partners and 18 observers from Austria, France, Germany, Ita-ly, Liechtenstein, Slovenia and Switzerland. The multidisciplinary team of experts on energy, gov-ernance, modelling, sociology, data management and implementation of energy and climate plans laid the groundwork for increasing the ability of public administrations, agencies and other actors in planning low-carbon energy strategies and se-lecting the right measures and instruments to im-plement them.

What was it all about?The transition to a low-carbon society implies a

thorough rearrangement of economic and policy approach that would enable adoption of energy strategies with wider and integrated visions. For now, implementation of such strategies is blocked by fragmentation of policy and the difficulties in engaging the stakeholders into a complex and inte-grated process. With the great number of low-car-bon energy policies and action plans implemented all over Europe and the increase in the number of approaches involving different governance lev-els, sectors of government and stakeholders, the problem of overall coherence and the need for advanced collaboration and engagement models arise. This begs us to ask the following questions:

ergy transition process. To facilitate this pursued low-carbon transition, IMEAS aimed at studying each silo and highlighted where the critical issues, barriers or opportunities exist to ensure integra-tion in the long run. IMEAS goal was clear: find horizontal, vertical and transversal links between unconnected silos.

How does EU commissioners know what mayors need? How does a minister inform the regional de-velopment agency about national plans? How does a local energy community get in contact with a state level agency?

Addressing challenges of missing incentive align-ments, poor information flow amongst actors and non-harmonized approaches towards energy plan-ning IMEAS was focused on tackling what in liter-ature is known as policy silo problem - a strictly narrow and vertical mind-set obstructing informa-tion and innovation flow, not recognizing and con-necting different transnational, national, regional, local and sectorial needs.IMEAS project identified the main silos, namely

governance, energy, building sector, active civil so-ciety, forestry and mobility, which impact the en-

Bridge gaps, engage and support all actors involved, foster knowledge transfer, build capacities and enhance cooperation across vertical, horizontal and transversal lines.

IMEAS approach, whose aim is the modelling of complex interactions among actors from different silos, is perfectly aligned with something known as multi-level governance (MLG), a crucial approach as far as the climate governance is concerned. MLG is a governance model that is not restricted to government actors, but instead is a multi-level and multi-sectorial global governance, aimed at in-cluding a broad variety of actors across all levels in a goal-oriented system.To enhance the ability of different actors to plan

sustainable energy policies and select the right measures/instruments to implement them on a multi-level governance perspective, IMEAS creat-ed a set of tools and guidelines on data manage-ment and usage, baselines emission inventories, mobility, integration of approaches and plans, en-ergy institutions and innovative approaches for a multilayer, horizontal and transversal low carbon energy planning. IMEAS tools and guidelines are available on the IMEAS Web Platform, one of the project’s main outputs, which is intended to be a toolkit with easy-to-use documentation, reference and innovation examples from project partners and other contributors. The Platform is open to professionals, institutions and citizens from dif-ferent countries, governance levels and economic sectors who want to promote the integration of low-carbon energy policies in the Alpine Region and beyond.IMEAS Web Platform is a result of all IMEAS part-

ners' hard work and will carry on tackling the chal-lenges set in IMEAS long after projects' conclusion. You are welcome to visit IMEAS Web Platform on www.imeas.eu.


Perspectives for energy transitionHow to reinforce cooperation and integrated

actions for a greener future

IMEAS final event in Milano, 29th of November 2019

IMEAS final event “Perspectives for the energy transition”, formulated as a workshop within the 3rd EUSALP Annual Forum, was focused on shar-ing highlights from IMEAS project and involved all the partners in co-creation activities to support the energy transition. Joint actions carried out by the IMEAS regional project partners to design a set of low-carbon strategies and integrated roadmaps were presented. Several cooperation models im-plemented by the project partners addressing the various challenges encountered in their regions were presented on IMEAS final event, representing various combinations of vertical, horizontal and transversal cooperation examples.

