REPORTS ON THE OUTREACH AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING TO...

REPORTS ON THE OUTREACH AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING

TO OTHER VILLAGES

© Nike Krajnc, GIS Project Title: Bioenergy Villages (BioVill) - Increasing the Market Uptake of Sustainable Bioenergy Grant Agreement N° 691661 Deliverable N° 6.4 Individual reports per target country partner on the outreach and knowledge sharing

to other villages Lead Partner: GIS

Submission date: February 2019

BioVill – D6.4 Reports on the outreach and knowledge sharing to other villages

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme

under Grant Agreement N° 691661

Imprint

This document is issued by the consortium formed for the implementation of the BioVill project under Grant Agreement N° 691661 by the following partners: GIZ - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (Germany) WIP – Wirtschaft und Infrastruktur GmbH & Co Planungs- KG (Germany) KEA - Klimaschutz- und Energieagentur Baden-Württemberg (Germany) AEA – Österreichische Energieagentur Austrian Energy Agency (Austria) REGEA – Regionalna Energetska Agencija Sjeverozapadne Hrvatske (Croatia) SDEWES-Skopje – International Centre for Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems - Macedonian Section (Macedonia) GEA – Asociatia Green Energy (Romania) GIS – Gozdarski Institut Slovenije (Slovenia) SKGO – Stalna Konferencija Gradova i Opstina (Serbia) Lead Partner for the compilation of this document: GIS – Gozdarski Institut Slovenije (Slovenia)

Contact: Gozdarski Institut Slovenije (Slovenia) Večna pot 2 1000 Ljubljana Mrs. Nike Krajnc Tel: +386 1 200 7817 Fax: +386 1 257 3589 E-mail: [email protected] Authors of this report: Darja Stare and Nike Krajnc (GIS) Copyrights: © 2019 by authors. No part of this work may be reproduced by print, photocopy or any other means without the permission in written from the main authors. Disclaimer: Neither GIZ nor any other consortium member nor the authors will accept any liability at any time for any kind of damage or loss that might occur to anybody from referring to this document. In addition, neither the European Commission nor the Agencies (or any person acting on their behalf) can be held responsible for the use made of the information provided in this document. Further information about the BioVill project on: www.biovill.eu

http://www.biovill.eu/


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Content

List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................................... 4

List of Figures .............................................................................................................................................................. 5

Abbreviations and acronyms ....................................................................................................................................... 6

Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................................................... 7

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 8

1.1 The BioVill project .............................................................................................................................................. 8

1.2 Scope of the task/deliverable............................................................................................................................. 8

2. Outreach and Knowledge Sharing Activities for Follower Villages in Croatia ...................................................... 10

2.1 Villages from Krapina-Zagorje County ............................................................................................................. 10

2.2 Villages from surrounding areas of Perušić ..................................................................................................... 11

3. Outreach and Knowledge Sharing Activities for Follower Villages in Macedonia ................................................ 13

3.1 Village Chashka ................................................................................................................................................. 13

3.2 Village Delchevo ............................................................................................................................................... 15

4. Outreach and Knowledge Sharing Activities for Follower Villages in Romania ................................................... 18

4.1 Village Brețcu .................................................................................................................................................... 19

4.2 Village Belin ...................................................................................................................................................... 20

4.3 Village Locodeni ................................................................................................................................................ 21

5. Outreach and Knowledge Sharing Activities for Follower Villages in Serbia ....................................................... 23

5.1 Villages Drenovac and Sevarice ........................................................................................................................ 23

5.2 Village Usce ....................................................................................................................................................... 24

6. Outreach and Knowledge Sharing Activities for Follower Villages in Slovenia .................................................... 26

6.1 Village Loški Potok ............................................................................................................................................ 26

6.2 Village Žiri ......................................................................................................................................................... 27

6.3 Village Zreče ..................................................................................................................................................... 29


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List of Tables

Table 1: Agenda of the event in follower village Chashka. ............................................................................................. 13

Table 2: Workshop agenda for the follower villages Drenovac and Sevarice ............................................................... 23


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List of Figures

Figure 1: First outreach knowledge sharing event, 24th July 2018, Krapina-Zagorje county (Source: REGEA). ............................................................................................................................................................ 10

Figure 2: Second outreach knowledge sharing event, 8th December 2018, Faculty of Science (Source: REGEA). ............................................................................................................................................................ 11

Figure 3: Ljupcho Dimov discussing the three-phase concept planned in Kichevo (© SDEWES-Skopje). ................... 14

Figure 4: Vasil Bozhikaliev presenting the bioenergy village approach (© SDEWES-Skopje). ..................................... 15

Figure 5: Ljupcho Dimov discussing prospects with the audience (© Municipality of Delchevo). .............................. 16

Figure 6: Participants filling out the feedback form at the event (© SDEWES-Skopje). ............................................... 17

Figure 7: BioVill site visit and seminar in Romania, GEA. ............................................................................................... 19

Figure 8: BioVill Meeting in Brețcu, Romania. ................................................................................................................ 20

Figure 9: Presentation of the bioenergy village concept in Belin, Romania. ................................................................. 21

Figure 10: BioVill site visit in Locodeni, Romania. ........................................................................................................... 22

Figure 11: Prof. Dr. Dejan Ivezic presenting at the workshop on bioenergy villages ................................................... 24

Figure 12: Slobodan Jerotic presenting at the workshop on bioenergy villages ........................................................... 24

Figure 13: UNDP and BioVill experts and representatives of City of Kraljevo and local community of Usce. ................................................................................................................................................................ 25

Figure 14: Mayor of Loški Potok and representative of wood cooperative Loški Potok actively participated at BioVill training seminar. ........................................................................................................ 26

Figure 15: Mayor of Loški Potok presented their idea of following BioVill concept. .................................................... 27

Figure 16: Study visit of representatives of the follower village Žiri to the BioVill target village Dole. ....................... 28


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Abbreviations and acronyms

DHS District heating system e.g. exempli gratia (lt.); for example GEA Asociatia Green Energy (Romania) GIS Gozdarski Institut Slovenije (Slovenia) GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (Germany) i.e. id est (lt.; it is) ICT Information and communication technologies MoP Member of Parliament kW Kilowatt MWh Megawatt hours NGO Non-governmental organization REGEA Regionalna Energetska Agencija Sjeverozapadne Hrvatske (Croatia) SDEWES-Skopje International Centre for Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and

Environment Systems - Macedonian Section (Macedonia) SKGO Stalna Konferencija Gradova i Opstina (Serbia) UNDP United Nations Development Programme WIP Wirtschaft und Infrastruktur GmbH & Co Planungs- KG (Germany) ZELS Association of the Units of Local Self Government in Macedonia


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Executive Summary

Representatives of 21 follower villages, interested in the bioenergy village concept, participated at the outreach and knowledge sharing events provided by the BioVill project. The purpose was to inform key stakeholders and local inhabitants about the opportunities (financial and non-financial) of bioenergy solutions as well as to promote biomass heating systems and the bioenergy village approach. The BioVill partners carried out the outreach and knowledge sharing activities in three steps:

1. Identification of follower villages and description how they were identified, either by information request or by active proposition of the BioVill partners,

2. Organization of outreach and knowledge sharing events and publication of information 3. Collection of lessons learnt, feedback of participants and preparation of the report.

