A new project is underway to further enhance the status of Ireland’s Mid West as a sustainable energy region. The Mid West Regional Authority was allocated 180,000 euro on June 20th for its STEP project.
STEP, short for ‘Improving Communities’ Sustainable Energy Policy Tools’, is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, and aims at improving the implementation of local and regional policies to meet the EU’s “20-20-20 targets” for energy. That means cutting CO2 emissions by 20 per cent, ensuring 20 per cent of energy consumption comes from renewable sources, and driving a 20 per cent reduction in energy use.
The funding will be used to update the existing Regional Biomass and Regional Climate Change Strategies, and to combine them into one Sustainable Strategy, according to a press release.
The new strategy will most likely affect projects in North Tipperary, Clare, and Limerick, said Deirdre Byrne, EU Projects Officer with the MWRA.
According to Ms Byrne, the main task will be to co-operate with their eight European partners in 5 other countries to identify problems, compile best practice guides, and improve local sustainable energy tools.
The MWRA will therefore share their experience on a number of projects with their partners in Hungary, Spain, Finland, Germany, and Poland.
“We will be sharing the knowledge and experience of The Cloughjordan eco-village; Clare County Hall as a sustainable public building heated by biomass; the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre as a sustainable, energy-efficient building; North Tipperary County Council’s internal energy savings of 33 per cent since 2008; and the replacement of older houses with new energy-efficient houses in the coming years under the Limerick Regeneration projects,” said Ms Byrne.
The Irish team, however, also aims to profit from the knowledge and experience of their counterparts. The MWRA especially looks forward to learning from their Finnish and German counterparts, who are very advanced in developing local sustainable energy projects, according to Ms Byrne. They will focus especially on development possibilities for rural areas and innovative financing strategies.
The new project will contribute to the National Renewable Energy Action Plan, published in 2010. In it, the Government set out its commitment to have 16 per cent of Ireland’s energy share come from renewable sources by 2020. Back in 2010, the share was 5.5 per cent.
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