MANAGENERGY EXPERT MISSION TO ENERGY CENTRE ČEŠKE BUDEJOVICE

ECCB is located in the region of South Bohemia in Czech Republic. If focuses on the energy efficiency and renewables in South Bohemia, provides energy advice for municipalities, companies and general public and raises public awareness. It implements also cross-border cooperation projects with the Region of Upper Austria (exchange of know-how and information for municipalities, schools and other target groups between Upper Austria and South Bohemia).

During the 3-days visit, an interactive session with the staff was organized to understand the current status and future plans of the agency. In the afternoon, the expert and its hosts visited a local heat supply company and one community. The discussion focused on future trends in renewable energy sources and how Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) could be implemented with energy refurbishment. On the second day, a very important meeting took place with the region's energy manager to discuss different financial options for the investments and the importance of energy monitoring and management. Different legal aspect were discussed since the energy agency is a private body and has some difficulties to be procured to some energy management work by the regional authority. During the third and last day, a meeting of the Region's Council was held where a presentation from the agency and the expert was done to promote sustainable energy and the benefits of working with the energy agencies.  At the end, the agency and the expert discussed about future collaboration opportunities in different topics and projects. Both gained a lot of new insights and knowledge from this experience, which will help them to empower the energy agencies and implement more sustainable energy projects in Europe.