In Croatia, the project partners organized two events, which included key stakeholders from 10 follower villages. Altogether 67 participants, among which were important local, regional and national (political) decision makers, took part at the events. The Macedonian project partners organized two events focusing on 2 follower municipalities, representing several villages & settlements. Altogether 56 participants were involved in the outreach and knowledge sharing activities. Even more people in the follower municipalities received information about the bioenergy village approach through articles and press releases that were published in 7 different local and national newspapers and social media. Two outreach and knowledge sharing seminars were organized in Romania by the project partners, targeting on 3 follower villages. Altogether 50 participants took part at the events. In addition, 3 more meetings with important local stakeholders and decision makers were held, one per follower village. In Serbia, the project partners identified 3 interested follower villages which were included in different project activities. Two seminars with 40 participants in total were organized. Further, representatives of these follower villages also participated at other activities of the BioVill project in Serbia. The Slovenian project partners identified 3 villages that are interested to follow the concept of a bioenergy village. Representatives of these follower villages were involved in many outreach and knowledge sharing activities, either organised specifically for the follower villages or other information and training events facilitated by the BioVill project. Around 127 people of the follower villages were directly involved in these outreach and knowledge sharing activities. Altogether, the outreach and knowledge sharing events reached up to 340 people from 21 follower villages and municipalities in the BioVill partner countries Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. But this figure is much larger, if one considers that fact, that the information and knowledge was further spread by the participants to other peoples (e.g. family members, colleagues, neighbours etc.) which could not attend the events organised by the BioVill project.


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1. Introduction

1.1 The BioVill project

BioVill is a three years project supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme with a budget of around 1.99 Mio EUR. The project started in March 2016 and is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in collaboration with 8 partners from the BioVill target partner countries Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia, as well as from Germany and Austria. Many South East European countries have high biomass potentials, but they are often not or only inefficiently used for local energy supply and regional economic development. Thus, the overall objective of the BioVill project is to support the development of regional bioenergy concepts and the establishment of bioenergy villages in Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. This will be achieved by identifying suitable biomass value chains according to local and regional needs and transferring existing experiences in Austria, Germany and other European countries to the South-Eastern European partners. Thereby the market uptake of domestic bioenergy supply chains will be increased and the role of locally produced biomass as a main source of energy supply and added value for the local and regional economy will be strengthened. Core activities of the BioVill project include national and local framework analyses, technological and economic assessments of local bioenergy value chains, development of the institutional set-up and energy management concepts for the potential Bioenergy villages as well as capacity building on financing schemes and business models. As a key factor of success, the BioVill project uses a multi stakeholder approach fostering the involvement and active participation of the citizens and all relevant stakeholders in the planning and implementation process. Major results of the BioVill project will be the initiation of at least five bioenergy villages in the target partner countries up to the investment stage for physical infrastructure, the raise of public acceptance and awareness of a sustainable bioenergy production and its commercial opportunities as well as increased capacities of users and key actors in business and legislation to sustainably manage bioenergy villages and to enact national and EU legislation. Altogether the BioVill project will contribute to the expansion and sustainability of the bioenergy markets in Europe and the European Union.

1.2 Scope of the task/deliverable

BioVill partners committed themselves to identify at least 10 interested villages, so called “follower villages” (2 per each partner country) and to organise a joint knowledge sharing event in order to present to them the BioVill project and its experiences and (interim) results. The main idea behind is, that these follower villages will be informed and enabled to implement the concept of bioenergy villages and will learn from the experiences made in the BioVill target villages. The report provides for each partner country information on the process of identifying and selecting the follower villages as well as implementing the knowledge sharing events. BioVill partners identified the follower villages either by an information request from the respective village or by actively addressing key stakeholders from potential follower villages with favourable framework conditions for becoming a bioenergy village. GIS as task leader provided the other BioVill partners suggestions for selection criteria to identify villages with high potentials to become bioenergy village, e.g.:

Motivation and interest on the development by residents or local authorities,

Solving local (economic and environmental) problems with new and innovative ideas,

Relevant activities already implemented and/or plans for the future, e.g. related to clean air, construction of new residential areas etc.

In the identified follower villages, BioVill partners organized different promotion and information exchange events and promoted the BioVill project and its experiences and achievements. The idea of bioenergy villages was presented, also using the BioVill promotion video, and discussed with key stakeholders. Relevant project deliverables as well as further information materials were disseminated in order to promote the bioenergy village approach. Knowledge sharing activities that were implemented are:

Joint meetings with local authorities, e.g. during regular meetings of local authorities of a region

Information exchange/expert inputs, e.g. during citizens information events in the target villages, conferences, workshops etc.


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Promotion campaigns among younger population, e.g. research projects in primary or high schools

Study tours/visits, e.g. to the BioVill target villages or other best practice examples. These outreach and knowledge sharing activities addressed the following key actors and target groups of the identified follower villages:

Local authorities competent to propose/change norms, regulations and plans (policy makers, public authorities, management bodies, energy agencies etc.),

Environmental associations,

Energy and forest enterprises,

Technicians and professional associations that deal with bioenergy,

SMEs, e.g. local farmers and foresters,

Pupils and teachers of primary and secondary schools,

Interested public, e.g. citizens/residents of the follower villages. The report also includes some final remarks/assessments of the foreseen further steps and plans in the follower villages.