“Urban and rural areas cooperation”

Key findings from activities in Grenoble-Vercors territory (France)French example shows how to bring together ru-

ral and urban territories to take advantage of each other’s assets. The objective of this rural-urban co-operation is to become a Positive Energy Territory (greater energy production than consumption) by 2050, focusing on 4 main topics: • transport sector• wood management (including wood to energy

pathways) • business-related links • inter-territorial governanceThe problem encountered is related to the lack of

data about the quantity and source of local wood for energy production. On the other hand the lo-cal stakeholders demonstrated a real willingness to improve knowledge on the issue of wood flow. Therefore, they mobilise regional and national au-thorities to recover data from professional surveys and to share the difficulties encountered, set up a working group on a wider scale to exchange data about quantity and quality of the resource and analyse large heating network projects using ener-gy from wood, taking into account issues such as forest management and origin of wood. This exam-ple demonstrated that cooperation between rural and urban areas, exploiting their synergies, is cru-cial for achieving a greener future.

AURA EE


“Energy system modelling for the design of a local public policy”

Key findings from activities in Trentino (Italy)

Trentino example presents an enriched workflow for the drafting of the new Provincial Energy and Environmental Plan which includes pervasive and structural involvement of key target groups and stakeholders as well as detailed energy modelling. The generation of quantitative analyses aims at finding the most cost-efficient energy systems sat-isfying the emission constraints in the range fore-seen by EU, national and provincial regulations. These requirements led to the use of a free energy modelling tool with highly detailed temporal reso-lution (EnergyPlan) coupled with a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm to investigate the trade-offs between costs and emissions, in addition to a set of refined sectorial scenarios on pivotal local issues. While the whole process has been satisfyingly de-

livering the expected outputs, some shortcomings have also emerged:

• technology modelling: while the tool adopt-ed can rely on a rich technologies portfolio, it does not lend itself too well to model in a detailed way the specificities of a single tech-nology at different scales (e.g. a biogas plant from the small to the large scale);

• multilevel insights: computational issues, as well as data availability, make it hard if not im-possible to pursue really integrated multi-lev-el modelling;

• policies modelling: it is difficult to model in a consistent way different intervention strategy and it is even more difficult to make it in an exploratory fashion due to time required for the analyses.

The above limitations do not only affect the ad-opted energy modelling chain but have a general negative impact on available tools. As no one size fits all toolkit seems to be readily available, we cannot but reconsider the original IMEAS goals at a different, much more technical level: can we de-velop successful multi-level approaches to tackle these complex problems and make them available for use to public administrations?

PAT

“Reinforcing the public administration to take action”

Key findings from activities in Upper Bavarian and Salzburg (Austria)

The implementation of climate protection mea-sures on a local and regional scale is impeded by barriers that can be overcome thanks to specific supportive programmes and framing conditions. Beneficial framing conditions may reinforce pub-lic administrations to take action for sustainable energy and climate protection. This refers to the given legal framework, which can be improved by establishing climate protection as a statutory duty of communities and regions, institutionalized as a cross-sectional task. Moreover, the introduction of missing regulations and the removal of contra-dictory legislative regulations (e.g. adjust national regulations for building standards) can contribute to supportive conditions. Another important necessity is a coordinator

(staff and local ambassadors on behalf of the public administration). Sufficient financial and human resources must be guaranteed, especially paying fair salaries. Also, the creation of a strong relationship with the political sphere is advised as well as the training of climate protection managers in terms of administrative processes.The last but not the least finding recommends

the creation of a central contact point to facilitate knowledge transfer, the provision of data and con-sultancy.

B.A.U.M.


“Local Energy Communities - a way to produce more PV electricity in the region?”

Key findings from activities in community Sibrats-gfäll (Austria)

The "Clean Energy Package" of the EU is in imple-mentation in the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EAG) in Austria until the end of 2020. This will be the first time that consumers will have the right to generate, sell and share their own electricity in en-ergy communities. This model intends to achieve ecological, economic or socio-economic benefits through Local Energy Communities (LECs). It is cur-rently unclear when the EAEC will enter into force and what framework conditions it contains. A geo-graphical limitation of LECs and a performance lim-it are also under discussion.Eight communities of the energy region Vorder-

wald were interested in the current findings and legal framework conditions. For one of these the municipalities, the small community Sibratsgfäll, the FH Vorarlberg, Research Centre Energy (Markus Preißinger, Peter Kepplinger, Gerhard Huber) has

calculated the energy balance and economic effi-ciency for a concrete LEC composition under the assumption of various scenarios for IMEAS. In summary: from today’s point of view and the

assumptions made, an LEC is not economically prof-itable in the example considered, because the cost for electricity and the net in Vorarlberg are very low.

