Interpares Newsletter, October 2011
This Newsletter describes the activities undertaken by the Inter Pares project partners until October 2011.
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InterPARES Project presentation at the XXII National Assembly of Local Agenda 21
This year in Tuscany there is an important meeting for sustainable Italian local authorities, on the occasion of the Twelfth Meeting of the Italian Local Agenda 21.On 8th and 9th April in Siena municipalities, provinces and regions throughout Italy met for two days of debates and discussions.
“Climate change, territorial government, Green Economy” is the title of the event that addressed the most topical issues on sustainability in several parallel sessions. During the conference national and international projects were presented, including the project InterPARES, introduced by Silvano Falocco CEO of Ecosistemi.
National Seminar in Romania
The Romanian national conference on “Simplifying administrative procedures for the authorization of renewable energy installations” took place in Bucharest on 10-11 March 2011. The event gathered over 60 participants representing County Councils, central authorities (ministries and national agencies), local energy agencies, associations of local authorities and renewable energy producers. The purpose of the conference was to develop knowledge and awareness of County Councils’ representatives regarding the state of play of renewable energy production, investments and related legislation, the potential institutional changes to be made in order to improve the mechanisms to authorize RES-e production and the companies’ perspective on the topic. Moreover, the event was a perfect occasion for County Councils to present examples of good practices regarding the methods already used to encourage the production and investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
The Government was represented by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and the Business Environment and by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, together with the National Energy Regulation Authority and the National Environmental Protection Agency. The national and European energy policy topic was covered by Mrs. Lavinia Andrei, a highly experienced NGO leader, supported by Mrs. Liliana Mangeac, the representative of UNCJR in Brussels. The role of County Councils in developing the framework for and authorizing RES installations was explained by Mr. Adrian Badila, president of ALMA-RO, who also facilitated the entire meeting. Following the presentation of the Bucharest Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Agency on how to improve the existing legislation and procedures locally, three representatives of energy producers and their association (wind power, solar power and geothermal) expressed their points of view regarding critical aspects to improve when authorizing RES installations.
Following the event, a fifth County Council asked for permission to become one of the local authorities receiving technical support and counseling to implement simplified procedures for RES authorization, that will be dealt with in the next phase of the project. Also, several clear measures to be implemented both locally and nationally were expressed (one of them coming from the National Energy regulation Authority).
National Seminar in Italy
INTERPARES CONFERENCE – THE PERMIT PROCESS FOR RES-POWERED PLANTS: THE FIRST STEPS IN ADMINISTRATIVE SIMPLIFICATION
The first of the three national conferences planned for Project INTERPARES was held on February 8th-9th, 2011.
The same two-session event will be repeated in two other venues (Romania and Greece).
On day one, the attending Provinces gathered a variety of information from the main players in the construction permit procedure for plants powered by RES (renewable energy resources). The Ministry for Economic Development, Enel, Terna, GSE and national Associations for renewable resources each provided fundamental insights into recent regulatory developments in the area. The Coordinator of Regions for Energy also discussed the pivotal role of the Regions for the procedures in question.
In the last part of session one, institutions and various representatives from the world of industry, artisanship, and agriculture shared relevant experiences and combined their contributions into a document presenting operational proposals for administrative procedures.
During session two, which focused more on issues of functionality, several Provinces shared their own experiences with simplification. In the next project phase, data gleaned from these experiences will provide a concrete foundation for preparing and analyzing the proposed testing to be held in at least twelve different Italian Provinces.
For video click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ole4Aek39gM
The first Inter Pares Newsletter has been issued
This Newsletter describes the activities undertaken by the Inter Pares project partners until July 2010. After the phase of analysis and of comprehensive study of the state of art in the three Member States concerned, a seminar took place in Brussels involving speakers from the European institutions and the European networks on Renewable Energies.
The Newsletter is available in four languages: English, Italian, Greek and Romanian.
The study on the on the promotion of Renewable Energy Sources at NUTS-3 level is finally released
The study encompasses partners’ contributions regarding administrative barriers on RES development for each country concerned (Italy, Greece and Romania) and the analysis of the data collected through the Inter Pares survey. Scope of this study is to provide a comprehensive framework of competences and procedures – in the field of electricity production from RES – allocated to the NUTS-3 level in the countries concerned, highlighting the main non-technological barriers and gaps. For a complete view click here.
7 – 8 June: Capacity Building Workshop in Brussels
With the aim of empower the National Provinces Association in the field of renewable energy, a Capacity Building Working meeting in Brussels for the employees of the National associations is foreseen on June the 7th and 8th. In this occasion the results of a questionnaire distributed to 205 Provinces (in Italy, Romania and Greece) will be analysed in order to identify the competences in the field of release of authorization permits for the construction of RES plants. The workshop will be also an opportunity to present streamlined solutions for overcoming the administrative barriers that hinder the development of RES at local level.
The two days workshop, that will take place at the European Office of the National Union of County Councils of Romania, will be an opportunity for meeting among representative of EU institutions and European Associations working in energy sector and policies and the national associations?.
The project INTER PARES has been officially launched
The project INTER PARES has been officially launched the 13th of October in Rome in the headquarter of the Union of Italian Provinces (UPI) in Rome. During the meeting the partners of the project have agreed on the work programme and set up the next steps of cooperation. In particular the project team have analysed the survey tool which will be used to know the obstacles to be tackled in order to increase the electricity production from renewable energy at provincial level. The first significant result of INTER PARES is the interest showed by the Italian Provinces in taking part of the project. Already 49 provinces in fact have expressed their interest to be associated to the project: their role will be fundamental for the effective implementation of policies, strategies and streamlining solutions.