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2. Outreach and Knowledge Sharing Activities for Follower Villages in Croatia

2.1 Villages from Krapina-Zagorje County

First outreach and knowledge sharing event was held in the Krapina-Zagorje county, on 24th July 2018. Krapina-Zagorje county, as one of the founders of the North-West Croatia Regional Energy Agency – REGEA, and the founder of many public institutions (schools, hospitals and similar), is responsible for the energy management of all buildings used by these institutions. Krapina-Zagorje county, with support from REGEA has already implemented a large number of projects aimed at reconstruction and renovation of its public buildings, but they still have inefficient heating. Krapina-Zagorje county recognizes the increased of biomass and bioenergy as a key aspect to local and regional development, which also leads to numerous positive impacts such as increased local economy and new employment, increased environment protection at local levels and others. BioVill project is of special interest to Krapina-Zagorje county. With more than 40% of the county surface covered by forest, Krapina-Zagorje county is one of the richest counties with natural resources for implementing biomass projects. Furthermore, approximately 55% of the county inhabitants use wood as their only or primary energy source for heating. Krapina-Zagorje was chosen since REGEA has good long-standing cooperation with the county. Additionally, Krapina-Zagorje county, REGEA and 5 municipalities and one city within the county in 2014 signed a Memorandum of understanding for the establishment of biomass district heating systems. REGEA has also made prefeasibility studies for district heating systems for 6 areas in Krapina-Zagorje county. Stakeholders and citizens from 6 area (Donja Stubica, Bedekovčina, Klanjec, Stubičke Toplice, Jesenje, Radoboj) are interested in the development of their own regional district heating network. The event gathered 22 representatives of the regional and local government, among others the county prefect and employees of the county as well as representatives of the council from 2 potential follower villages – Bedekovčina and Donja Stubica. The main objective of the event was to present the concept of a bioenergy village, best practice examples and all important implementation steps to interested stakeholders and decision makers from potential follower villages. The event was combined with the activity T7.2, for more information see deliverable D7.2.

Figure 1: First outreach knowledge sharing event, 24th July 2018, Krapina-Zagorje county (Source: REGEA).

The main goal of the event was to increase the trust of the follower villages’ decision makers in bioenergy projects through the seminar as well as to create a better understanding for the bioenergy village concept and for the steps, which lead to a bioenergy village. The general discussions were very fruitful, with participants sharing their experiences and ideas for the future development of regional biomass supply chains in the Krapina-Zagorje county. Participants also pointed out the still underdeveloped biomass market, which is a main risk regarding the bioenergy projects. The representative of the regional authority additionally stressed the importance of a sufficiently informed and sensitized public, while other stakeholders highlighted the funding of bioenergy projects and investments as a potential risk. All stakeholders see the public opinion on the use of biomass very positive given that many public buildings and households especially in rural areas use biomass (firewood and pellets mostly) but the investment in boilers is costly. There is also a well-recognized potential for the increase of production of forest biomass, specifically woodchips. Finally, all stakeholders from the county concluded increased utilization of biomass and bioenergy as a key aspect to local and regional development, which also leads to numerus positive impacts such as increased local economy and new employment, increased environment protection at local level and others. BioVill project is fully in line with


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the overall policy and strategic documents of Krapina-Zagorje county and thus they are very interested in cooperation and knowledge exchange with the Croatian target municipalities of this project, Lekenik and Perušić.

2.2 Villages from surrounding areas of Perušić

The second joint outreach and knowledge sharing event with key stakeholders was held in Zagreb at the Faculty of Science on 8th December 2018. REGEA has a good cooperation with scientific institutions, and they are interested to learn more about bioenergy projects for future scientific analyses and research studies. The event attracted 45 participants, e.g. representatives and citizens of Perušić and Lekenik municipalities, from the follower villages Donja Stubica, Bedekovčina, Klanjec, Stubičke Toplice, Jesenje Radoboj – all from Krapina Zagorje county, from surrounding municipalities of Perušić - Brinje, Karlobag, Lovinac and the town Gospić. Further, students from several faculties, e.g. Science, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Technology, participated at the event. In total, REGEA has identified 10 follower villages in Croatia, 6 from Krapina Zagorje county and 4 neighbouring communities of Perušić. The main goal was to present to the follower communities’ up-to-date knowledge about the bioenergy village approach, best practice examples for existing bioenergy villages throughout Europe and experiences gained during the ongoing development process in the Croatian target villages Perušić and Lekenik. Participants were introduced to the bioenergy village concept and exchanged views on the possibilities for multiplication of Lekenik and Perušić projects in their communities. Further, several best practice examples from Austria and Germany and practical experiences gained from the BioVill study tours were presented. Participants were familiarized with the most important steps to set-up a bioenergy village, including potential institutional and business models that ensure the realization of the bioenergy project and energy self-sufficiency concept under the Croatian local conditions.

Figure 2: Second outreach knowledge sharing event, 8th December 2018, Faculty of Science (Source: REGEA).


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For the event, REGEA invited the most relevant stakeholders from BioVill follower villages and from local authorities that can influence and initiate processes of the implementation of the BioVill concept in local communities. The very intensive discussions and the reflection at the end showed that the participants were satisfied with the event and the provided information. They especially liked what they learned about the new bioenergy village concept, about the possibilities for its implementation in Croatia and about the benefits that it brings to the local communities. REGEA also offered further assistance to develop a concept for implementation of the bioenergy village approach in their local communities. A final conclusion was, that cooperation between citizens and cities/municipalities/follower communities is the key to initiate changes and improve the quality of life, reduce inequalities between communes, produce energy from wood and other renewable resources, use clean and affordable energy, and be a sustainable community, meanwhile protecting the environment. All participants agreed that more help and good practice examples from Austria, Germany and other countries are needed to provide new ideas on how to accomplish the pilot projects in target villages in Croatia. Thus, the BioVill target villages together with REGEA will continue with the dissemination and information sharing to strengthen sustainable bioenergy projects in Croatian rural areas and beyond.


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3. Outreach and Knowledge Sharing Activities for Follower Villages in Macedonia

At the beginning of the BioVill project, SDEWES-Skopje opened a call for becoming the Macedonian target village by contacting (via email and phone) the Energy Efficiency Network within the Association of the Units of Local Self Government (ZELS) in Skopje. In total 8 municipalities responded to the call, expressed their interest and sent their applications. Key players and developers of the applications were the municipal advisers and managers engaged with energy efficiency, information and communication technologies (ICT), local economic development, planning and urban development. During the time of evaluation of the submitted applications, 4 municipalites (Chashka, Delchevo, Kichevo and Kriva Palanka) were shortlisted and only one (Kichevo) was selected as a target village, while the rest of them were kept as follower villages. Representatives of the target and follower villages have jointly participated in the training course on bioenergy projects for the financial sector carried out on 31st May 2017 in the premises of ZELS Skopje (see Deliverable 5.3). SDEWES-Skopje further included the follower villages into the project activities by organizing the BioVill seminar in Kriva Palanka (see Deliverable 7.2) and 2 outreach and knowledge sharing events in Chashka and Delchevo (Task 6.4). The activities aimed at sharing the BioVill project results, transferring know how and experiences and contributing to a successful multiplication of the bioenergy village approach in the country.