Energieinstitut Vorarlberg

“Elaboration of a Roadmap resulting in energy-political activities”

Key findings from activities in Allgäu Region (Ger-many)

In the frame of this German roadmap, eight Base-line Emission Inventories (BEI) were elaborated: seven for all counties and county-free cities in the region and one for Allgäu Region iteself. With this knowledge, quantified regional targets were de-fined with a clear time frame. Based on knowledge of the individual energy and

CO2 balances, a benchmarking was developed. In total, the IMEAS emission inventory finds out that within the entire region, from 2011 to 2016 the GHG-emissions decreased by 1,4% per year in average. None of the counties and cities reached the minimum average reduction of 2,4% per year, which is necessary for reaching the national goal of 95% GHG-reduction.Additionally, future scenarios for the develop-

ment until 2050 are derived. For the electricity sector, the largest expansion potential is in the pro-duction of solar energy and for the heat sector in the utilisation of heat pumps. Finally, an energy-political activity programme

was elaborated. The most important project will be to unite companies, organisations and administra-tions in a voluntary alliance for climate neutrality by the year 2030. Furthermore, a competition for the refurbishment of buildings is to be organised. Lastly, sector-specific impulse consultation campaigns for enterprises are to be initiated and new efficiency networks for companies shall be established.With knowledge of the global urgency for rapid

action in the field of climate protection, the objec-tive for a faster decarbonisation would be desir-able, e.g. by 2040 instead of 2050.

eza!Siebratsgfäll


Figure: Benchmark of all three county-free cities and all four counties in Allgäu region for the annual reduction of greenhouse gas emissions on average including the local mix for the years 2011 to 2016


»Obstacles in energy planning on a local scale«

Key findings from activities in Municipality of Celje (Slovenia)

The Local Energy Concept (LEK) is the baseline document in the local energy planning in Slovenia. In example of Municipality of Celje LEK was devel-oped with the support of IMEAS tools and guide-lines which showed exactly were major difficulties are.The process of LEK development for the Munici-

pality of Celje began in September 2018 and was finalised in February 2019. To bring LEK into reali-zation, a challenging period of data collection and analysis as well as policy coherence analysis were needed, that required an intensification of cooper-ation among relevant local and regional stakehold-ers. Besides obstacles deriving from lack of systemat-

ical cooperation, major deficiencies also appeared in data collecting process. Because energy man-agement is not obligatory for municipalities, or for any governance level at that matter, the Local En-ergy Concept Steering Committee team of the Mu-nicipality of Celje had to overcome the challenge of poor-existence of a systematical, comprehen-sive and coherent energy data collecting practice on a local, regional and overall national level. As a consequence of lack of unified instruments, meth-odologies and tools, the results of data analysis would not be easily comparable. The data collection for the analysis of the current

state of energy use and supply of the Municipality of Celje was challenging since data had to be col-lected from different sources, by interviewing pri-vate and public organisations (low response rate of the bussiness sector), through the implementation of energy audits, from several websites (Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, Institute for For-ests of Slovenia, Slovenian environmental agency, Municipality Association of Slovenia), from several different databases (municipal databases, databas-es of sectoral agencies and regional energy agen-cies, private and public campany databases) and from own surveys, measurments and fieldwork.In accordance with the national legislation, the fi-

nal proposal of LEK was submitted to the Ministry of Infrastructure for compliance review and confir-mation. Municipality is now obliged to report the

progress of the LEK implementation to a national body once a year. Since the achievement of goals is not obligatory at the national level, it is the initia-tive of each municipality to establish its individual reporting system and monitoring culture.

Municipality of Celje

Exchange among participantsDuring the IMEAS final event participants had

an opportunity to exchange their ideas and were asked to discuss among each other about key find-ings. Their ideas are summarized below.

Integration across governance levels and economic sectors

“Sustainability of initiatives is dependent on the quality of vertical policy integra-tion.”

