SIreNERGY: Second Regional Stakeholders Group Meeting in Varna REGIONAL AGENCY FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATIONS

SIreNERGY: Second Regional Stakeholders Group Meeting in Varna

RAPIV hosted the Second Regional Stakeholders Group meeting under project SIreNERGY, which was held on 20th February 2024 in the District Information Point - Varna. Representatives of local authorities, research organizations and business support organizations took part in the meeting.

The highlight of the meeting was the presentation of good practices for involving civil society in the processes and projects for the implementation of renewable energy sources from the region of Blekinge, Sweden, namely:

GP 1 - Blekinge Offshore: Planning to build a large offshore wind farm 17 km south of Karlshamn. Although the planning process has not yet been completed, the project is a good practice because in just a few years, using a bottom-up approach, it has managed to win local support, including from local fishing communities, the population and businesses. The key to success is conducting numerous meetings and explanatory campaigns with local communities, presenting comprehensive and transparent information on every component, both the benefits and the downsides for all affected parties, even before the public announcement of the plan's launch.
GP2 - Blekinge Vindkraft (BV): BV is an economic association established in 2000 in connection with the construction of the Freja wind farm in Olsäng. Initially, there were 47 local residents willing to join the association, who acquired a total of 125 shares in it. This is enough to buy 25% of the newly built Freja wind farm in Olsäng. The remaining 75% is owned by Eolus Vind AB, the company that developed and built Freja. Today BV owns 2.2 wind turbines in Blekinge out of a total of 7 and has 238 shareholders representing the local communities.
GP3 - Small-scale combined heat and power plant: Electricity and heat production facility owned by Affärsverken (owned by the municipality of Karlskrona). Produces electricity by burning residual materials from furniture production or biofuels. The amount of energy produced is sufficient to meet the increased demand of the local population during the winter season.
GP4 - A cooperative solar system built on a landfill: The solar farm was initiated by the local municipal energy company Affärsverken. Shares of 0.1 kW have been sold to both citizens and private companies, and the solar farm is gradually expanding, with a current maximum output of 2.4 MW. The social effect of the construction of the farm, in addition to energy production, is also related to the utilization of highly polluted terrain from the residual chemicals from the former landfill.

At the end of the meeting, a discussion was held regarding the available practices in the region and what are the possibilities for their improvement. The lack of regulations for the creation of energy communities, as well as the difficulties in communicating with the public, were indicated as two of the most serious problems for the inclusion of civil society in the processes of building RES.

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