3.1 Village Chashka

The first village selected for carrying out outreach and knowledge sharing activities in the country was the municipality of Chashka. It is part of the country’s Vardar Planning Region, consists of an administrative centre and 42 settlements, comprises an area of 825 km², and has 7,673 inhabitants. Chashka’s nearby region is characterized by lowlands, hills and mountains. The total area under forests is around 420 ha, while 586 households own forests. Besides biomass, great potential is seen in the utilization of residues from agriculture, greenhouse farming and gardening, especially of the by products from rise production. Construction of small hydro power plants is also popular in the region, due to the ample water resources. In order to spread out the idea of the BioVill project and to instigate a future replication, SDEWES-Skopje team organized a knowledge sharing meeting with the citizens, titled “Presentation of the BioVill project: Opportunities for similar projects in follower communities” on July 25, 2018 in the municipal premises. In total 24 participants attended the meeting, mainly representatives of the local administration, but also 2 representatives of the public utility “Topolka”, 1 of the company Agronimeks, 1 of the Agency for Agricultural Development in the neighbouring municipality of Veles, 4 citizens and 3 representatives of SDEWES Skopje. The agenda is given below. Table 1: Agenda of the event in follower village Chashka.

11:00 – 11:10 Welcome address, Natasha Markovska (SDEWES-Skopje)

11:10 – 11:15 Presentation of project animation video

11:15 – 11:45 General presentation of the BioVill project and presentation of the project in Kichevo, Vasil Bozhikaliev (SDEWES-Skopje)

11:45 – 12:30 Interactive discussion: Opportunities for similar projects in the municipality of Chashka, Ljupcho Dimov (SDEWES-Skopje)

After the welcome address and the project animation video, Vasil Bozhikaliev of SDEWES-Skopje, gave a presentation on the BioVill project, starting with the key facts, characteristics, activities and best practice examples. Following the steps for setting-up a bioenergy village, he explained the development of the bioenergy village concept in Kichevo, concluding with some recommendations for the future replication in Chashka that stem from both the project in Kichevo, and the experiences from Austria and Germany witnessed during the study tours. Ljupcho Dimov, representative of SDEWES-Skopje and the municipality of Karposh, moderated the interactive discussion. He illustrated an example of a small individual woodchip-fuelled heating system already working in a primary school in Karposh, Skopje. The participants were pleased to hear that the waste biomass from parks and greenery is used in such an efficient and sustainable manner. Further, a representative of a private company shared his opinion on using the current national feed-in tariff system aimed at supporting the production of electricity from renewable energy sources. He emphasized the need for more subsidies, particularly for biogas production from agricultural residues in the region. The municipal adviser for ICT and energy efficiency stressed the endeavours the municipality undertakes by engaging in projects for photovoltaics in schools used as teaching tools as well, and in assessing the energy consumption of the municipal buildings, public enterprises and schools. However, he stated that further assessments are still needed. The municipality currently focuses on the reconstruction of the public


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lighting, where the benefits from applying energy efficiency measures can be felt already. The latter is part of the municipal Energy Efficiency Programme 2016-2019. Also, campaigns for promotion of the hydro potential have been implemented so far. At the end of the discussion, the participants agreed that the bioenergy village initiative in Chashka, as in the case of Kichevo, could start with the public buildings, due to their purposes and higher energy demand. A concrete idea encompassing several adjacent public buildings has been already developed and support in conducting energy audits was asked from SDEWES-Skopje members, who agreed to stay in touch with the municipality for the next steps. SDEWES-Skopje composed a feedback form based on a previously provided template by the GIZ, so as to measure the opinion of the participants and collect their personal feedback regarding the event. The form is divided into 5 questions, whereof 4 to be graded on a 1 to 5 scale and the fifth question left for additional comments and suggestions. The questions were as follows: 1) How satisfied were you with the event, 2) How much have you learned, 3) How much can you use the newly gained knowledge, 4) How much can you forward the knowledge to your colleagues and citizens and 5) What comments and suggestions have you got to improve such events. Summing up the results of the inquiry, the response rate reached 75%, while respondents gave an average grade of 4.3, 4, 3.6, and 4.1 to the questions 1-4 respectively, which implies that they assess the event as successful. In the comment section (5th question) the respondents suggested: participation of representatives of the forest enterprises, field visit to a best practice example with thorough explanations and a Q&A session and increased exploitation of the abundant biomass and biogas sources for production of heat and electricity in Chashka. Further, printouts of information materials, such as the project flyer, the promotion sheets on logwood, pellet and woodchip heating systems and the concept brochure on Kichevo’s case study, were distributed to the participants. Following the event, an article was published on the BioVill’s website in English and Macedonian language.12

Figure 3: Ljupcho Dimov discussing the three-phase concept planned in Kichevo (© SDEWES-Skopje).

1 http://www.biovill.eu/outreach-and-knowledge-sharing-event-in-the-municipality-of-chashka/ 2 https://tinyurl.com/y8j8dyjt

http://www.biovill.eu/outreach-and-knowledge-sharing-event-in-the-municipality-of-chashka/

https://tinyurl.com/y8j8dyjt


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Figure 4: Vasil Bozhikaliev presenting the bioenergy village approach (© SDEWES-Skopje).

3.2 Village Delchevo

The second village, where outreach and knowledge activities took place, was the municipality of Delchevo. It is located in the northeastern part of the country, close to the border with Bulgaria, and has 11.500 citizens. Besides the town Delchevo, the municipality involves 22 settlements. The surrounding region is predominantly mountainous. Existing bioenergy sources are forest biomass (pine, oak, beech) and agricultural residues, e.g. seeds and branches from cherries and plums, and residues from cereal production. In the region, 4 sawmills have been operating for more than 20 years, while 2 production facilities for pellets and briquettes were built in 2011 and 2013. Having in mind the available resources and the high potential for a prospective implementation of the bioenergy village approach as well as for a replication of the project planned in Kichevo, the SDEWES-Skopje team organised an information day for citizens, on 13th September 2018, in the Cultural Centre “Nikola Jonkov Vapcarov”, located in the Town Hall. The event was titled “Presentation of the BioVill project: Opportunities for similar projects in follower communities” and was conducted according to the same agenda. A total of 32 persons attended the event. More than one third of the participants were representatives of the local self-government, including the mayor. Further, also representatives of the Parliament, the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Agency for Promotion and Support of Tourism in the Republic of Macedonia, the Association of Producers of Organic Products "Aronia", the educational institutions (high school and kindergarten), the public utility, NGOs, media and citizens took part. The BioVill project and the current developments in the target community Kichevo were introduced with the project animation video and the general and country-specific project presentation. In the discussion, Ms Stojchevska, Member of Parliament, who is also a forest engineer, took the floor to give some comments and recommendations from a legislative perspective. The first remark was about the Law on Forests whose future amendments must enable 100% utilization of the forest residues. Delchevo’s annual harvest of solid wood is about 30.000 m3, and 10-20% are residues in the case of deciduous trees. The utilization of these residues would cause a double effect, in terms of spacing and cleaning the forests and heating the public buildings. Further, she talked about the solar potential of the region, where two projects for photovoltaics have been developed to date. Financing was requested by applying to the World Bank. The mayor also highlighted the current situation in the municipality, underlining the need for more studies about the energy demand of buildings. Every public building should have energy certificate, but unfortunately, Delchevo is currently lacking energy auditors. The municipality has an Energy Efficiency Programme compliant with the World Bank methodology, a Strategy for Local Economic Development and a Local Ecological Action plan. These documents outline the realization of projects dedicated to energy efficiency of buildings and public lighting and to renewable energy sources. Finances are usually allocated from the municipal budget or provided by the EU’s IPA funds. At the end of the discussion, the opulence of local resources was again highlighted. Ljupcho Dimov, as a certified energy auditor, offered his support and expertise in assessing the energy demands of public buildings, which would help the municipality to come up with concrete ideas for projects and more importantly, would set out an example for the private owners of buildings. Key drivers and focal points of the


