Stepping Final Local Event was held on the 31st of October at the Europe House in Valletta. The event centred around the topics of energy renovation of public buildings and energy communities and RES adoption. The event was organised in conjunction with the Pegasus (Interreg MED) project final event.
An in-depth overview of the Stepping project was given with presentations focused on the final results of the pilot project and how to fund energy retrofit projects through EPC. Invited speaker, Architect Stephen Micallef on behalf of the Gozo Regional Committee gave a presentation about the retrofitting the public building stock in Gozo and the actions proposed through ENERJ (Interreg MED) project. In conclusion of the session, the activities related to the Stepping pilot study, the final results of the investment plan and the outcomes of the policy recommendation were presented. A discussion with Q&A from the audience concluded the session about energy retrofitting of public buildings. It was highlighted and discussed how the regional funds ERDF can be efficiently managed to achieve future targets in energy efficiency in buildings and the possibilities for Local councils to join bigger projects, such as ELENA funding schemes.
Ms Diane Cassar, firstly showed the results achieved by the agency in implementing a community-based micro-grid in the village of San Lawrenz – Gozo, sharing with the participants how local community, decision-makers and experts from the renewable energy sector could play an important role in defining the most suitable economic, technical and administrative conditions to facilitate the development of micro-grid models in rural or insular areas. At the conclusion, MIEMA illustrated the results coming from the Feasibility Study for the implementation of such models in the locality.
In fact, the Mayor of San Lawrenz, Mr Noel Formosa, illustrated his direct experience on the project, stressing the importance to promote effective generation and sustainable use of electricity in small island municipalities, in order to pursue both positive economic and environmental impact in reducing the carbon footprint in the community
After sharing with the audience the initiatives of green mobility within the LOCAL4GREEN project foreseen in the locality, a showcase of best practices on how to maximise the energy self-consumption of public building was presented by Ms Mariangela Luceri, project manager of the ENERSELVES (Interreg Europe) project.
The event terminated with a round of closing remarks about the results achieved and the fruitful collaborations strengthen with the local councils thanks to the Programme and projects.