Supporting Liguria Municipalities in renovating their building stock

As part of the “Pays Ecogetiques” project, IRE has given its technical support to Municipalities that are situated in the Province of Imperia in Liguria. The project was financed by the European cross-border cooperation programme between Italy and France Interreg Alcotra 2014-2020.

The objective of “Pays Ecogetiques” was to improve the energy efficiency of buildings in the 168 Public Administrations that were part of the “PITER Pays Sages” project. As part of the project, the Municipalities were guided throughout the entire process of energy renovation starting from the choice of buildings to the application for funding and the actual realisation of the interventions of energy efficiency.

As part of the actions carried out by IRE, there were a series of meetings that were organised with the intent of increasing awareness and training the 42 Municipalities in the Province of Imperia that saw the participation of both local politicians (mayors) as well as technicians and consultants.

Five of these Municipalities who expressed an interest in increasing the energy efficiency of their public buildings, took part in a pilot project that involved technical assistance offered by qualified personnel of IRE which helped them face the difficulties during the renovation process. The main obstacles we were faced with included the retrieval of energy consumption data, drawing up the necessary technical/administrative documentation that is required to apply for funding, and the lack of qualified personnel with sufficient qualifications and experience to carry out the actions required.

The meetings that were held in the Municipalities proved to be particularly effective and helped motivate those involved to take up the process of requalification of the buildings on their territory. Three of the Municipalities that were supported by IRE are now in the process of carrying out a diagnosis of their energy consumption. This will help them pinpoint the interventions required and the actions that are necessary to prepare the request for funding available at a national level, under the so-called “Conto Termico”. With this scheme, the incentives are handed out for increasing energy efficiency with particular emphasis on energy produced from renewable sources with financial incentives being given primarily to Public Administrations. The fundamental requirements for access to funding are both the presentation of the technical/administrative documentation as well as compliance with the deadlines. Another Municipality is currently defining an Energy Service contract to manage and promote energy efficiency of all their public buildings.

IRE is guiding the Municipalities throughout the entire process and is offering its expertise to verify the interventions that are being proposed, to present the funding applications on behalf of the Public Administrations as well as supervising the Energy Service contract from a technical administrative perspective.