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future initiatives would be the adviser for local economic development and planning, and the head of the unit for urban development. At the end, SDEWES-Skopje handed out the feedback form to the participants to receive their assessment of the event. Summarized, the response rate was 66% and the respondents gave an average grade of 4.5, 4.3, 3.9, and 4.1 to the questions 1-4 respectively, which implies their overall satisfaction with the event. In the comment section (5th question) the respondents suggested to include more experts in the field and to develop a study for utilization of plum seeds as waste biomass for energy production. Other participants stated, that the presentation was excellent and the discussion was interactive and they expressed their hopes that the investors will realise the project in Kichevo. As in Chashka, printouts of information material (flyers, sheets, brochures) were disseminated amongst the attendees and an article in English and local language was published on the BioVill’s website3,4, and in several local and national media5,6,7,8,9,10.

Figure 5: Ljupcho Dimov discussing prospects with the audience (© Municipality of Delchevo).

3 http://www.biovill.eu/outreach-and-knowledge-sharing-event-in-the-municipality-of-delchevo/ 4 https://tinyurl.com/yace7mq6 5 https://www.facebook.com/delcevo365.mk/videos/536786070114166/ 6 https://tinyurl.com/ybz82spf 7 https://www.mia.mk/mk/Inside/RenderSingleNews/134/134453589 8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unpsh0d7nUQ 9 https://tinyurl.com/y85gj9vj 10 https://tinyurl.com/ycg7wdsl

http://www.biovill.eu/outreach-and-knowledge-sharing-event-in-the-municipality-of-delchevo/

https://tinyurl.com/yace7mq6

https://www.facebook.com/delcevo365.mk/videos/536786070114166/

https://tinyurl.com/ybz82spf

https://www.mia.mk/mk/Inside/RenderSingleNews/134/134453589

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unpsh0d7nUQ

https://tinyurl.com/y85gj9vj

https://tinyurl.com/ycg7wdsl


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Figure 6: Participants filling out the feedback form at the event (© SDEWES-Skopje).


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4. Outreach and Knowledge Sharing Activities for Follower Villages in Romania

In the beginning of the BioVill project GEA organized a national competition between the villages who wanted to be part of the project and to become a bioenergy village in Romania. After the selection process two villages were selected as BioVill target villages, namely Estelnic and Ghelința. For the other villages, which submitted an application and were not selected as target villages, the opportunity was offered, to follow the BioVill project activities as so-called follower villages. Three BioVill follower villages were selected in Romania, namely, Brețcu, Belin and Locodeni, mainly based on their active involvement in the BioVill events, on their willingness to use biomass for energy production and to invest into bioenergy facilities on local level. Moreover, thanks to the well-developed collaboration between GEA from Romania and the Energy and Biomass Cluster from Republic of Moldova, the BioVill concept was disseminated to the Republic of Moldova as well. The cluster's mission from Republic of Moldova is to connect representatives of the economic environment with support organizations, research, universities and public administration, in order to strengthen cooperation to stimulate innovation and disseminate knowledge of biomass in Republic of Moldova. In this perspective, representatives of GEA from Romania visited the Moldavian cluster and presented the BioVill concept within the framework of EU Sustainable Energy Week, 4-10 of June 2018 in Chișinău and again on 1st October 2018. Once the follower villages have been identified, different promotion and information exchange events were organized and the representatives of the BioVill villages participated in these events. While the partners participated in BioVill activities the BioVill concept was promoted using promotion videos. After the presentation of the BioVill concept, the idea of establishment of bioenergy villages was discussed with the key stakeholders in the follower villages. In order to ensure the information exchange and the active involvement of the key actors conducted discussions were organized. The local stakeholders from BioVill target villages described the gained experiences from the BioVill study tours and new ideas have been identified. Local technology providers were invited to the BioVill meetings who shared know-how on current technology with the key actors from the BioVill follower villages. Moreover, the technical assessment from the Romanian BioVill target villages was presented in order to give a concrete idea about the potential technology approach in the follower villages. In addition, several leaflets and brochures were shared among the participants from the BioVill follower villages. A seminar was organised as knowledge sharing activity for BioVill follower villages on 26th July in Sanzieni, Covasna county. It took place at the Sanzieni Community Center. The event was organized jointly in collaboration with the Angustia Leader Group from Felső-Háromszék region, which is part of Covasna county. From the micro-region, more than 20 stakeholders came to the BioVill Seminar, mostly young people interested in new business opportunities in rural area, e.g. bioenergy utilization etc. In the same time decision makers from local authorities also participated in this event. At the seminar, the participants received detailed information on the BioVill concept, BioVill best practices, etc. On the 29th January 2019 GEA organized a BioVill site visit and seminar for follower villages and other relevant stakeholders from the region for which two bioenergy experts from Germany were invited, from St. Peter, Baden-Würtenberg and from WIP, München. On this seminar about 30 stakeholders participated and the following bioenergy facilities were visited:

Small biomass based district heating system at Zabola Estate, with an installed biomass boiler capacity of 500 kW, a heating distribution system of more than 500 m and an annual thermal energy production of more than 1,200 MWh.

Biomass based ovens at local bakery in Ghelința, 4 biomass ovens are installed in the last two years with a total capacity of 500 kW, annual thermal energy production is 3,500 MWh.

Mayoralty of Ghelința, new offices are under construction at the building, and a woodchip boiler is foreseen for heating with a capacity of 100 kW and an average annual thermal energy production of 200 MWh.

Micro district heating system in Estelnic, where 150 kW biomass boiler is installed to heat the Angustia Leader Group Office, Cultural Center and mayoralty with an average 270 MWh annual thermal energy production.