“Vertical integration is the key for mobility up to policy integration.”

“Integrated approach mobility + energy (building +mobility).”

“Local-national level”

“Information must reach (key) tar-get-groups. Motivation of stakeholders.”

The integration across governance levels and across different economic sectors (silos) is crucial to guarantee the effectiveness of low-carbon strat-


egies and initiatives. It allows to align objectives, to overcome non-technological barriers and to pro-mote potential synergies.The energy transition process is based also on

transfer and management of knowledge. The dif-ficulties in accessing information and data and the lack of knowledge sharing make it necessary to create a central contact point where every actor can get consultancy (one-stop shop).The participation of all actors and stakeholders in

low-carbon initiatives is very important for initia-tives to be successful. The stakeholder’s involve-ment helps to consider their views and motivates them to support the activities and their implemen-tation.

Cooperative approach

“Cooperation including passing from wealthy to well-being.”

“Replicate cooperation for local energy communities and rural-urban.”

“Urban areas need support from rural ar-eas (resources, money).”

“Interest: to learn more about Local Ener-gy Autonomy Initiatives.”

“Cooperation on a wide range of topics can be useful: energy, food, etc.”

“Policy is important to change and create new strategy to reach greener purposes.”

“Key: EU as a resource not only for funds. EU is a reference to foster policy creation and implementation.”

“Legal framework.”

“Interested by the aggregation of data.”“A tool alone is not sufficient.”

“Everybody has good ideas, for example a good system of analysation data. This find-ing can be used to help industry in practice.”

“Difficulty to analyse complexity: impor-tance to share developed tools.”

“LC scenarios are cost effective, but there is the need for national/regional support. How to effectively communicate to munic-ipalities about actions?”

“Balanced approach between top-down (methodology), bottom-up (orientation), supported by territorial coordination ex-changing experiences/joint actions.”

“Use experience from projects and initia-tives on data: H2020 more tech, Interreg + implement.”

“Importance to have access-find DATA.”

Cooperative approaches are fundamental for the transition to a low-carbon society. They include co-operation across governance levels and economic sectors and cooperation between territories. The sharing of experiences and best practices from suc-cessful initiatives must be promoted and needs to involve all actors. Cooperation experiences from local energy communities and between urban and rural areas are promising. The lessons learned will be shared to support replication in other territo-ries.

The availability of good quality data and the use of appropriate software tools are essential for the definition of future low-carbon scenarios. The main barrier in the modelling activities is the lack of data or the difficulty to access them. Experiences from initiatives and projects dealing with data collection and management and with the use of SW mod-elling tools must be capitalized and supported by higher governance levels (regional and national).

The key role of policy

Availability of data and reliability of tools


Commitment from policy makers and govern-ments is crucial to support the initiatives from the different governance levels and to trigger action to achieve energy and environmental targets through coordinated activities. The highest governance lev-els (Country levels and European Union) are essen-tial to establish new regulations and to foster new strategies implementation and financing.

Energy transition in the transport sector

“Solar energy and hydrogen are key ele-ments to improve better transportation.”

“Co-funding of public transport systems.”

“H2 technology is only a minor part of the silos.”

“Transport network.”

“Take action!”

“How to sensitise not only young people, but old. How can we create a helpful sen-sitisation in practice?”

The transport sector is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels and its decarbonisation can be driven

Low-carbon transition processes have already started, but energy systems and consumer be-haviours are changing at a slow rate. The partici-pants launch a call to action, especially to policy makers and central governments for the develop-ment of sustainable long-term energy policies and at the same time for a strong sensitisation of citi-zens on energy and environmental issues.

by the use of electric and fuel-cell vehicles. In or-der to increase the decarbonization of the trans-port sector, co-funding is needed, both to achieve competitive prices and to implement the proper infrastructure. The audience underlines the neces-sity to include multiple measures, based on the ter-ritorial features (e.g. synthetic gas, biofuels, etc.).

Involve and act

For more information visit IMEAS Website: www.alpine-space.eu/projects/imeas/

and IMEAS Web Platform: www.imeas.eu

It's a wrap!€¦ · transition”, formulated as a workshop within the 3rd EUSALP Annual Forum,...

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