Regions4GreenGrowth

Who?

The partners in R4GG project were:
• Flevoland province (NL, lead partner),
• Abruzzo and Lazio regions (IT),
• Assembly of European Regions (FR)
• Center for sustainable regional development representing Gabrovo region (BG),
• Észak – Alföld regional development agency (HU),
• Maramures County and Prahova Energy Agency (RO),
• Noord-Brabant province (NL),
• Norrbotten and Västernorrland region (SE),
• Oldham Council representing Greater Manchester Region (UK),
• Patras Science Park representing Western Greece region (EL),
• Valencia Energy Agency and Instituto Technico de la Energia (ES).

What?

Regions4GreenGrowth was an initiative of EU regions defining high sustainable energy ambitions and aimed at encountering obstacles. The overall objective of the project was to equip these regions with regional policy instruments, mechanisms and approaches to improve access to finance for and speed up investments in sustainable energy projects (e.g. renewable energy generation capacity, energy efficiency measures) in their territories.

When?

The duration was 2 years, from 1st January 2012 until 31st December 2014. The project was under the Interregional Cooperation Programme INTERREG IVC Programme 2007-2013, financed by the European Union’s Regional Development Fund. This Regional Initiative Project belonged to Theme Energy and sustainable transport under Priority 2: Environment and risk preventation, aiming at empowering the public authorities and other stakeholders to improve their policies and develop new approaches to improve the quality of environment and to increase the attractiveness of the regions in Europe by means of exchanging knowledge and experience between regions.

Why?

Regions set firm targets for a higher share of renewable energy sources and more energy efficiency. One of the obstacles is difficulty to attract financial means for public and private actors’ investment in sustainable energy hardware and infrastructure. Therefore, improving access to finance and speeding up investments in sustainable energy projects were the overall objectives of R4GG.

What is AER’s role and how to get involved?
Project activities included the collection and documenting of effective policy instruments in this field from partners and other actors. AER provided its expertise in the field of energy and peer reviews. During Peer Reviews the partners tackled the specific challenges of each partner region and presented them with tailor made packages of policies and instruments to speed up sustainable energy investments. Thus, a method for creating a public-private cooperation structure for investments in sustainable energy, developed by Flevoland, was passed on to the partners in a Master Classes series, and implemented in 3 partner regions. A guide on methods and implemented Good Practice was made and disseminated. Regions prepared their Action Plan, considering these recommendations. Before the end of the project, the region also developed an Implementation Plan, outlining the longer-term objectives and actions to boost investments in sustainable energy. The project contributed to boosting investments in sustainable energy by exchanging experiences between 15 partners from 13 regions. As a spin-off effect of R4GG, the partners developed 6 new initiatives (in the framework of Horizon 2020, Leonardo, etc.).

What is AER’s role and how to get involved?

Project activities included the collection and documenting of effective policy instruments in this field from partners and other actors. AER provided its expertise in the field of energy and peer reviews. During Peer Reviews the partners tackled the specific challenges of each partner region and presented them with tailor made packages of policies and instruments to speed up sustainable energy investments.
Thus, a method for creating a public-private cooperation structure for investments in sustainable energy, developed by Flevoland, was passed on to the partners in a Master Classes series, and implemented in 3 partner regions. A guide on methods and implemented Good Practice was made and disseminated. Regions prepared their Action Plan, considering these recommendations. Before the end of the project, the region also developed an Implementation Plan, outlining the longer-term objectives and actions to boost investments in sustainable energy.
The project contributed to boosting investments in sustainable energy by exchanging experiences between 15 partners from 13 regions. As a spin-off effect of R4GG, the partners developed 6 new initiatives (in the framework of Horizon 2020, Leonardo, etc.).