After the site visit in BioVill target villages, Mr. Markus Bohnert, representative of Bürger Energie St. Peter e. G. (Citizen Energy Cooperative) in St. Peter, Baden-Würtenberg gave a presentation about the local bioenergy initiative and achievements in last decade in St. Peter. Mr. Dominik Rutz, representative of WIP, gave the second presentation and provided practical tips and suggestions how to organize the local energy cooperative. He further outlined, what are the benefits of a bioenergy system on local level and how to develop a local bioenergy value chain.


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Figure 7: BioVill site visit and seminar in Romania, GEA.

On the 6th February 2019 another seminar has been organized in Bancu, Harghita county, together with NaturClean Association. The Association has currently three main activities: cleaning of the forest area after harvesting, preparing of the soil for planting the seedlings and pre-cleaning as well as biomass production from forest and mountain pasture area management. These services are supported by the social enterprises of the association with the aim of processing and selling of green waste and wood chips for local biomass consumers in the future. On this event different stakeholders participated, like representatives of local authorities from several rural municipalities from Harghita county, forest enterprises and forest owner associations, local foresters, local entrepreneurs, etc.

4.1 Village Brețcu

The municipality is located in Covasna county with 3550 inhabitants. In Brețcu nowadays all public institutions have natural gas-based heating systems with around 1,5 MW installed capacities in total. In the same time the local Forest Owner Association has more than 6,400 ha private forest. According to the mayor and the president of the local Forest Owner Association the biomass supply can be ensured from local forest management and mountain pasture cleaning activity. The local authorities are motivated to use local wood biomass to supply the heat energy demand in public institutions. So far, the biomass boiler technology was not known by the local stakeholders from Brețcu. But now, after they have learned about the advantages of the biomass-based heating systems their interest was continuously increasing. In the municipality, energy expenses are the second biggest outgoing payments after the labour costs at the municipality of Brețcu, therefore for them is crucial to implement measures to reduce the energy expenses. On the other side from environmental point of view the forest residuals in the local private owned forests were not managed properly, significant residuals were left in the forest without any valorisation in the previous years. With the elaborated new and innovative ideas, the municipality is going to prepare a feasibility study about implementation of local biomass-based district heating system for public institutions with an estimated nominal capacity of 1.5 MW. The energy expenses could be reduced by 30-40% after the implementation of such a project. Joint BioVill meetings in BioVill follower village Brețcu: Beyond that the representatives from BioVill follower villages participated in BioVill regular meetings, special meetings were also organized in the follower villages. On the 13th September 2018 an operative meeting has been organized by the BioVill project with the local authorities and relevant stakeholders in Brețcu. During this meeting the members of local council and the mayor from Brețcu decided to apply for financial subsidies on the national call „POIM 6.1 Call for projects to support investment in biomass/biogas and geothermal energy capacities to produce electricity and/or heat from biomass” in Romania. Main topics of the meeting were the biomass utilization, potential financial support for implementation of bioenergy facilities and development of a local biomass value chain.


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Figure 8: BioVill Meeting in Brețcu, Romania.

4.2 Village Belin

Municipality of Belin is a small rural settlement in Covasna county with 1370 inhabitants. The municipality is located predominantly in a mountain region with a few thousands’ hectare of forest. In the same time, several hundred hectare mountain pasture is owned by the locals. On the mountain pastures permanent cleaning activities have to be done every year, where the branches and forest residuals can be collected and chipped for biomass. From this perspective the biomass supply chain can be easily developed on local level. In Belin nowadays all public institutions have natural gas-based heating systems with around 1,5 MW installed capacities in total. In the same time the local Forest Owner Association has more than 6,400 ha private forest. According to the mayor and the president of the local Forest Owner Association, the biomass supply can be ensured from local forest management and mountain pasture cleaning activity. The local authorities were motivated to understand the bioenergy village concept, the visit and to get know the biomass boiler technologies. The local stakeholders participated in several BioVill events and in the National BioVill conference as well. In order to get real experience on utilization of biomass technology in Belin, the mayoralty decided to install a 120 kW biomass boiler with 20 m3 biomass storage at the local kindergarten in 2017. Their aim was to install a pilot small scale facility and to experience the technical operation characteristics of the technology on local level. In the future, according to the local decision makers, the biomass-based heating can be enlarged for other public institutions and for private residential buildings as well. Thanks to the support of the BioVill project, the bioenergy production has been started already in Belin. According to the experiences from BioVill project, the Green Energy Association has advised the local authorities to organize the biomass production activity on local level. Nowadays the local stakeholders are developing the local supply chain from local sources. Based on the gained experience in Belin, future investments are foreseen, such as establishment of a local social enterprises, that is going to ensure the biomass production from harvested forest residues and branches from mountain pasture cleaning activity, procurement of woodchipper, tractor and trailer to execute the biomass production. Joint BioVill meetings in BioVill follower village Belin: The municipality of Belin was also interested to learn about the BioVill concept and to find out organizational, financial and technical solutions for the implementation of bioenergy concept. In this perspective, GEA organized a BioVill dissemination activity on 20th June 2017 in Belin. The local authorities and different stakeholders participated in this event. In 2018, as a result of the meeting, the mayoralty in Belin decided to install a 40 kW biomass boiler at local kindergarten in order to get technical experience on biomass utilization for heat production at public institution. The aim of the local council in Belin is to implement new biomass boilers at other local public institutions


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as well. Moreover, in 2018 Belin started a rural development project, called "Integrated local development in Belin commune". The local council wants to integrate the development of bioenergy sector as one of the main measures of the integrated development program in Belin.

Figure 9: Presentation of the bioenergy village concept in Belin, Romania.

4.3 Village Locodeni

Locodeni is a small village with 91 inhabitants belonging to the municipality of Mărtiniș in Harghita county, Romania. In this village, a successful undertaking was implemented in terms of revitalization of an old settlement, establishment of rural tourism and agro-tourism as well as participative involvement of local inhabitants led by the LIA Foundation. The representatives of LIA Foundation participated in the BioVill national conference, in some BioVill seminars and other events. Moreover, the stakeholders from Locodeni visited several biomass installations in the BioVill target villages in Romania as well. After the site visits and several technical meetings, the stakeholders decided to implement a micro-scale biomass based district heating system in Locodeni. This includes 4 households within a 200 m distance and a biomass boiler with a total installed capacity of 100 kW. The totally automatized woodchips based heating system is supplied by the locals with the residues from the local mountain pasture cleanings. Since the local biomass production and supply chain is developed by LIA Fondation in Locodeni, the sustainability of the local biomass value chain is ensured by the local stakeholders and the foundation. Joint BioVill meetings in BioVill follower village Locodeni: In Locodeni, the BioVill project found the LIA Fondation as a partner to disseminate and implement the bioenergy village concept. On 11th May 2017, GEA organized an event together with representatives of LIA Foundation in Locodeni. The aim was to present and disseminate the bioenergy village concept for local citizens, local foresters and local associations who are in charge for cleaning of mountain pasture areas in the area of Locodeni. On this event, a site visit has been organized in the forest of Locodeni, while the management team of local mountain pasture cleaning was chipping the forest residuals on site. Thanks to the technical dissemination activities in Locodeni, in October 2017 a micro biomass based heating system has been installed for 4 households with a total capacity of 100 kW. The financial resources for the biomass heating system provided the local Wolter Foundation together with LIA Foundation, which have social integration projects in this region. The fuel is provided by the local mountain pasture cleaning group from the neighbourhood region.


