The final conference of the R-SOL-E project, co-funded within the Priority Axis 2 of the 1st Call for Proposals, was held on 12 February 2019 in Belišće, Croatia.
The R-SOL-E project, short for Renewable Solar Energy, builds on potentials for renewable energy sources in the cross-border area and contributes to increasing energy efficiency of public buildings. The 20-month implementation focused on awareness raising of using solar energy as an eco-friendly way of producing energy and continued to do so during the final event.
The closing conference was held in Belišće and attended by representatives of the City of Belišće, Municipality Gorjani, City of Novi Sad and Managing Authority and Joint Secretariat officers. Belišće was chosen for the conference venue due to the city’s long-term commitment to become an energy-independent city.
“The R-SOL-E project’s aim is to promote use of renewable energy sources, reduce CO₂ emissions and contribute to environment protection. Ultimately, the largest part of promotion was done in order to showcase our investments to its citizens. For example, City of Belišće installed 5 solar plants on 5 public buildings and Municipality Gorjani installed a solar plant on its cultural center. City of Novi Sad installed 100 solar street lamps that are now lighting up children playgrounds and bus stops in suburban areas. With these investments, we achieved 30.000 EUR savings in consumption of electrical energy which would not be possible without co-funding ensured within the project”, concluded Ljerka Vučković, R-SOL-E’s Project Manager and Deputy Mayor of City of Belišće.
In addition to infrastructural improvements, partners of R-SOL-E organised a number of activities to educate the local community on using renewable energy sources. One of them was the local competition in producing electricity; an electric bike was installed in Belišće to demonstrate energy efficient and smart solutions in renewable energy sources, attracting children from nearby nursery and elementary schools. In addition, partners installed 3 solar trees used for Wifi and mobile phones charging.
The conference finished with a formal lunch for all participants.
The R-SOL-E project involved 3 partners from Croatia and Serbia and was co-funded with 858.630,50 EUR of ERDF and IPA II funds of the Interreg IPA CBC Programme Croatia-Serbia 2014-2020. The project started on 15 June 2018 and finished on 14 February 2019. For more info on the project, please check R-SOL-E’s profile on KEEP: https://www.keep.eu/project/19989/renewable-solar-energy