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Figure 10: BioVill site visit in Locodeni, Romania.


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5. Outreach and Knowledge Sharing Activities for Follower Villages in Serbia

In Serbia during the implementation of the BioVill project three follower villages were identified and included in project activities. Two of the villages, Drenovac and Sevarice are on the territory of the City of Sabac in Western Serbia and the third one, named Usce settlement, is located on the territory of the City of Kraljevo in Central Serbia. Drenovac and Sevarice were identified through the stady cooperation with the City of Sabac and their energy manager. City of Sabac was involved from the very beginning in the activities of BioVill project in Serbia. It was one of local self-governments which nominated in the selection process a village from its territory as a potential bioenergy village. Usce was identified through the cooperation with the City of Kraljevo and the UNDP project "Climate Smart Urban Development Challenge" which applied here a similar approach like BioVill. With the support of UNDP, a feasibility study for bioenergy transition in Usce was developed and the several business models were proposed using the methodology developed within the BioVill project.

5.1 Villages Drenovac and Sevarice

The villages of Drenovac and Sevarice are settlements in Serbia belonging to the City of Sabac and the Macvan district. According to the 2011 census, Drenovac had 2035 inhabitants and Sevarice 1308 inhabitants. In Drenovac there is a primary school, cultural centre and couple of small shops and Sevarice has village school, community centre and several small commercial objects. Citizens of Drenovac and Sevarice are predominantly agricultural producers or are employed in the City of Sabac. Villages of Drenovac and Sevarice are neighbours and just several kilometres apart from each other. The villages were approached by the energy manager of the City of Sabac and after the local stakeholders show a high interest in the bioenergy village concept, a workshop was arranged for the November 9, 2018. Main stakeholders from the villages are the farmers. They have biomass residues from agriculture production and would be willing to consider the construction of a small district heating grid, which could be feed by biomass from agriculture residues. Most of their questions were related to the investment amount needed, to the heating costs compared to current situation and to the managing structure of the future small-scale district heating system. The city of Sabac and its public utility company for district heating are willing to support the initiative in Drenovac and Sevarice and to provide technical and expert support. Further, the city of Sabac is one of the local governments in Serbia that has well developed system for participatory budgeting and has introduced the consultative practice with local communities regarding infrastructure projects financed from the taxes collected on their territory. The BioVill project organized a workshop with the stakeholders of Drenovac and Sevarice on November 9, 2018 in the community centre in Sevarice village. 22 participants including speakers took part at the workshop. In the following, the agenda and list of speakers are presented. Table 2: Workshop agenda for the follower villages Drenovac and Sevarice

17.30 The BioVill project and the concept of bioenergy villages

17.45 Techno-economic analysis for the bioenergy village concept An example of a substitution of a fuel in a heating plant in Kostojević

18.00 Business models of realization of the concept of bioenergy villages An example of a pilot bioenergetic village Kostojevići

18.30 Discussion

19.00 End of the workshop

Speakers at the workshop were:

Miodrag Gluscevic, SCTM, manager of BioVill project

Prof. Dr Dejan Ivezić, consultant on the BioVill project

Slobodan Jerotić, consultant on the BioVill project


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Figure 11: Prof. Dr. Dejan Ivezic presenting at the workshop on bioenergy villages

Figure 12: Slobodan Jerotic presenting at the workshop on bioenergy villages

5.2 Village Usce

Usce is a settlement located on the territory of City of Kraljevo in Serbia. It has 1881 inhabitants according to census from 2011. It is situated in a hilly region beneath the Kopaonik mountain and therefore has a substantial potential of forest biomass. The position of the settlement, between the major urban centres of Kraljevo and Raska and at the foot of mountains Kopaonik, Golija and Zeljina, enabled the development of wood processing industry. Currently there are more than 50 larger and smaller sawmills in the area, which, beside the coalmines and four factories from the wood industry, are the backbone of economic development of Usce. According to unofficial information, about 900 workers are employed in Usce. It has several public buildings like primary and secondary school, healthcare centre, community centre, post office and police station and approximately ten multi-story housing buildings. In the school building a fossil fuel based boiler burning coal produces the heat. The others buildings uses electricity for heat production. Private homes including multi-story buildings are mainly using firewood. Upon several presentations of the BioVill project in early 2018, the City of Kraljevo launched an initiative together with UNDP in Serbia to develop a project of energy transition towards bioenergy in the settlement using the bioenergy village concept proposed by the BioVill project. On September 24, 2018, UNDP representatives joined by


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Mr. Slobodan Jerotic, one of the experts engaged by the BioVill project, visited Kraljevo and Usce. Following that event an expert team was engaged by UNDP with the task to develop a feasibility study and business model options for a biomass based small scale district heating system that would connect all public buildings in the first phase and in a later stage also the surrounding private houses. The feasibility study has been finalised end of 2018 and has used the methodology developed within BioVill project and tested in the pilot bioenergy village Kostojevici. Currently, the City of Kraljevo is discussing the options and looking for financing possibilities for the project realization.

Figure 13: UNDP and BioVill experts and representatives of City of Kraljevo and local community of Usce.


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6. Outreach and Knowledge Sharing Activities for Follower Villages in Slovenia

In Slovenia, the selection of the follower villages was based on the active involvement of the villages in the BioVill events, and on the other hand their willingness to use biomass for energy production and to invest into bioenergy facilities on local level. Thus, at the beginning of the BioVill project GIS started to cooperate with the first follower village, the second cooperation developed somewhere in the middle of the project duration, and in the last year of the project GIS identified a third follower village.

6.1 Village Loški Potok

From the very beginning of the BioVill project GIS started to cooperate with the municipality Loški Potok from southern part of Slovenia. The municipality has 1830 inhabitants living in 17 villages/settlements. Almost 80% of the municipality is covered by forest and about 90% of households are heating with wood fuels. The mayor contacted GIS in order to get more information on the establishment of a biomass district heating system and on how to become a bioenergy village. The main village of the municipality (Hrib - Loški Potok) was just at the beginning of a new investment in energy renovation of the public buildings and the installation of a district heating system. Due to problems with polluted air, especially during the winter months, and an unhealthy living environment they wanted to solve these problems with a new DHS using wood biomass and also to become more energy self-sufficient with wind and solar power plants. The mayor of municipality Loški Potok participated at the BioVill Training seminar for local stakeholders in Dole pri Litiji which took place in May 2017. Here he presented the ideas and problems encountered in implementing the project. Also, the event was attended by a representative of a newly established wood cooperative Loški Potok, which will be in charge of operating a district heating system in Loški Potok. Both mayor and representative of the wood cooperative were very interested in good practice examples that were presented at the event and also in the idea of Dole to become bioenergy village. Loški Potok has a long history in the desire to establish more energy self-sufficient village but face similar obstacles like Dole - both financial and legislative. They were thrilled on how the idea was supported by the local people in Dole and want to transfer this model to their own case.

Figure 14: Mayor of Loški Potok and representative of wood cooperative Loški Potok actively participated at BioVill training seminar.

In January 2018, the mayor of Loški Potok participated at a conference, which was organised by GIS in order to present the progress of the BioVill target village in becoming a bioenergy village. He emphasized the goal of Loški Potok to become energy self-sufficient by 2025 and to gain all the energy from renewable sources. The event took place in Ljubljana on 23rd January 2018 and was attended by 50 people. These were representatives of various institutions, political decision makers as well as representatives of the follower village Loški Potok.


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Figure 15: Mayor of Loški Potok presented their idea of following BioVill concept.

Very soon after this conference, a representative of GIS participated at a knowledge sharing event in the follower village Loški Potok and presented the BioVill project, which was later discussed with local residents, local decision makers and potential investors. The event took place in Loški Potok on 26th January 2018 and was attended by 32 people. At the event, in addition to the BioVill project, also results of air quality measurements were presented, which mostly worsens during winter due to the large number of individual biomass boilers. In the plans of installing a district heating system also large consumers were included. And in the case of households which cannot be connected to the DHS, modern individual biomass boilers and filters for dust particles (particulate matter) were proposed. Representative of cooperative and inhabitants of follower village Loški Potok also participated at the BioVill final national conference, which took place in Ljubljana in November 2018. They were particularly interested in the BioVill project results in the target village Dole pri Litiji. Another knowledge sharing event is scheduled for 28th February 2019, which will be held in the village Cerknica and will be intended for the local inhabitants of the Loški Potok. Major content of the event will be the effective use of renewable energy sources and the assessment how far the development of the bioenergy village Loški Potok has come.

6.2 Village Žiri

The second follower village in Slovenia is village Žiri from north-western part of Slovenia. Municipality Žiri has 4874 inhabitants living in 18 villages/settlements. The biggest settlement is Žiri with 3599 inhabitants. Almost 62% of municipality is covered by forest and about 45% of households are heated by wood fuels. For many years, the Primary School Žiri has been successfully involved in the program "Young Researchers", announced by the Slovenian Technical Culture Association. So three pupils and two mentors decided to prepare a research task in the field of energy and explore the possibilities of establishing an energy self-sufficient village in Žiri. First, in October 2017 GIS organised a study visit to Dole pri Litiji where Jože Prah (Advisory Board member in the BioVill project) presented the concept of the future bioenergy village Dole, with an emphasis on energy self-sufficiency and using wood biomass in the most effective way. All of them also visited the info point in the village established with the support of the BioVill project.


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Figure 16: Study visit of representatives of the follower village Žiri to the BioVill target village Dole.

Later, at the end of 2017, a survey of the existing heating systems in a smaller part of the village Žiri, which includes 20 households, followed. This included an assessment of the way of heating in the individual households and of the fuel quality. Further, the purpose of the BioVill project and the concept of bioenergy villages were presented. The prepared research paper was then presented at the regional meeting of "Young Researchers", and after successful presentation on the regional level, it was also presented at the national meeting as well. Thus, the research project and the concept of establishing a bioenergy village reached many people including national decision makers and politicians. The data collected within a research task can also be used by employees in the municipality dealing with environmental and energy issues. According to the results, it is valuable to promote the use of wood biomass, both in a district heating system and/or in modern small individual heating technologies, as this protects and encourages the local economy, which is not possible in other ways of heating, e.g. by using oil and gas. In order to upgrade the cooperation GIS organised a seminar in municipality Žiri (see D7.2). The main objective of the seminar was to present the concept of a bioenergy village, best practice examples and important steps to implement a bioenergy village to interested stakeholders and decision makers. The seminar was held on August 27, 2018 at the premises of the Municipality Žiri. Further knowledge sharing events are foreseen, even after the BioVill project has ended, e.g. at the beginning of March 2019 to be held in the Primary School Žiri. At the event, GIS will further promote the BioVill project approach, the concept of the bioenergy village Dole pri Litiji and the use of quality wood fuels in DHS or modern individual biomass boilers. School students, their parents, school staff and representatives of the municipality will be invited to this event.


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6.3 Village Zreče

The third follower village in Slovenia is Zreče. Municipality Zreče has 6422 inhabitants living in 27 villages/settlements. The biggest settlement is Zreče with 2922 inhabitants. 63% of municipality is covered by forest and about 44% of households are heating with wood fuels. Through the project Compose (Interreg MED Programme) with which GIS collaborated, the municipality Zreče found out about the BioVill project. Representatives of the municipality Zreče first attended a BioVill seminar organized by GIS on 23rd January 2018 in Ljubljana, which was attended by 50 people. There they learned more about the BioVill project and how to set up a bioenergy village. Then, in November 2018, representatives of the municipality Zreče attended the final national conference of the BioVill project. They presented the municipality Zreče and their potential to become a bioenergy village and their idea of becoming more energy self-sufficient. They expressed their interest for more cooperation with the BioVill project, since they wanted to follow the BioVill concept, especially in promoting the use of wood biomass in rural areas and the use of local wood biomass, in promoting CHP systems, where economically justified, in promoting forest owners to make use of the wood residues and in promoting the use of modern individual boilers with reduced emissions. The first event in this direction happened on 23rd January 2019 in Zreče. Representatives of GIS attended the event organized by the Chamber of Craft and Small Business of Slovenia – Chimneysweepers Section. The event was also attended by representatives of the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning and the Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia for the Environment and Spatial Planning. About 75 people attended the event. The main topic of the event was inadequate solid fuel boilers, improper burning of solid fuels and the resulting air pollution. One of the important activities for improving the situation is public awareness and education about the proper use of quality wood biomass and the installation of modern wood biomass boilers. The representative of GIS presented relevant examples for the use of wood fuels and the impact of bioenergy villages on improving the air quality and thus the living environment.

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